The Cinemaniac Corner

ARTISTS RELATED BY ARTISTS

The definition of art I like the most: art is the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

But art covers a huge range of human activities, from the visual disciplines, such as painting, sculpture, photography and architecture to others with a more interactive relationship with the audience, such as theatre, cinema, literature, music and dance.

Although aesthetic values are paramount in the fine arts, we can’t forget the essential technical training needed to achieve some kind of beauty.

I am going to focus on painting. Or if we want to be more accurate, I am going to talk about three painters I deeply admire. But as you have surely already guessed, I suffer a bit from 'cinemania', and that’s why I am going to talk about painting and painters through the eyes of other artists: film makers, film stars, film musicians.

There are three films linked with three great painters that I remember with joy and pleasure.

The first is 'The Agony and the Ecstasy' (1965).

This is one of those great and beautiful Twentieth Century Fox historical films that I enjoyed as a young teenager. However, I admit that when I first saw it, I knew almost nothing about the main character, the great Florentine Renaissance painter Michelangelo Buonarroti.

It is a film based on the biographical novel by Irving Stone, and perfectly reflects how the artist devoted his whole life to his fine work, without a day of rest and with nature as his guide.

But the fact was that when I visited the Sistine Chapel in Rome, I just couldn't get out of my mind the image of Charlton Heston painting the ceiling of this monument up on his scaffold, and I realized how captivated by this artist I was.

Rex Harrison is Pope Julius II in this movie and his relationship with Charlton Heston (Michelangelo) is also a very interesting one psychologically, full of rising tension.

Prior to this and adapted from another Irving Stone novel is another colourful film called 'Lust for Life' (1956), directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Kirk Douglas as Vincent Van Gogh and Anthony Quinn as Paul Gauguin.

This is a biopic about the brilliant Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, whose work is so highly valued nowadays, but was so little appreciated during his turbulent life. In fact, he remained very poor and was only able to sell one of his paintings while he was alive.

This movie was filmed in the real locations where van Gogh lived, except for some of the indoor scenes. For instance, some scenes were shot in the church where his father used to preach in Holland, while others were filmed in several locations of Paris where he met with his Impressionist colleagues. We can also see the real sites of many of his most highly regarded paintings in the southern French fields of Arles, and even inside the mental hospital to which he was committed.

Although it is a little bit like a documentary movie in some parts of the story, I would note how well the character’s passion and instability are depicted.

Another remarkable aspect is his relationship with his colleague Gauguin, another genius but so different from himself: dynamic, extroverted womanizing. It is very interesting to observe how each of them would envy the other for different reasons.      

And isn’t the leading actor well chosen? Aren’t there quite a lot of similarities between Vincent van Gogh and Kirk Douglas?

      

And finally, I recommend a Spanish movie by Victor Erice, filmed together with the real artist, the great Manchegan painter Antonio López. Its Spanish title is 'El sol del membrillo' (1992), translated into English as 'Quince Tree of the Sun'.

The film is somewhat unclassifiable, half documentary about an artist’s process of creation, half psychological reflexion about time, colour and art itself.

The plot is simple: years earlier, Antonio López planted  a quince tree in his own garden, and it was in the fall of 1990 that he planned to paint it, just when the fruit was starting to ripen.

Antonio López goes on talking about the painting, about the tree, about his technique. Talking with people who happen to visit him while he is working; and most of all, talking about light and time. You really get into his sensations and waking dreams.

It may seem a boring film, but you completely forget about time when you are watching it, lost in its beauty.

The Thanksgiving Turkey