I like Caspar David Friedrich. I generally like landscape paintings, especially by the Romantic painters. The emotion they convey is palpable.

I can understand how that can be interesting to someone. But it's not especially interesting to me, especially the art made before the invention of the camera. Obviously, we're talking about personal preference here, but I don't especially like the remove that I get from most landscape painting.

John William Waterhouse and Salvador Dali are two of my favorite artists. I usually enjoy the Impressionism section of museums the most.

"art made before the invention of the camera"

What? The 99.99% of how humanity chose to represent their existence doesn't interest you?

wow.

Is there any more inspiring painting than Napoleon crossing the st bernard pass? Thats heroism in the form of art.

Max Ernst
Umberto Eco
HR Giger
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The monks who made the Book of Kells
Mozart

Perhaps if we narrowed this down to favorite visual artists?

Right, thats what i had in mind.

Rolf Harris. Can you tell what it is yet?

After spending a while in the Louvre and various Italian galleries I've forgotten the names of I concluded that most classical art is, frankly, a bit shite. Same can be said of most modern stuff that gets pumped out these days.

The best place to find human created art is in the construction of buildings, be they Egyptian temples or skyscrapers. Aside from that there is little worth bothering with.

Thats rather dour, octavious.

I'd have thought you'd find such a thing an example of over-indulgence by the privileged rich classes and a disgusting example of elitism and exploitation and all that song and dance, Putin...

It is a striking painting. Especially if you want to glorify ambition. Personally I find the High Gothic cathedrals much more inspiring.

It's hard to limit myself on this. If I have to narrow it down, I'd probably say that the most striking period to me, in terms of sculpture, painting, architecture, and music, is the Baroque period. Bernini's "Ecstasy of St. Theresa", the works of Bach, the painting of Caravaggio, Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Velazquez, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. What other period exhibited such mastery of their art, and such passion in execution?

Two artists separated by two centuries, one reflecting the other and making his legacy so refined that it becomes as light as Venetian air: Veronese and Tiepolo.

Lovely description, Zmaj, and lovely artists.

@Oct - While I actually enjoy fine art too, I too find art in man's engineering. But I think some of mankind's greatest art can be found in the automobile. Cars like the Corvette C2 (especially the 5 Corvette Grand Sports from the mid 60s) or a Ferrari GT (Ferris Bueller's kit car replica is simply gorgeous) or older cars like the Deusenberg or the early Mercedes (or a gull wing SL). Form meets function makes art. But I also agree that buildings like the Chrysler building and bridges like the Roebling suspensions bridge (the Brooklyn bridges little sister here in Cincinnati) are truly architectural art.

Zora Arkus-Duntov
Harley Earl
Carroll Shelby
Raymond Loewy (designed the Avanti)
Fritz Fiedler & Peter Szymanowski (designers of the original (1936) BMW 328)
Chip Foose (a different kind of car artist, but a Foose is... we... a Foose!)

Thanks for your unsolicited snark as always, obi.

There is nothing aesthetic to me about the asphalt culture of modernity and machinery.