10 Surprising Masterpieces You Can Find in DailyArt App

We thought about what you might find interesting regarding the masterpieces featured in the app, and we figured it out – we would like to share with you the 10 most surprising, unexpected, and intriguing masterpieces published in DailyArt so far. After all these years, even we were surprised to discover them in our archive 😀

One more things before we start: you can download the DailyArt app for free on iOS and Android.

And now…

10 Surprising Masterpieces for the 10th Birthday of DailyArt App

1. Psychotic Killer Bunny With Axe

This is one of my personal favorites. To be honest, I was enchanted by medieval killer rabbits at one point. Unfortunately, this amazing masterpiece has no title. Among scientists, it is known from its official library address: “Paris, Bibl. de la Sorbonne, ms. 0121, f. 023,” which means nothing to any normal human being. But, as we can see it is a rabbit holding an axe. Why on earth was it painted on a very expensive, luxurious item such as a medieval manuscript? It is unknown but you must know one thing—medieval monks had a very interesting sense of humor. Also, they were probably bored to death while all they did was pray and rewrite books. Maybe because of that, they quite often added little somethings from themselves in so-called marginalia. In these margins, they painted an upside-down world full of jokes, funny creatures, social caricatures, sex, and many other things. Killer rabbits were very popular as well. They had killer weapons, tortured human beings and dogs, rode on snails, and had battles.

This bunny is particularly vicious. Look at how he smiles! Doesn’t he remind you of Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicolson in Kubrick’s The Shining? But in reality, he is just a regular psychotic rabbit from a medieval manuscript.

P.S. Here are more of them. Beware!

2. Moritz von Schwind, Cats Symphony

As you may know, we love cats, art, and music. This is a perfect combination! Moritz von Schwind was a 19th-century Austrian painter and draftsman. Cats Symphony, one of his best-known hand drawings, is the humorous depiction of a melody for violins in which instead of notes, numerous cats move across the paper.

The composition can be interpreted as a caricature of Richard Wagner’s music, which the artist did not appreciate very much. Schwind gave the sheet away to one of his friends, violinist Joseph Joachim. The reason for the gift was Joachim’s appointment as director of the Berlin University of Music. On January 19, 1869, Schwind sent Eduard Mörike a letter and a photo of the drawing. It says:

“I became a musician, a future musician in the second higher degree. Get rid of the old, stiff, dry noting system! Obsolete, overcome, discarded stuff – I need a new, spiritual, lively means of expression for my new, unimagined thoughts – whether they are sounds, images or the devil knows what – I have achieved the incredible. This sonata dedicated to Joachim is clear proof. He admits he is unable to play it – that wizard on the violin! Incidentally, it can be noted that Joachim and I belong to the famous Order of the Black Cat and that it was this inconspicuous occasion – that brought about this giant leap in music.”

3. Thomas Heine, Siegfried

OK, we love cats but we also like dogs, especially melancholic ones. Not much is known about this painting. As we can see, it offers a lonely pug sitting on a beautiful red armchair. Maybe he is waiting for his master or dreaming about going for a walk. His name is Siegfried, which sounds like the best possible name for him.

What is known though, is that the painting was created by Thomas Theodor Heine, a German painter and illustrator, best known for his work for the satirical Munich magazine Simplicissimus. His style was influenced by Jugendstil and the works of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Aubrey Beardsley. It seems that Heine was a dog person; there is a famous poster he made for Simplicissimus with a red French Bulldog, which is now in the collections of many museums (including MoMA).

4. Zdzislaw Beksinski, AA72

Zdzislaw Beksinski is one of the revelations of the DailyArt app. He was a Polish artist, not very well known in the international art history world. However, every time we present his works in DailyArt, the number of likes left by users is enormous! Zdzisław Beksiński’s spirituality is both a fascinating and complicated topic. It is commonly known that he wasn’t religious in any traditional way. Maybe for that reason, Christian eschatology offered no support to him, making his fear of death (understood as a metaphysical end of existence) so horrifying and, at the same time, a driving force of his art.

In that context, it’s somewhat surprising that there are so many religious motifs in Beksiński’s art. For example, the crucifix motif is present even in his drawings and photos from the 1950s and, in his mature painting, becomes one of the major motifs. Even his last painting, finished a few hours before Beksiński’s tragic death, shows the cross on a background of worn fabric. Beksiński himself was never able to explain his tendency for placing the crucifix in his works.

One of the things that deeply affected Beksiński in his childhood was Psalm 23. Throughout his life, he often recalled its words:

(…) Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me (…).

The painting AA72 seems to illustrate that fascination. It shows a mysterious, dark valley, which resembles the biblical valley from the Psalm. At the bottom of the valley, there is a small human figure, overshadowed by two rows of ponderous, stony monks, with skulls instead of heads. Compared with them, the figure looks even more meager. Yet, they make their way through the valley, lighting the way with the torch kept in their left hand. We don’t know where they are coming from nor where they are heading.

