Art inspired by Music

As you know, artists find inspiration all around!  Music can sometimes be an artists' jam. There are a variety of ways and mediums visual artists express themselves.  Like artists, musicians express themselves in many genres and music styles.  Classical, Rock n' Roll, Jazz, Pop, Country, Rhythm and Blues and Hip Hop.   

Jazz Village, by Romare Bearden

Let's look at artists who have found rhythms and beats INSTRUMENTAL to their work.  How can you tell artist Romare Bearden was inspired by music?

Romare Bearden (1912–1988), Empress of the Blues, 1974, acrylic and pencil on paper and printed paper, 

What musical instruments can you almost hear in Romare 's collage, Empress of Blues? Name as many as you can.

In his collage art, Romare pastes cut out colored papers and parts of photographs together.  (What's another word for Paste?)  The figures become compressed or look sort of smooshed together.  

Wassily Kandinsky is another artists who incorporates the movement of music in his art. He was an abstract artist deeply inspired by music.

Composition 8 (Komposition 8)

He played the violin from an early age and even gave his works of art musical titles: 'Improvisations', Compositions’, and 'Fugue.' 

Improvisation 28

Geometric shapes and curved lines create a sense of movement and rhythm.  Wassily is said to have used the music of Arnold Schoenberg as inspiration for the painting.

Wassily Kandinsky, Fugue 

Ask Mrs. Shanker what Fugue means when you are in music this week.

Another artist inspired by a love of music was Henri Matisse.  

Music was a constant part of Henri Matisse’s life and an endless source of enjoyment and inspiration. He played the violin daily, and his dedication to the structure of playing, learning and technique carried over to his artistic practice.

La Musique

Violinist and Young Girl, 1921

What instrument did Henri play daily?  How is it clear or evident he knows about violin and practice? This subject of music shows up in multiple paintings of Henri's.

We don't have to see musical instruments in the art for the art to be influenced by music.

Painter Piet Mondrian who was known to take his love of music and dancing as seriously as he took his painting.

Jazz music and the ‘boogie-woogie’ style of dancing that was popular at the time became the title of the painting Boogie Woogie. New York City has a bustling energy and night life, and it becomes the abstract subject of Boogie Woogie jazz in his paintings. 

Yvonne Osei, born 1990; EXTENSIONS, 2018; single-channel video

Jazz is a style of music and so is Hip Hop. What is Hip Hop?

Hip Hop is a style of music that has been around for over 50 years and The St. Louis Art Museum is celebrating this 50th anniversary with a special exhibit of art inspired by Hip Hop music. Let's look at how Hip Hop inspired art.

Derrick Adams, American, born 1970; “Style Variation 34”, 2020;

This Derrick Adams artwork is called Style Variations. It celebrates how we as individuals make style choices. Hip Hop music inspires Fashion, makeup, dance, hair styles, lifestyle or what we refer to as culture.  The title of this special exhibit is The Culture.  

Culture consists of beliefs and behaviors that are traditionally practiced by a group of people. culture, which includes such things as what people eat, how they worship, the language they speak, and the art they create.

Aaron Fowler,  Live Culture Force 1’s,  2022

Aaron Fowler is the St. Louis-born artist whose work is centerpiece in the St. Louis Art Museum lobby — a nine-foot-long, five-foot-high, four-foot-wide sculpture of shoes modeled after Nike’s iconic Air Force 1 sneakers.

Aaron says, "I ended up making the Air Force 1's to represent the dance battles and the B-boying aspect of this movement.”  Does anyone know what B-Boying or Dance Battles are? Break dancing is energetic and acrobatic and danced to Hip Hop Music.  Fashion and outfits are fresh and so are the shoes of Hip Hop.

Does anyone know how these circle and rectangles might be related to music?  St. Louis based artist Jen Everett, from the series Unheard Sounds, Come Through.  Speakers create this sculpture from the art exhibit.

