Post #218897 by mbonga on Sat, Mar 4, 2006 3:29 PM

I've done a lot of self-analysis and other-analysis of this topic. You can't assume that there is only one reason people buy art, namely emotion. Some people buy art only for investment purposes, others because they are trying to make themselves appear sophisticated (ego, status), others because their friends or the general public like a certain artist so it's trendy, others just to fit something to an interior or exterior architecture, and endless other reasons, including those in combination. But I think those reasons I listed cover about 95% of the reasons.

I had a number of discussions about this in other forums, such as art and philosophy forums. The answer you're seeking can actually be mathematically determined by Principle Components Analysis, although it would require a large number of statistical samples to get an accurate answer.
http://www.cord.edu/dept/computing/news/blog/2005/09/pandora-music-exploration.html
As I mentioned in another thread, I predict the science of mapping attributes to personal tastes and emotions will be one of the major upcoming sciences as humanity matures and stops wasting its time on power struggles.
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=18536&forum=1

But to get back to your original and more specific question, I'd say my 4 top favorite painters in descending order are: Adolphe-William Bouguereau, Winslow Homer, Odilon Redon, and John William Waterhouse. Trailing close behind would be a wide variety like Kandinksy, Mondrian, Klee, Shag, Balthus, Fragonard, Gerome, Alma-Tadema, Hopper, and Watteau. Obviously my top favorites are slightly non-mainstream, romantic, sentimental, realistic styles with appealing subject matter, which some would say show a bourgeois taste, but I can defend my tastes logically. I'll try to attach some samples here later.

What do I get out of them? Various things, depending on the painter and genre. To me Bouguereau is about idealism. Homer is about nature and escapism, Redon is a feast of color, Waterhouse is about romance and nature. Some eroticism is also present in some Bouguereau and Waterhouse paintings. Some modern artists like Mondrian, Shag, and Kandinsky I like because they are very midcentury in associations, some artists like Balthus I admire just because they're outrageous, and the renaissance types like Fragonard are about nature, idealism, and some eroticism. To generalize, the most common reason I like most of the paintings I do is because they are inspiring in some way, and add beauty and ideals to a mundane world full of PC screens, office desks, and petty, wearying people.

That's a nice Shag picture you posted I haven't seen before.

Bouguereau, "La Vague"

Winslow Homer, "The Shell Heap"

Odilon Redon: "La Coquille"

John William Waterhouse, "The Siren"

Hopper, "The Long Leg"

Kandinsky, "Flood Improvisation"

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