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If you are crazy about paintings, you shouldn’t miss the following four famous masterpieces which have stood the test of time.
The Arnolfini Portrait
Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait, an oil painting on wood produced in 1434, in which a man and a woman hold hands with a window behind him and a bed behind her, is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces in the National Gallery, London. This painting is as visually interesting as it is famed. It is also an informative document on fifteenth-century society, through Jan van Eyck’s heavy use of symbolism—while husbands went out to engage in business, wives concerned themselves with domestic duties.
The Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh painted The Starry Night, oil on canvas (帆布), a moderately abstract landscape painting of an expressive night sky over a small hillside village, during his 12-month stay at the mental hospital near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France between 1889 and 1890. When the Museum of Modern Art in New York City purchased the painting from a private collector in 1941, it was not well known but it has since become one of Vincent van Gogh’s most famous works.
The Harvesters
The Harvesters is an oil painting on wood completed by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1565. It demonstrates the harvest time which most commonly occurred within the months of August and September. Nicolaes Jonghelinck, a merchant banker and art collector from Antwerp, commissioned（委托制作） this painting. The painting has been at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City since 1919.
Guernica
Guernica, a large black-and-white oil painting, was painted by the Cubist Spanish painter, Pablo Picasso in 1937. The title “Guernica” refers to the city that was bombed by Nazi planes during the Spanish Civil War. The painting demonstrates the horrors of war and as a result, has come to be an anti-war symbol and a reminder of the tragedies of war. Today, the painting is housed at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofaí in Madrid.
1. Which of the following paintings was produced latest?
A. The Arnolfini Portrait. B. The Starry Night.
C. The Harvesters. D. Guernica.
2. Who created the painting describing the harvest time?
A. Pieter Bruegel the Elder. B. Vincent van Gogh.
C. Jan van Eyck. D. Pablo Picasso.
3. What can we know according to the passage?
A. In Jan van Eyck’s time, husbands were also responsible for housework.
B. Nicolaes Jonghelinck enjoyed the same reputation as Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
C. The Starry Night wasn’t widely recognized before 1941.
D. Guernica is collected at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