More art from The Culture reveals what hip-hop personally means to each artist. Artist Shinique Smith’s graffiti sculpture shows the influence of mural and graffiti art that she created when she was younger. Hip Hop influenced graffiti and murals and this is how Hip Hop influenced Shinique's art.

Have you ever heard of the phrase When life gives you lemons?  Megan Lewis art titled,  Fresh Squeezed Lemonade (2022) is expressing making the best out of life.  Notice her jewelry, fancy glitter nails and hair style.

So many artists are included in the exhibit inspired by Hip Hop music.  One of them we learned about last year during Black History Month.  Can you pick out the painting by Jean Michel Basquiat? 

Hip Hop is more than just music.   It has inspired fashion, dance, art and style.  The Culture art exhibit is at the St. Louis Art Museum until January 1.  The art show celebrates the art of many St. Louis artists.  Here is a quick glimpse.  I hope you get to go to this exciting show.

Does music inspire you?

Does music change your mood, or make you more productive?

How does your Culture inspire your art?

enchanted forests and tree art

You might say this art is tree-mendous!

Forests and trees have been featured in stories, fairytales, settings for plays.  Artists are inspired by the world around them. Let's explore trees and forests through the eyes of artists.

Contemporary artist Trenton Doyle Hancock created a forest of fabric trees as the scenery for the Austin Ballet Company.  For a short time, this same tree mural was later installed at our Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis.

Trenton creates large tangled forests and gnarled tree artworks filled with line and pattern.  This massive tree, almost is like a maze that Trenton wants you to find your way out of the puzzle.  The word Legends wraps around the tree sending a message of power and hope.

During the first Spring of the pandemic, like most people who were staying home, English artist David Hockney looked to his surroundings and garden for inspiration.  

Can you tell what inspired his work?  David creates in many mediums and these artworks were made on an Ipad.  

Over several years, Piet Mondrian did many studies of trees and over time trying to use as few lines as possible.  

With only lines, we still recognize the drawings and paintings as trees.

Piet Mondrian – Horizontal Tree, 1911

Evening; Red Tree (1908-1910) by Piet Mondrian


Brazilian photographer and filmmaker Vitor Schietti waits patiently to capture a photo of a light filled tree.  

As twilight fills the sky, Vitor sets up his camera and snaps photos of the branches and the tree canopy filled with light from LED lights and fireworks.

These sculptural trees look like they were cut down from the forest.  They are actual branches, roots and the bark of real trees. 

 Ai Weiwei gathered tree parts from his homeland of China.   The pieces and parts of different trees are reconstructed to create one tree. What does reconstructed mean? In China parts of a tree are sold at markets as a decorative item to be displayed in the home.  

Egon Schiele's trees seem to each be going through the growing seasons.  Imagine how a tree looks in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

Four Trees (1917) by Egon Schiele

Grandma Moses, an untrained artist, capture trees at various season in her folk art paintings.  What season is painted in this artwork?  Grandma Moses gave us clues that might tell you what type of trees these are. Do you know?

Some artists show the entire tree from roots, trunk and canopy and others zoom in.  What clues tell you Van Gogh painted an Almond Tree?

Almond Blossoms (1890) by Vincent van Gogh

Lee Gil-rae's "Millennium ― Old Pine Tree 2019-3," left, and Jeong Hong-rae's 18th century painting "Scholars with a Pine Tree"

Korean artist Lee Gil Rae uses nature as his source of inspiration to craft intricate tree-form sculptures from steel and copper. He says his art is in response to deforestation and environment.  

Avenue of Schloss Kammer Park (1912) by Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt painted both of these tree artworks but he also painted this tree...

Tree of Life was painted first as a study for a mosaic that fills a dining room wall in a palace in Belgium. The Tree of Life represents wisdom, protection, strength, and beauty. It reaches up into the sky and down into the earth.

Quietly raise your hand when you know where this Silver Tree sculpture is located?

Roxy Paine has created several version of stainless steel trees.  Roxy wants the silvery branching sculpture to show her care about the environment.

Will you create art inspired by nature?

Will trees inspire your work?