Title Creator Date Era City Country Emotional Sum (Sense of Life or emotional World View) Theme
Johnson Wax Building Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright 1939 1900 - 1950 Racine United States

Day to day life can be exalted and pleasurable.

To Work should be a condition of grandeur and joy.

Othello: the Moor of Venice Playwright: William Shakespeare 1603 1600s Stratford-on-Avon United Kingdom

Malevolence and horrible tragedy is unrelieved.  Evil is potent.

A great man can be gullible and controlled by an evil character.  Or, an evil character can have potency in the world, because of the weakness of a good man.

Chariot of Apollo Sculptor: Jean Baptiste (1630-1700) Tuby 1668-1670 1600s Versailles France

The world has thrilling powerful men of action.  There are no limits to what can be achieved.

Elegant, physical power.  The fantasy ability to fly through water and air with grace and ease.

Trustee from the Toolroom Author: Nevil Shute 1960 United Kingdom

A feeling of gentleness, kindness and generosity towards good people in the world.

The importance of pursuing one's personal values.

Psyche Author: Phyllis Brett Young 1959 Canada

Optimistic, Hopeful, even under terrible circumstances.

We are beings of self-made soul

Etudes Choreographer: Harold Lander 1948 Pre-1950 Ballet/Dance New York United States

Thrilling pleasure at beautiful movement and great success at developing the best within you.

Hard work results in great achievement in life -- and that results in beauty and excitement in life.

The Samovar Painter: Emil Carlsen 1920c. 1900s

The world is full of textural richness worth looking at.

The richness of light and the objects it caresses.  This is a paean to the richness of visual experience, but with the simplest of materials -- just a light source and two kinds of simple unadorned objects.

Ferrari Dino 246 GT Designer: Enzo Ferrari 1969 Italy

The world is a place of speed and elegance.

Merry Widow (Die Lustige Witwe) Composer: Franz Lehar 1905 1900s Vienna Austria

Love brings gaiety and joy to life.

Love can be gay and tender, solemn and lighthearted, painful and joyous.

Dangerous Beauty Director: Marshall Herskovitz 1998 United States

The world is a horrible split of conventional marital morality vs. honest but promiscuous morality. The way to live requires one sacrifice one's body for one's soul.

  1. The importance of accepting your own rules for living, your own morality.
  2. The grim metaphysical conflict for a Venetian woman of being a slave to a husband or a free woman requiring sexual work.
Diana Sculptor: Auguste Saint-Gaudens 1892 1900s New York United States

Serenity in action. But not a strong world view in any case, quite placid.

Euphronios Krater aka Sarpedon Krater Vase Painter: Euphronios 515 BC Greece

Exquisitely beautiful hardship.

Spider Web Narcissi Table Lamp Designer: Louis Comfort Tiffany circa 1902 1900-1950 United States

Richness of form, sumptuous shapes.

Green fabric Designer: Mariano Fortuny circa 1920 Italy

Still produced by the Fortuny fabric company.

David Sculptor: Michelangelo Buonarotti 1504 1500s Florence Italy

Man is a strong, indomitable creature who has the intelligence to overcome terrible odds.

[requires assumption of some context of this work -- not a "cold" introduction to it]: A man able to face a daunting task, with tremulous calm and determination. This is the depiction of the David/Goliath story of the Bible in which David takes on the much more formidable Goliath and wins.

Burn Notice Creator: Matt Nix 2007 Miami United States

Anything can be done if you are smart and motivated enough.

Eiffel Tower Designer: Gustave Eiffel 1889 Paris France

The works of Man are thrilling.

Pirelli Calendar Diver Photographer: Uwe Ommer 1984 Italy

Women can be strong, dynamic and unconsciously beautiful.

Confectionary Basket from Japan, Fukui region Designer: Anonymous unknown Japan

Life can be dynamic and purposeful and intriguing -- because of the dynamic form and economy of materials and diagonal symmetry of the composition.

Composition with Red Yellow Blue and Black Painter: Piet Mondrian 1921 The Hague Netherlands

[Seems mute]

Die Hard Director: John McTiernan 1988 July 15 United States

The way to beat evil is to give no quarter, no compromise. Life is hard, but fighting for the right is rewarded.

Giving up in life is not an option.

Rembrandt Director: Korda Alexander 1936 1931-1950 United Kingdom

Life is hard as an independent spirit, and wealth will elude you, but you will be happy, after a fashion.

Dirty Dancing Director: Emile Ardolino 1987

Life is passionate and meaningful.

The joy and passion of love and life and dancing, while learning integrity and independence.

Black Stallion Director: Carroll Ballard 1979 Sardinia Italy

Everything is possible between boy and beast, between an innocent human and mother nature.

Man and nature in harmony. At least this is the theme of the first half of the movie. See "Description" and "Context" info below for more on this comment.

Mad Men Creator: Matthew Weiner 2007 Los Angeles United States

Men must sell their souls in order to live, and they are chauvinist pigs to boot. And women are sluts. Dark.