Saturday, July 31, 2010

Fallen Monarchs


This is my favorite painting right now. It's called "Fallen Monarchs" and it's by William Bliss Baker, who was part of the Hudson River School. He painted this back in the late 1800's and it now sits in the BYU Museum of Art. I walked by the museum this morning while I was tending Olivia while Katie was teaching a sewing class at home, and I just had to see it again. I'm pretty sure it's Olivia's favorite painting, too. The colors are a lot more vibrant in real life. I really like how it shows both life and death and how the living need the dead to grow. This painting was selected as one of the thirty best American paintings of all time back in 1887.

If I could own one painting, this would be it. Maybe I will buy it if I get super rich.

1 comment:

Kathy Haynie said...

I'll bet you could get a print, even in you're NOT super rich. Not yet, at least. Do optometrists get super rich?? Or hey, if I ever get super rich (not likely as an English teacher), I'll get you the picture instead of the National Geographic subscription for your birthday.

Haha - I was trying to guess what your post would be about, just from the title. Deposed kings? Butterflies who didn't complete the migration? (You should post about monarch butterflies some time. They used to stop off at Morro Bay, a little town on the California coast where I grew up.)

I didn't know about the painting before I read your post. I wonder how Mr. Bliss Baker would have felt about the California Redwoods? When I'm thinking of monarch-like trees, that's what comes to mind for me.