A lot of people nowadays seem to have no clue where to start when they want to discover art. Many people have often asked me what the works of art you must see in a lifetime are. For this purpose, I have made a list of paintings and sculptures that I find to be the most inspiring works of art I have seen.  Of course this list is very personal so it may differ from the opinion of most specialists in the field. So, without further a due, here are what I consider to be the works of art you must see:

1.      David with the head of Goliath. This is a painting of the Italian baroque painter Caravaggio. The baroque era was mainly a response of the Catholic Church to the religious reforms that swept thru Europe. In order to try to win back the faithful, the church was the main sponsor for Italian baroque artists, which were meant to create works of art of such beauty and depth that would overwhelm the faithful and bring them back on the right track Caravaggio was the perfect painter for this kind of job primarily because of his background. He knew the slums of baroque Rome very well, and he decided to steer away from the traditional way in which religious paintings were done: visions of paradise, the perfect body the perfect form. So the paintings of Caravaggio aren’t about visions of Paradise, they are more down to earth, to the grim reality he knew. In this sense, every bible story became in the hands of Caravaggio something palpable, that people could relate to. His greatest painting from my point of view is David with the Head of Goliath. Remarkably, The head of Goliath, which David holds in his hand is actually a self-portrait of Caravaggio. The artist who had committed a murder during his lifetime seems to use this painting as a form of repenting for the crimes he has committed.

2.      Guernica. This is one of the most famous paintings by the father of cubism, Pablo Picasso. It came as a response to the ferocious bombing of the town of Guernica in Spain by the German Luftwaffe, in the eve of the Second World War, which left a the town crippled. The town had no strategic military value, but was just meant to be an example of what could happen if you didn’t surrender to the Germans. The devastation was brutal, and almost all the population of the town, which was made up entirely by civilians was dead or wounded. This inspired Picasso to make one of the greatest works of art ever made. And for me this is definitely one of those works of art you must see.  The painting is made entirely in black white and shades of grey.  The canvas is mural-sized and it is painted in oil. It depicts a scene of violence and chaos, of building wreckages, suffering people and animals. It contains a lot of symbolism: The recurrence of the symbol of the Spanish traditional bullfights, with the horse that has fallen being gored by the bull; the soldier underneath the horse, has his hand open, and we can see in his palm the stigmata, the sign for martyrdom; the light, that is usually a symbol of hope and rejuvenation, finds its way in the painting as a easy eye, that contains a light bulb, and seems to invoke the bombs coming from up above.

3.      The ecstasy of Saint-Theresa. This is one of the most important works of art you must see. It is a sculpture made by Bernini, one of the most famous baroque sculptures and architects that lived in Rome. This sculpture marks Bernini’s comeback, after his failure in designing Saint-Paul’s cathedral, and the murder committed out of jealousy, inside the church walls. This magnificent sculpture was his way of showing that he wasn’t washed up, and he still had a trick up his sleeve. The attention to detail is phenomenal, while the signification is a bit scandalous. The sculpture is meant to depict the moment of religious ecstasy that Saint-Theresa felt, but it has more than obvious sexual connotations.

These are the works of art you must see in a lifetime, in my opinion. I think they are extremely powerful and moving, and revolutionary as well for their time. I think people should look beyond what is normally associated with good art and try to find for themselves new meanings for every work of art. Even though these works that I have mentioned, might not be the most famous in the world, I consider them full of meaning and symbolism, and they just seem like you would instantly get emotionally attached to them.

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