"Ah! . . . to make of painting what the music of Berlioz and Wagner has been before us . . . a consolatory art for distressed hearts!"--Vincent van Gogh This engaging book is the first in-depth investigation of the influential role that music and sound played throughout Vincent van Gogh's (1853-1890) life. From psalms and hymns to the operas of Richard Wagner to simple birdsong, music represented to Van Gogh the ultimate form of artistic expression. And he believed that by emulating music painting could articulate deep truths and impart a lasting emotional impact on its viewers. In Van Gogh and Music Natascha Veldhorst provides close readings of the many allusions to music in the artist's prolific correspondence and examines the period's artistic theory to offer a rich picture of the status of music in late 19th-century culture. Veldhorst shows the extent to which Van Gogh not only admired the ability of music to inspire emotion, but how he incorporated musical subject matter and techniques into his work, with illustrations of celebrated paintings such as Sunflowers in a Vase, which he described as "a symphony in blue and yellow." An expansive inquiry into the significance of sound and music for the artist, including the formative influence of his song-filled upbringing, Van Gogh and Music is full of fascinating new insights into the work of one of history's most venerated artists.

Art loves music: From the tombs of Ancient Egypt to the late 20th century, painting and sculpture have played their variations on musical themes. Tom Phillips examines masterpieces from the history of the visual arts that have been inspired by music. In a series of colorful images we meet the music-makers -- the men and women who, in the act of playing and listening to music, have provided rich subject matter for artists throughout the centuries. The long affair between these arts had its passionate moments. The orchestral angels of the Renaissance and the seraphic choristers of the Baroque yield to the domestic music-making of the masters of the Dutch interior. The pastoral concerts of Venetian and French artists of the 17th and 18th centuries give way to the Impressionists and the still lifes and soloists of Cubism. Finally, the musical abstractions of Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky lead to the often-ironic or iconoclastic references to music in the experimental art of the end of this century. Tom Phillips seeks out these colorful meetings between the sister arts and spins an intriguing web of anecdote and interpretation to link them through the ages. As an artist, he understands how pictures are made and as a writer he can convey this understanding with humor and clarity. Since he is also a composer in his own right his insights have the added value of musical authenticity as well as artistic authority. Each of the 50 short essays focuses on a particular work of art or contrasts two or more approaches to a similar theme. A diverse range of artists is featured, including Rembrandt, Leonardo, Veronese, Titian, Caravaggio, Renoir, Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso. We are introduced tocomposers who are painters, and painters who are accomplished musicians, and learn how their thoughts can often provide the key to understanding musical and artistic styles.

Bring out your child’s creativity and imagination with more than 60 artful activities in this completely revised and updated edition Art making is a wonderful way for young children to tap into their imagination, deepen their creativity, and explore new materials, all while strengthening their fine motor skills and developing self-confidence. The Artful Parent has all the tools and information you need to encourage creative activities for ages one to eight. From setting up a studio space in your home to finding the best art materials for children, this book gives you all the information you need to get started. You’ll learn how to: * Pick the best materials for your child’s age and learn to make your very own * Prepare art activities to ease children through transitions, engage the most energetic of kids, entertain small groups, and more * Encourage artful living through everyday activities * Foster a love of creativity in your family

This comprehensive reference book, documents the considerable amount of art-inspired music found on commercial and other mass-produced audio recordings published through 1999. Recording formats included in this survey are long-playing phonograph records (33 1/3 RPM), cassette tapes (7 1/2 IPS), and compact discs. Detailed information is provided to aid in purchasing the recordings or accessing them in library and archive collections.

Painters and musicians have always found inspiration by sharing ideas from both disciplines. How this relationship developed from Philipp Otto Runge's "compositions" in painting to Jean Tinguely's and Niki de Saint Phalle's musical sculptures is the focus of this illustrated volume. Carefully selected images and quotations from composers and artists are blended into a study useful to scholars of art history and music, and fascinating to the general reader.

This book explores the ways in which four visual artists make sense of referentialism and emotion in music. By listening to five art songs by Schubert, Strauss, Fauré and Berlioz they were inspired to create new artworks as a result of their understanding of the meaning of the art songs. This was done without an understanding of the text, and the artists had to rely on referential meaning in music as well as the perceived or evoked emotions elicited by listening to the art songs. The artworks created as a result of this project were exhibited at the Aardklop National Arts Festival, entitled Nagmusiek. This was a multi-modal exhibition featuring music, art and text. This book employs Artistic Research and Phenomenology in order to understand this phenomenon, as I explored the artists’ creative processes, experiences and the tacit knowledge embedded in their artefacts. This book would provide readers access to 20 new artworks, each created as a result of the artists’ interpretation of the meaning they ascribed to art song. Their creative process is also examined and synthesised with existing literature on emotion and referentialism in music.

This collection of essays by musicologists and art historians explores the reciprocal influences between music and painting during the nineteenth century, a critical period of gestation when instrumental music was identified as the paradigmatic expressive art and theoretically aligned with painting in the formulation ut pictura musica (as with music, so with painting). Under music's influence, painting approached the threshold of abstraction; concurrently many composers cultivated pictorial effects in their music. Individual essays address such themes as visualization in music, the literary vs. pictorial basis of the symphonic poem, musical pictorialism in painting and lithography, and the influence of Wagner on the visual arts. In these and other ways, both composers and painters actively participated in interarts discourses in seeking to redefine the very identity and aims of their art. Also includes 17 musical examples.