Visual Arts

Right now I'm into Lithuanian symbolist painter Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911). He was also nationally respected composer, and his paintings have a musical quality to them. They suggest something to the subconscious, that state between dreaming and awakening.















Need to get gassed on some absynth.

Very nice. I've always been drawn to symbolist art.

A less-celebrated painter I've been having fun exploring lately is John Martin (1789-1854), whose paintings seem like production art for unmade epic films. They're a bit kitschy, but the scale on display is tremendous. I can imagine Roland Emmerich eying these paintings with envy.

Belshazzar's Feast (which provided inspiration for INTOLERANCE):




Pandemonium (from PARADISE LOST):




The Great Day of His Wrath:

Yes, the art direction of Cecil B. DeMille's epics (and all of their followers) took a big page from John Martin.