Title Creatorsort icon Date Era City Country Emotional Sum (Sense of Life or emotional World View) Theme
Feast of Belshazzar Painter: Rembrandt Van Rijn 1635c. 1600s London United Kingdom

The only way to know the sense of life or world view of the painting is through it's history, since the image is very mixed. Shows an opulent and sumptuous world, but the people are obviously distressed over something. Assuming one knows its history, you could conclude it is an exercise in depicting the dangers of the worldly pursuits and wealth.

La Gomena (Towing a Boat) Painter: Ettore Tito 1909 1900s Italy

There is great effort in life, and a woman can be the master of it. This painting is a curious combination of romantic heroism and 19th century genre naturalism. It has a visual dynamism and dramatic content that is strongly romantic, yet the subject is the prosaic task of pulling a boat out of the water.

The will and the power of a woman. Implacable determination.

Staircase Group (aka Portrait of Raphaelle Peale and Titian Ramsay Peale) Painter: Charles Wilson Peale 1795 Philadelphia United States

Perceiving accurately is important and playing with the artistic medium is fun.

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

[Seems mute]

Day at the Beach Painter: J.C. Leyendecker 1932 1900s United States

Fun and cuteness.

Blue Phoenix Painter: Koyo Omura 1921 1900s Chicago United States

A pleasing and lush, possibly claustrophobic, world.

Her Face to the Wind Painter: William Hosner 2006 2000s Traverse City, Michigan United States

One gets the feeling that the young woman is able to stand strong in the world, with panache and beauty all at once.

Facing life in a fresh, strong, vivacious way.

Old Man with a Young Boy Painter: Domenico Ghirlandaio 1490 1400s Florence Italy

Human companionship or family closeness is real.

Quiet familial love. (A grandfather (perhaps) gazing upon a grandson, and vice versa, in a clear moment of happy communion.)

Comedia Painter: Thomas Wilmer Dewing 1892-4c 1800s Philadelphia United States

Life is sumptuous and beautiful and alive.

Feminine vivacity and gaiety

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.

Repose Painter: John White Alexander 1895 1900s New York United States

Life is extravagant and lush and sensual.

Feminine Sensuality is a main theme, though one can argue that a related (equal theme or sub-theme) is: The Lushness of the Material World. The dramatic draped womanly figure pressing against a divan, whose figure is clearly oulined, shares the visual dominance of the painting along with the magnificent sweeps of her dress and the giant pillows, the massive backrest, and even the strong elements of the floor material and the golden back wall. All together a remarkable composition.

Crane Under the Rain Ohara, Shoson: 1928 1900s Japan

Life is difficult.

Riace Bronze A Myron?: c.460 BCE 500 BCE - 1 CE Greece

Man is strong and indomitable

Intelligence, Pride, Strength = Man

Tzena Tzena Tzena Miron - Parish: 1941 1900s Israel

Joyous celebration

Joyous celebration

Of Human Bondage Maugham, W. Somerset: 1915 1900 - 1950 United Kingdom

Life is a fearful gray spread of actions and in-actions without genuine values. We are all deformed in mind or spirit and should accept convention as demanded by those around us.

Man's life is outside his control. Conventionality is the final ideal.

La Grande Nevrose Loysel, Jacques: c.1896 1800s Paris France

The dynamic female body is beautiful and exciting. Although it may not explicitly suggest it, the nude and its tense position could be felt as erotic.

An animated female body is a vessel of perfection.

Blue Steps of Naumkeag Landscape Designer: Fletcher Steele 1937-39 1900 - 1950 Stockbridge, MA United States

elegance and grace

The man-made enhances nature -- it is what makes nature beautiful

Senso-ju Temple at Asakusa Hiroshige: 1840s c 1800s Tokyo Japan

Pure, simple, quiet tranquility.

Horse Seen from Behind Draftsman: Andrea Boscoli 1587c 1500s United States

Not much except perhaps stylistic -- confident, strong drafting style, and a vibrant, alive, horse.

Head of a Bearded Man Domenichino: 1625c 1600s New York United States

Pensive, worried, detached qualities of humanity

Worry is the way of the world.

High Noon Director: Fred Zinnemann 1952 1951-1970 United States

There is palpable evil in the world. There is heroism in the face of evil in the world. The movie is full of fear and foreboding and betrayal.

Civil Society is the ideal, and worth fighting for. Doing what is right is the right way to live. Don't let the evil bastards win. The theme is expressed repeatedly in the movie via the contrast of the Marshall who grimly faces the need to do what he lives for, despite the death facing him, vs. the mealy mouthed town folk, many of which who won't fight for their civil society, and vs. the deputy marshall who portrays the sellout who will give into evil force in order to "get along".

Wall Street Director: Oliver Stone 1987 1971-1990 United States

There are bad people in power who use ordinary people as pawns in their endless pursuit of money. Those who are not ruthless are sheep to be slaughtered by the rich and powerful. Greed is bad.

Financiers are amoral money-grubbing backstabbers, i.e., desire for money corrupts

Wall-E Director: Andrew Stanton 2008 1991-2010 Hollywood United States

The world is garbage, and more garbage and humans have destroyed the earth, because of their wanton consumerism.

Mankind is a blight on the universe, and only cute robots (as opposed to evil robots) can save the earth from human degradation.

American President Director: Rob Reiner 1995 1991-2010 Washington, D.C. United States

Romance is fun, funny and important.

A Few Good Men Director: Rob Reiner 1992 1991-2010 United States

Justice should be fought for, needs to be fought for and can be fragile.

Commitment to a moral code is central to a good man's life.