5. Two Young Men in Erotic Embrace

To be honest, I don’t know much about Persian art. However, when I saw this masterpiece I was delighted! Persian poetry celebrated both spiritual and sexual love between men. Miniatures illustrate this as well. This one from the 19th century shows two young men in a playful, sensual embrace. A youth in gray is hugging a youth in blue and gold. The background has stylized shrubs and stones which are drawn with a brush in black. The scene is framed by an ornamental border painted in solid colors and with thin, colored framing lines.

6. Wisława Szymborska, The Cat

This collage was made by art fan and poetess, Wisława Szymborska. In 1996, she received the Nobel Prize in Literature “for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality.”

Szymborska’s secretary, Michał Rusinek in his essay On Understanding the Cut-and-Paste Cards wrote about her collages:

“Szymborska through most of her life created postcard-size collages, which had been sent to her friends over many years. The first collages were made in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Szymborska claimed that she had taken up the technique because she was unable to find nice postcards and decided to make some of her own. ‘Please don’t visit me for a few days because I’m going to be an artist,’ she would tell her friends once a year, in early November. This was not an expression of a sudden withdrawal of hospitality or an onset of inspiration that required isolation from the world. The reasons were quite practical: all over her flat, the floor was scattered with cut-outs from newspapers and magazines, which she used to make collages that she called wyklejanki (cut-and-paste cards). She made such pictorial compositions every year, for over 40 years.”

Nice, isn’t it? I love that cat! : )

7. Venus of Willendorf

Yes, Venus of Willendorf is often called the Mona Lisa of the Paleolithic Age. We were so happy to feature her in DailyArt thanks to NHM Vienna! This 29,500-year-old figure is one of the most expressive works of art from the Paleolithic Age. The statuette was found in 1908 during an archeological dig and, at the time, was the oldest complete human figure. As you can imagine she quickly gained fame. 

So what is so special about it? It depicts a mature woman, and despite its small size, it is remarkably realistic and has some amazing details! Just look at those thin arms resting on the heavy breasts, the slightly tilted head, and her elaborated hairstyle (or as some suggest a basket weave cap). The figurine was carved out of limestone and was originally coated with red chalk – red being the symbol of life, death, and rebirth at the time.

It lacks any facial features, so most likely it is not a depiction of an individual but rather a universal… beauty(?). We are still not sure what was the real meaning behind it, which makes Venus of Willendorf even more intriguing. 

8. Fernando Botero, Ex-voto

I love Fernando Botero. He is amazing. This oil painting is a true example of the sense of humor that characterizes his works. It contains a series of symbolic elements that represent the difficult financial situation that he was going through at that time. It shows the themes and features of the artist’s work: religion, politics, self-reference, humor, and iconography of art history. These consistently appear throughout his oeuvre and are fundamental in understanding his work.

At the bottom left of the canvas, on the representation of a frame easel, is written: “EX-VOTO, IN APPRECIATION FOR RECEIVING THE FIRST PRIZE OF THE COLTEJER ART BIENNIAL, THE LEADER IN TEXTILES. SIGNED BOTERO AND FAMILY. MAY, 1970.”

I love how that huge Maria is giving the money to the poor artist, and that tiny little angel is carrying a huge Colombian flag. Well, Botero is a well-known patriot, this scene couldn’t be shown any other way. : )

9. Pablo Picasso, Seated Woman with Fish-Hat

We rarely present modern art in DailyArt app because of copyright issues. Here, thanks to Stedelijk Museum, we were able to feature Pablo Picasso‘s work. And what work! A woman with a FISH on her head! But what is it about? Was it a joke about some acquaintance? The painting was created midway through World War II. Picasso stayed in Paris during the entire Nazi occupation. He did not bother to exhibit his work during this time, but he never stopped creating. Was he making fun of women’s frivolous fashions during wartime?

You must be a genius to paint a woman with a fish hat, that’s my opinion. It’s also one of my favorite Picasso paintings.

10. Hilma af Klint, The Ten Largest, No. 3, Youth, Group IV

11 years is a long time, even for art history. We remember the time when Hilma af Klint, the inventor of abstract art, was completely forgotten! In 2017, when we featured this work created by Af Klint, her name was still relatively unknown and the great exhibition at the Guggenheim, which revealed her greatness to a wider audience, was still in preparation.

Hilma af Klint was a pioneer of abstract art. She painted her works before Kandinsky, which for decades were considered the first. Af Klint was deeply interested in Spiritualism, theosophy, as well as anthroposophy, all of which influenced her art. She believed that a higher consciousness was speaking through her while painting. Using colorful compositions, full of geometric shapes, symbols, and ornamentation, she eventually created new, abstract universes.