Made to Order
Be careful not to step on the poppies as you run through this beautiful green field.
Hear the rumble of distant thunder as you take cover from the impending rain.
Smell the chimney smoke as you walk bundled up through the snow covered streets.
Close your eyes and imagine the mist surrounding you in this quaint mountain village.
Dip your fingertips in the crisp clear waters as you paddle towards this isolated oasis island.
Two Watermills and an Open Sluice by Jacob van Ruisdael, 1653
Jacob van Ruisdael captured the tension between nature's power and human needs. Glimpsed from the bank of a stream amid thick foliage, turbulent waters rush through an open sluice. Inclement weather is suggested by the dark clouds; uneven, craggy branches and spreading trees grow on either side of the river. Against the ominous sky, the buildings appear solid and sturdy, and a solitary male figure with his dog seems dwarfed by the natural setting. Sunlight breaks through the heavily clouded sky and settles on the central motif of the two half-timber thatched millhouses.
~ J. Paul Getty Museum
Starry Night Over the Rhone by Vincint van Gogh, 1888
Like many of his most celebrated paintings, Starry Night Over the Rhone was inspired by Van Gogh’s time spent in the South of France. Though this piece is not as well-known as the swirling Starry Night he would later complete, it remains an important part of his portfolio; in addition to illustrating his distinctive approach to painting “night effects,” Starry Night Over the Rhône captures a rare moment of calm in the chaotic final years of his life.
~ Kelly Richman-Abdou from My Modern Met
Self-portrait in the Guise of a Mockingbird by Joseph Decreux, 1791
Every class has its clown. Joseph Ducreux worked alongside the great Neoclassical painters Vigée Le Brun and Jacques-Louis David, but his work sparks with humor and weird energy. This self-portrait from 1793 is still phresh enough to generate a meme: ‘Gentlemen, who hath released the hounds?’
~ Trivium Art History
Art Forms in Nature, Plate 99, Hummingbirds by Ernst Haeckel, 1904
Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Male Horned Sungem
Male Crimson Topaz
Male Red-tailed Comet
Male Tufted Coquette
Male Sword-billed Hummingbird
Buff-tailed Sicklebill
Male Dot-eared Coquette
Male White-vented Violetear
Male Hooded Visorbearer
Female Juan Fernández Firecrown
Male Booted Racket-tail
Take in the clear waters and feel the warm breeze of this beautiful hidden cove.