It’s rare for the visual arts to make headline news, and it’s unfortunate when they do in a story like this one. On the night of May 19, a masked man entered the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris through a window and stole five oil painted pictures, removing them from their frames and escaping without setting off an alarm. The story quickly made headlines, partially because of the crime’s lurid intrigue and partially because of the estimated value of the words – over $120 million. Since then, we’ve all seen a picture of the painting Le pigeon aux petits pois by Picasso or of La Pastorale by Matisse alongside an article. Those two landscape portraits are usually the only ones mentioned, as the significant but lesser known Modigliani, Léger, and Braque works are often unfortunately lumped together as “three other paintings”.

What can this man possibly be planning to do with his contraband? Plenty of art thieves actually count on simply ransoming the stolen goods back to the owner. More strangely, after a painting has passed through several different owners, it can often be sold to an unknowing customer who is led to believe that the painting is a very high quality reproduction – not the work itself but a skillful oil painting from a picture of the original. What’s most likely in this situation is a third option. Although the value of a stolen painting is markedly less than the official value, the underground art market is unfortunately very healthy. The authorities seem to suspect that this is what’s happening with the five stolen oil portraits, as Interpol has issued a global alert, implying they believe the works may already have been removed from France.

Ever see a painting of a bowl of fruit and wonder, “What the heck would make somebody paint a bowl of fruit…and why should I want to look at it?” To be honest, I used to be one of those people – and I still can be sometimes. Still lifes (yep, in this context it’s “lifes,” not “lives”) often take me more energy and concentration to enjoy than a landscape or portrait does, but usually, the extra focus is worth the additional work.

Still life paintings, which are essentially just paintings featuring inanimate objects positioned by the artist in a plain or nondescript background, have a long history in European painting and have even been found in ancient tombs. Since those earliest known interpretations of the genre, the point has tended to be the same – take ordinary objects and position them in a way that they leave the viewer with a symbolic moral.

Today, you and I might look at that painting of a vase of flowers and think, “Sure, it’s pretty, but it doesn’t mean anything to me.” A lot of the reason that you and I don’t see the symbols is that we don’t live in the same cultural context in which the painting was created. To the people who lived in the time in which the canvas was painted, the symbols would be clear. Sure, to us, a watch might not symbolize temperance like it did for the 17th century Dutch, but to them, a pink ribbon probably didn’t symbolize the battle against breast cancer like it does for us. And plenty of the symbols do make sense, if you just think about them a little bit. A lemon? Well, that’s the simultaneous bitterness and sweetness of life. How about a delicious looking strawberry with a small spot of mold on it? Life is good but short, so enjoy it while you can. See – it’s not so hard to figure out, is it?

For most, our visit to the art museum cannot be complete until we tour the Impressionist Gallery. Visitors of all ages from around the world enjoy the visual legacy created by these distinguished artists.

Most of us have enjoyed these works for as long as we can remember. Grade school publications informed and often highlighted this period hoping to engage some awareness from within our young minds. Thereby hoping to cultivate an early appreciation of the arts. But most of us are unaware of the struggle that was necessary to completely break with 400 year old restrictive regulations. These changes were necessary for the new emerging art form that had its beginnings in France during the 1860’s and a group of young aspiring artists’ desire for artistic independence.

During the Renaissance the knowledge of anatomy, perspective and superior drawing skills were the acceptable intellectual achievements and supported by the established institutions. Because color was associated with the senses and considered a sensual element further study was rejected. Thus, during this period mastering the color palette was neither promoted nor encouraged.