Aino's Modus Operandi

Jacques Louis David
René Magritte
Pablo Picasso
Vincent van Gogh
Information desired on these:

Jacques Louis David
David was born 1748 in Paris, France. He is considered to be the leading figure of Neoclassical painting. He married Charlotte Pécoul twice, first in 1782, but she divorced him for his revolutionary activities in 1794. Two years later they remarried, and stayed together until David's death 1825. They had two sons and twin daughters.

The episode "Learning From The Masters" deals with David's "The Death Of Marat" oil painting. David painted it in 1793. Jean-Paul Marat was a French Revolutionary (revolution of 1789 after which France became a republic). He was assassinated by Charlotte Corday, who was a supporter of the French King. Marat had a special skin condition that required regular baths. One day while he was in the bath, Corday burst in with a personal petition. She plunged a knife into Marat's chest when he was reading her petition. It is her letter that Marat is holding in the painting (although the handwriting is David's). The murder weapon lies on the floor, and Marat holds Corday's letter in his left hand, while his right hand is clutching an ink pen. David painted on the side of the wooden table, on which some papers and an ink bottle lie, "À Marat, David, L'An Deux" which translates "To Marat, David, Year two".

"The Death Of Marat" has been applauded for its composition of the scene; it is very direct in its purpose. David thought that art should provide noble examples to the French of the Revolution, and to immortalize their achievements.

Other famous works of David's include "The Oath Of The Horatii", "The Death Of Socrates", "Return Of The Sons Of Brutus" and "The Sabine Women". "The Death Of Marat" is displayed in the "Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique" museum in Brussels, Belgium.

René Magritte
René Magritte was born in 1898 in Lessines, Belgium. He married Georgette Berger in 1922. Magritte's early work was influenced by Futurism and Cubism. Nevertheless, he is a renowned Surrealist artist. Magritte died in 1967.

The oil painting on the left is the "The Lovers" (Les Amants), There are at least three other paintings of Magritte's in which he employed a veil to hide some elements: "The Invention Of Life", "Symmetrical Cunning" and "The Central Story", all painted during 1927 and 1928. It is thought that these veils represent a desire to achieve an effect of alienation. To Magritte, what is concealed is more important than what is open to view.

"The Lovers" is in a private collection in Brussels. Some of Magritte's most famous paintings are "The Menaced Assassin", "The Treachery of Images" and "La grande guerre".

Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz y Picasso was born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain. His father José was an art teacher, who had married his cousin Maria. Pablo had three brothers. He studied art in Barcelona from 1985 to 1904. He took the last name of his mother, Picasso, at the age of eighteen. He settled in Paris 1904, where he lived until 1945. His works of art range from Cubism to Surrealism. Some of his master pieces are "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" (Women of Avignon) (1907), "The Violin" (1913) and "Guernica" (1937). From 1946 to his death in 1973 he lived in the South of France. He was prolific to the end, and it has been said that no other man has changed more radically the nature of art.

Vincent van Gogh
Van Gogh was born in 1952 in Brabant, The Netherlands. His father was a pastor, and three of his uncles were art dealers. He became a school master in England, and acted as a missionary in Belgium. He turned to art in 1880 for livelihood. He was practically self-taught, although he received some technical advice and lessons from his cousin Anton Mauve, an artist himself. In 1886 van Gogh left for Paris, where he lived with his brother Theo. In 1888 he went to Arles, where a fellow painter Paul Gauguin joined him. In a violent quarrel between Gauguin and himself, van Gogh cut out a piece of his ear. From 1888 to 1890 van Gogh suffered nervous breakdowns, and in 1890 he committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest. He'd sold only one painting before his death. His master pieces include "The Potato Eaters" (1885), "Sunflowers" (1887), "Starry Night" (1889) and "Self-portrait with Eat Cut Off" (1889).

Information desired on these:

1. A painting or a photograph. A person is lying on his stomach, with his right arm stretched out to northeast. His index finger is pointing.
2. A painting or a photograph. A man together with a dog, the dog's paws are crossed over the man's chest.
3. A painting or a photograph. A man lying on a beach, seems like he's taking a nap. Could be George Seurat's "Une Baignade, Asnières" (1884) or "Un Dimanche à La Grande-Jatte" (Sunday on the Grande-Jatte) (1884).
4. Corrier's "Born into the Womb". This is the title of the work of art which was "employed" with the first victim. Could be connected to either point one or two.
5. Lawhorn's "Who Number One". A person is sitting, wearing a cloak that hides his face from view.

Bibliography:
Janson, H. W. History of Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1995.
Meuris, Jacques. René Magritte 1898-1967. Cologne: Bendikt Taschen Verlag GmbH, 1994.
Murray, Peter, and Linda Murray. The Penguin Dictionary of Art and Artists. London: Penguin Group, 1989.
The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Art and Artists. Edited by Herbert Read. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1989.
Maailman taide Klassismi. Edited by Valkonen, Markku, and Olli Valkonen. Porvoo: WSOY, 1982.

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