8 Underrated Paintings In Art History
Art is subjective and even if you are an art history buff, you might have missed many phenomenal paintings because of fixed preferences or blindspots. Also, the discrimination on the grounds of technique, gender and even the temperament of artists leaves a universe full of underrated paintings that never got the due they so much deserved.
To not let you feel the pang of missing some great artworks, browse through some underrated paintings of all time that deserve your absolute attention!
1. Woman Walking In a Garden by Van Gogh
Most of Van Gogh’s work is mired with sadness and evokes melancholy. And that’s the reason why Women Walking in a Garden is such a beautiful exception. It depicts the joy, warmth of walking under the sun while observing one’s garden.
From first sight, it peps up your mood and you feel everything’s fine. As most of his artwork focused on the tragedies of life, Woman Walking in a Garden must not be another forgotten painting as it shows the optimistic side of Van Gogh.
2. The Mysterious Garden by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh
A trailblazer of Art Nouveau which encouraged natural forms of art, Mackintosh’s The Mysterious Garden is an underrated oil painting to date. It showcases women in a peculiar pacific way, almost like goddesses with a halo. You experience some tranquility while studying this forgotten painting. Also, this painting of Mackintosh reveals the dynamism of women.
3. Jael and Sisera by Artemisia Gentileschi
Created around 1620, Jael and Sisera painting was made by Italian baroque artist Artemesia Gentileschi. It portrays that delicate moment when Jael is about to kill Sisera. Rarely depicted by her contemporaries of the seventeenth century, this painting is adapted from the Book of Judges. As a revelation from an otherwise forgotten painting, it showcases a rather tormented side of Artemisia because she was raped by a friend of her father and humiliated when she shared the fact in the court.
4. Virgin and Child with St. Anne’ by Leonardo da Vinci
‘Virgin and Child with St. Anne’ was Leonardo da Vinci’s last painting which took more than 15 years for its completion. It was only after getting restored and cleaned in 2010, it got some attention. It delicately portrays the tensed bond between child, mother, and grandmother over the generations. This painting evokes emotion and is quite dynamic as well.
5. The Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Gericault
‘The Raft of the Medusa’ is not that commonplace painting that you can see at any gallery, it is a phenomenal drama placed right in front of you! The artwork depicts the tragedy of a French ship that disintegrated because of the captain’s lapse of judgment in a highly stylized manner. It created an unforgettable uproar amongst the citizens and was hidden away as a scandal.
6. Arizona Landscape by Dorothea Tanning
An underrated oil painting by large, Arizona Landscape reveals the thoughts of Tanning that still evoke emotions in women. Moreover, you get to know Tanning’s attention to detail as the hair is colored blue instead of the intense red landscape of Arizona. Moreover, the eyes in this forgotten painting are poignant.
7. The Young Martyr by Paul Delaroche
‘The Young Martyr’ depicts the suffering and pangs of a female martyr. Many believe that this painting could also be an ode to Deleroche’s wife who had passed away at that time. Conjecture also has it that it could depict the torment that occurred at the time of persecution ordered by the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Either way, this painting has a romantic and very pondering feel about it.
8. Self Portrait with Cropped Hair by Frida Kahlo
You might just roll your eyebrows reading this one, but Kahlo’s self-portraits are some of the most underrated masterpieces of all the time. Women do feel the suppressed urge of cutting their hear short whenever something heartbreaking happens. This painting by Kahlo displays the madness she must have felt while coping up with a tragic marriage. Through this self-portrait, Kahlo showed a side of hers that none of her artwork otherwise depicted!
Cherishing the Underrated
Aren’t you feeling rejuvenated by reading about these paintings that were so unheard of till now? Be on a lookout for undervalued painters because some of these gems are simply not worth missing and you can browse through them before you buy any painting.
