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“Vermeer was eerie/Vermeer was strange…

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…he had a more modern colour range…” Yeah, Jonathan!

It must be, ooh, ten minutes since we had a “whatother” thread. This prize track from the droll faux-naif minstrel popped up today, and it got me wondering: what other rekkids reference artists? There are two blindingly obvious examples of course, and there will be a QI klaxon for whoever posts them.

Lesbeeavinyew!

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Comments

  6. Obligatory RT mention, and this ones a twofer –

    Van Gogh, Botticelli, scraping paint onto a board.
    Colour is the fipuel,of madness. That’s no way to praise the lord.

    [Outside of the Inside]

  11. A House – Endless Art

    And believe it or not, the original version of “Volare” (“Nel blu dipinto di blu”), about Chagall’s quest for the perfect blue, though that’s obviously ditched in the English version…

  13. Luis Eduardo Aute with a song about Velasquez, Goya and Picasso. In Spanish but that should be no problem for all cosmopolitan polyglots. (One for Senor Salwarpe’s latest project?)

    Aute paints himself and often uses his art for his album covers.

  17. Indigenous artist Albert Namatjira was quite in vogue for a while – he was making so much money that the Oz government very generously made him a citizen (aboriginals weren’t counted in the census till 1967) – the first thing they did after that was to whack him with a huge tax bill….nice folks!

  20. The Afterword squeaks, and out come the freaks ……

    Not content with one artist, wacky Catalan electronica duo Les Bistecs (a Catalan answer to Icona Pop?) take on the entire history of art.

    French band, Hold your horses, are equally ambitious with this entertaining video for their song 70 million.

  34. No YouTube links as I am on my phone in the middle of the Mediterranean.

    Michael Marra talks about Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivero and James Howie in his song ‘ Frida Kahlo’s Visit To The Taybridge Bar’. His song ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe’ mentions Mattisse and is the name of one of his paintings.

  35. I was disappointed to find no song inspired by or mentioning Turner. Then I stumbled across jazz saxophonist Tim Whitehead who was artist in residence at the Tate and produced an album Colour Beginnings (on Spotify) inspired by the great painter.

  36. Black Man Ray by China Crisis , inspired by surrealist Man Ray

    I seem to remember hearing they also took surrealist inspiration (Rene Magritte) for King in a Catholic Style – can’t see it myself though

  37. From The Stone Roses’ Coming Down:

    “Yeah she looks like a painting, Jackson Pollock’s Number 5”

    Well younger folk often have bad acne, but there’s no need to be ungentlemanly about it.

  40. There have got to be a few songs about Salvador Dali.

    Those excellent Spanish popsters Mecano pay tribute:

    A visit to a Dali Exhibition with the Black Lips.

    And the Dukes of Stratophear give the maestro a mention in this fine track:

    “A thousand melting Dali guitars make no sound”

    • Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – Dali’s Car

      Captain Beefheart (Alias Don Vliet – The Van bit was an affectation to inform the world that he knew he was an artist) was a child prodigy sculptor and eventually retired from his music career to concentrate on painting in his later years.
      So now let’s loop back on ourselves to oor pal Michael Marra and “Beefhearts And Bones”, a song about one of the consequences of marital breakdown.

      Robert Plant said in an interview once that, after an unfortunate past incident, he always made sure he never told any of his many close lady friends that he was leaving until his record collection was safely packed away in the car.

  42. I just posted the very funny song “Hippopotamus” by Sparks on the earworm thread, and now I realise I could have posted it here as well – they sing about Hieronymus Bosch (“Bosch!”) in it.

  47. I suspect that Vincent is not the only song about Van the Man.

    Sidetracking, is VG the only famous artist to have appeared in Dr Who? Turner and the Tardis would be interesting.

  51. Talking of Blake, Van Morrison introduced us to that wonderful band William Blake and the Eternals in ‘You Don’t Pull No Punches But You Don’t Push the River’ -by no means his only reference to said artist and poet….

  53. For days I’ve had a niggling feeling that They Might Be Giants had done a painter song, and I’ve tracked it down: Meet James Ensor, Belgium’s famous painter. Dig him up and shake his hand.

  55. Loved that Modugno statue, @gary. Some serious blue sky in the background.

    I once saw a visiting Italian stage show based on Volare. Despite all those cover versions which took away it’s dreamy mysteriousness, it is a wonderful song.

    One thing that is bugging me is that we have no more Italian songs about artists. Art is a topic that I would have thought would appeal to the likes of Franco Battiato etc. could you tack for brains on that one, please?

  59. Detailing the little surprises of an awkward first date, The French’s song Porn Shoes (“she thought they made her sexy, but they weren’t what he expected”) features the lines
    “She stepped inside his house
    And looked around herself
    She saw a poster print by Gustav Klimt
    She thought that rather crass…”
    Fail.

  62. Gnome sweet gnome! You are coming up with some wonderful stuff, Hubert.

    Chagall has already been mentioned (Volare) and here he is this rather lovely song by The Weepies.

    And this catchy Italian pop song.

  63. A slight detour. I was fascinated to discover about the National Gallery’s Soundscapes Exhibit a few years back where a variety of composers, including Jamie XX, got to produce a piece of music inspired by one particular painting.

    I have a great fondness for the NG and their YTube channel seems to be full of interesting stuff.

  64. John Squire of the Stone Roses has done a whole concept album, Marshall’s House (2004), where every song is inspired by an Edward Hopper painting.

    I am rather surprised that there does not seem to be one single pop song that mentions Edward Munch.

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