Hey 🙂
i’m trying to find a painting that’d look cool on the wall above the head of my bed.
I like art, but don’t know much about it.
Goya, Caravaggio, Blake, … love that kinda stuff.
But i’d like to find an image that somehow depicts hedonism (preference hedonism / desire satisfaction theory) in a not so creepy way. Don’t wanna scare away my potential companions 😅
Do you have an idea?
Thx!
To me nothing says hedonism like the Belle Epoque.
Degas has fantastic depictions of urban leisure: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-ballet-scene-from-meyerbeers-opera-robert-le-diable-30908
This is one of my favorite paintings of the time, though you might want to pass due to the “implication”. Show me the “Manet”: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/a-bar-at-the-folies-bergere-207293
If you want more merry colors and simpler times then probably going back to Jan Steen might be a good idea: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/merrymaking-in-a-tavern-209153 He liked painting people having a grand time: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-interior-of-an-inn-the-broken-eggs-115662
If you like alcohol as a motive, but also seeing hedonism pushed to the metal, here’s some moral teaching in fantastic colors: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-last-day-in-the-old-home-200702
If you don’t like sermons but enjoy light: https://www.wikiart.org/en/peder-severin-kroyer/hip-hip-hurrah-1888
For maximum debauchery, Gin Lane’s your lane: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/gin-lane-1
In case you need something more Mediterranean, Triumf of Bacchus has some of that vivid face depiction Velazquez provides: https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/los-borrachos-o-el-triunfo-de-baco/4a23d5e2-9fd4-496b-806b-0f8ba913b3d8
As a piece of resistance, James Bartolacci does clubbing art: https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/James-Bartolacci_JB1006_1664490656.jpg
If there’s nothing you fancy, please let me know.
Excellent recommendations, but I have to say those artUK links are absolutely infuriating on mobile, you can’t actually zoom in on the (quite small) painting for some reason.
Sorry about that I’m cursed with excellent taste and unparalleled laziness.
omg, what an incredible answer!
Some of these are amazing.
I feel like i need to hang more than the one i planned; turning my little flat into a tiny gallery ^^
No seriously. Great suggestions!
I especially like “The Broken Eggs”, “Hip, Hip, Hurrah!” and “Gin Lane” 🙂
Hip, Hip, Hurrah! comes from a Norwegian-Dutch painter that makes fantastic captures of life “as it is” in my opinion. Not what you’ve asked but this is a favorite of mine: https://www.wikiart.org/en/peder-severin-kroyer/in-the-store-during-a-pause-from-fishing-1882
Plus anything on the beach is fantastic from this author.
Jan Steen (the author from The Broken Eggs) has a deep repertoire of people just “cooked”, having great fun, with lots of color.
If you enjoyed Gin Lane, you could also pair it with “Beer Street”, from the same author: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/beer-street-1
Basically this author thought that Beer is great, but Gin is rubbish, and his depiction of both are fantastic. Plus, as any interior designer worth their salt would say, “it’s a conversation piece”. ;)
