Since Art Therapy deals with the use of imagery and beauty found in works of part, it felt appropriate that this website reflect some of history's most beautiful and recognizable paintings.  The images and quotations found on this site are from legendary artists who are recognized for their ability to convey their own emotions or that found in a event, such as the Last Supper depicted above.  Art, in its essence, is the ability to take that which is formless in ourselves, and to express it through our imagination.  These artists were truly skilled in this devoir.
Vincent Willem Van Gogh, a Dutch Postimpressionist painter, was a evangelist in his late twenties.  His early paintings express the poverty of the miners in Belgium where he preached.  In 1888 he moved to Province, France and began to incorporate the swirly style of his best known works.  The Starry Night, which he painted in 1889 was a expression of his religious zeal; the bright orange gyrations hovering over the small town engulfed in darkness express a sense of peace and serenity.  The illuminating stars are like guiding lights, giving comfort and direction to the twilight town.
The term Renaissance Man refers to a individual who is skilled in many crafts.  Leonardo da Vinci, alive during the Renaissance period, would seem the archetype for this term.   He was a talented painter as well as a scientist who's study on anatomy and hydraulics would effect inventions for the next century.  He painted The Last Supper on the refectory of a Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan depicts Christ surrounded by his twelve apostles.  The immaculately of Christ is depicted in his calmness in contrast with the commotion of his flawed apostles, who are about to be told by Christ that one of them will betray him.  Unfortunately, the painting which was painted on plaster has dramatically deteriorated despite multiple attempts to restore it.  His more famous work, The Mona Lisa, also known as La Gioconda, survives in the Louvre.  The popularity of this painting lies in its unpretentious depiction of the coy woman, who some have speculated is based on the facial features of da Vinci himself.
Henri Mattise developed his style from painters like Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cézanne.  His works are a blend of intelligence and instinct, the Fauve group, who Mattise was a member of, emphasized the use of emotion in a painting.  Free flowing vibrant colors dominated his works, the most famous being the portrait of his wife, Green Stripe (Madame Mattise).  The painting above, Red Room (Harmony in Red), was painted in a Fauve style, which Mattise painted with progressive reaction to what he felt about what he was painting.
One of the most famous artist of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso was known for his cubist works which boggle the mind and takes one out of the assurance of concrete objects and places one face to face with ambiguity.  Guernica, a mural painted in remembrance of the bombing of the town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War depicted the horros of war with images symbolic of the suffering endured by the people during war.