As already noted, nothing can be explained about why this painting should be called a work of art.
(Or -- at least nothing can be explained by you.) All you can do is indicate the strength of your feeling -- with words like "powerful" or "seized" But the word beautiful can be the beginning of a long description of compositional elements - like color, tone, line, balance, scale etc.-- and if prompted, I'm sure the painting teachers on this listserv could explain at length this painting's achievements. (If it's too much of a stretch to call this image beautiful -- then say that it has "compositional beauty") Regarding the genre of depressing, depraved, vile figurative images made after 1900 -- the most famous would probably be the German Expressionists -- but I was thinking more about our own, homegrown variety that I call "Chicago Ugly" -- and here's some from the generations born 1880-1940 : http://www.artnet.com/artwork/424541316/111920/leon-golub-danse-macabre.html Leon Golub http://www.printdealers.com/artist_template.cfm?id=1733 Carl Hoeckner http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/efts/smart/display.image.pl?accession=198 5.4 Jim Nutt http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/370/1878/1600/a-fredb1.jpg Fred Berger And actually -concerning compositional beauty -- I'm not sure how I'd compare them with the Goya -- at least, until I've seen more than just reproductions. But every year, in our local art shows, I do see my fair share of images depicting "a world that has lost its soul, a terrible, terrible world..." -- and I consider them worthless -- even worth less than the failed attempts to create imagined worlds that are sacred, joyful, and healthy. ******************************** Re: 'You're always thinking about Goya's black paintings, aren't you Derek?' Only becasue they - and other works done at this later stage - are when Goya became Goya. If he had died at around 45 he would be remembered today only as a relatively minor Baroque painter. Re: '> Are they beautiful? > > Only if you compare them to the enormous genre of depressing, depraved, vile > figurative images made after 1900 -- especially the ones made after 1950.' I can't imagine the kind of image I posted being described as beautiful as compared with anything. Enormously powerful yes. Beautiful, no. Who are the painters you have in mind by the way? DA _____________________________________________________________ Click to reduce wrinkles & lines. Anti-aging that works, try now. http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2211/fc/Ioyw6ijmX6v0jbTLq9uxICcfF0o3js pOe1Pp2S3gTnfbSEtSjTGPnW/?count=1234567890
