Frans Hals, "The Laughing Cavalier". Good or bad investment??

According to the Wikipedia article I linked above, "The title is an invention of the Victorian public and press, dating from its exhibition in the opening display at the Bethnal Green Museum in 1872–75, just after its arrival in England, after which it was regularly reproduced as a print, and became among of the best known old master paintings in Britain. The unknown subject is in fact not laughing, but can be said to have an enigmatic smile, much amplified by his upturned moustaches."

 

Yeah, what I said. I'd not trust him as far as I could throw him.

 

Armando,

You have to go. I had never been to an art museum until I was an adult and really didn't have much appreciation for art. My first trip to the Art Institute in Chicago changed my life. You really can not appreciate most art from prints or photographs. I had no appreciation of non-representational art until I went. I never saw the big deal about Picasso until I stood in front of one.

I go to the Art Institute at least once a year now. It is really one of the finest art museums in the world. I make a point of visiting art museums big and small wherever I go. This often involves dragging people with me that are less than enthusiastic. They always come away with at least some appreciation of the venture.

Probably my biggest aha moment was stumbling upon Salvador Dali's The Sacrament of the Last Supper. It hangs in a stairwell in the National Gallery in Washington DC. and was so unexpected there. I have always wondered if the placement there was intentional or if it was the only place they had for it ....... LOL!

 

Now Af, really! Of course he isn't smiling, but he waxes those moustachios to give that impression. He is a money-lender and needs to look benign. And his mother lives in separate apartments in the villa!

La Giaconda isn't smiling either; she's trying to bear the pain of having recently had a tooth pulled. Right in front.

 

I like going to museums with people who are not enthusiastic, as long as they are open to the experience. Sometimes I've been with people who insist on walking very quickly through everything. That is less fun. I'd rather spend a lot of time with a few pieces of art than to spend very little time with a lot of pieces. When I lived in Chicago I had the luxury of going to the Art Institute just to look at a few things. I always liked the way they displayed El Greco's Assumption of the Virgin. It's quite large, and seeing pictures of it online does not compare.

 

Brad: I had an AHA at the Courtauld in London. Right there in front of me was a HUGE painting...that lady behind the bar at the Folies Begere - Manet. !!!

Armando - you MUST go to a museum!

 

When I was at Oxford I liked going to the Ashmolean Museum for a lunchtime nap.

 

Fig: there is a piece of statuary at the Metropolitan that I truly covet above anything else in there. It's the Madonna and Child, and only about a foot high. It's kept in a bell jar on the first floor. A guard once came over to me to say I was making him dizzy walking around it over and over again.

 

I know my wife wouldn't be all that intrigued about going to an art museum. I was so close from bidding on a painting on EBay for a painting done in WWI of a Russian General standing next to his dead horse in the snow. My wife couldn't understand why someone would pay that much for a painting. I could tell her until I was blue in the face but she still wouldn't understand. So, I didn't place a bid, didn't want to start an argument, even though she said it was alright to do so. I read between the lines and knew what she was "really" meaning. In the morning, the auction was over. It had jumped from $100 to the final price of $250+. I told her the final price and said, "See, I'm not the only one that knows what good art is." She couldn't understand why it could get so high without a signature. That's a whole different story and not enough time to explain.

 

That's so sad. Almost every town has art galleries and small museums. It would be worthwhile for you to try and find some near you.