Reading Simon Schama's " Power of Art"

It was nostalgic and great to breeze through Schama's chapter on VanGogh- the one whom I met in my teens and for several hours and days, I had pored over his paintings and dissected them again and again for the brushstrokes, the vivid colour palette and the frenzied emotions running through these works. VanGogh truly lived life through his art and felt emotions to the extremes which was to be his death sentence during his final years before his death.
Surprisingly,I prefer his later works now such as "Tree Roots and Trunks" which urged us to feel the moment intensely and forget the loneliness of modern life that assails us now...

On a different scale, Caravaggio made works of huge psychological impact and this was important as the paintings had to move the Church goers and make them think of God and hell. His forte was mainly the Biblical themes where he changed the interpretation of the stories completely. His strengths lay in how he manipulated the dark and light in his works; how they enhanced the intensity of the central figures or atmosphere. Indeed, Caravaggio experimented with costumes, figures and the lighting to get that particular depth or emotion which he wanted. Also, they were physical and tangible.

My favourites so far- The Card Sharps(1596), The Head of Medusa(1598-9), The Crucifixion of  St Peter (1600), Doubting St Thomas( 1602-3), David with the Head of Goliath(1605-6). The last one was considered his attempt to redemption and ask for forgiveness.

Finally, Bernini shared certain similarities with Caravaggio – the sculptures were physical and writhing with emotion and deep psychology. He was careful in how each detail in the sculpture revealed an impending doom or some psychological state. Like Caravaggio, he practiced his expressions in the mirror and observed how they looked. He used these experiences in stone. In addition, he made sure that his figures were lifelike and not idealized. They were rooted in nature and not like the lifeless Roman nude casts.

His famous one is the "Ecstasy of St Theresa" but perhaps my favourite is "The Damned Soul"!