Paintings, sculpture, photography, etc. What artists, genres, and particular works do you like the most?

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I've always had a soft spot for the historical paintings of 18th-19th century; when the goal was still to depict things in a "realistic" style. I could spend hours as a young boy looking at a painting of the American Civil War or a Napoleonic battlefield, due to the sheer depth of individual detail and stories. Here's a few examples:

http://americangallery.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/custers-last-stand.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/__RpFav124wI/TH2nCYP1NgI/AAAAAAAABQw/cJD15sI2pSM/s1600/battle.jpg
http://chanarchive.org/content/28_ic/1054183/1319652032728.jpg

Some miscellaneous favorites:

"Ballernia in a Death's Head" - Salvador Dali
http://uploads2.wikipaintings.org/images/salvador-dali/ballerina-in-a-death-s-head.jpg

"Harvest" - Joel Peter Witkin
http://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/jpw-harvest-1984.jpg

Works by Jean-Leon Gerome
http://www.oceansbridge.com/paintings/artists/recently-added/jean-leon-gerome/big/Jean-Leon_Gerome_XX__Pelt_Merchant_Cairo_1880.jpg
http://www.deshow.net/d/file/cartoon/2009-12/pollice-verso-810-2.jpg
http://www.artunframed.com/images/artmis9/gerome88.jpg

Bloementuil - Willem van Aelst
http://chanarchive.org/content/28_ic/1054183/1319605050137.jpg

"Garden of Earthly Delights" - Hieronymus Bosch
http://chanarchive.org/content/28_ic/1054183/1319610152963.jpg

"Marchesa Luisa Casati, with a Greyhound" - Giovanni Boldini
http://chanarchive.org/content/28_ic/1054183/1319621098439.jpg

Works by Phil Hale
http://chanarchive.org/content/28_ic/1054183/1319648653170.jpg
http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ll5n2wpgds1qg4kx9o1_400.jpg
http://chanarchive.org/content/28_ic/1054183/1319639722054.jpg
http://chanarchive.org/content/28_ic/1054183/1320301621543.jpg

Raft of the Medusa a the Louvre. You have to see it to believe it.

http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/

Here's a sampling of his work:

jesus fucking christ!! your opinions on art are all utterly fucking worthless, because they are different to those held by me, skengman!!! fuck!!!

when i was in new york i took the opportunity to go to the met & i think i could probably live there, you know, build a lil campsite in the atrium or something, occasionally wander out for food because the cafe in there is maaad expensive. these days ive been loving the shit out of constructivism, obviously, like a good lil marxist, early abstraction (they had a cool-ass bunch of kandinskys at the guggenheim in ny, well worth ch-ch-checkin' out).... impressionism too, especially the stuff where its just starting the blur into abstraction, cezanne in particular but i still got a soft spot for good ol' turner.... recently ive been rediscovering baroque art, i love the dynamism of the figures and the stark chiaroscuro, gorgeous.

the one thing i could never really get into was abstract expressionism, it all seems so self-absorbed.... actually rothko's cool but jackson pollock can suck a fatty.

sorry for not posting a bunch of pretty pictures but frankly i can't be arsed, and ive always thought that to really appreciate a work of art you gotta see it in real life. except for the mona lisa, what a fuckin letdown, mad overhyped

I love Byzantine art.

yeah das kewl, the interior of the hagia sophia was one of the most breathtaking things i ever done seen inna me life

The Girl with the Pearl Earring, by Vermeer.

I love it as well.


Michelangelo is probably my favorite artist.