Richard Strauss and Nietzsche: "Also Sprach Zarathustra"

Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 is a tone poem by German composer Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's 1883-1885 philosophical work of the same name.

Strauss conducted its first performance on 27 November 1896 in Frankfurt.

A typical performance lasts roughly 33 minutes.

The initial fanfare - titled "Sunrise" in the composer's programme notes - became well known after its use in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Eumir Deodato's jazz-funk hit version won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

The Strauss monument in Vienna

Johannes Vermeer | View of Delft, 1660-61

"Ever since I saw the View of Delft in the museum in The Hague, I have known that I had seen the most beautiful painting in the world" - Marcel Proust.

View of Delft (Dutch: Zicht op Delft) is an oil painting by Johannes Vermeer (Dutch painter, 1632-1675), painted c. 1659-1661.

The painting of the Dutch artist's hometown is among his best known.

It is one of three known paintings of Delft by Vermeer, along with The Little Street and the lost painting House Standing in Delft, and his only cityscape.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Joie de vivre

"To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty!

There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them" - Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Hugo Salmson | Something in the air

Hugo Fredrik Salmson (1843-1894) was a Swedish painter, known for figures and genre scenes.

Salmson was born in Stockholm, Sweden.

He was the son of Fredrik Ludvig Salmson, a wholesaler, and his wife Maria Perlberg. He initially studied business, but soon decided on an artistic career.

In 1862, he began his studies at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts where he was trained by Johan Christoffer Boklund.

William Henry Gore | Pittore romantico

William Henry Gore RI (1857–1942) è stato un pittore ed acquerellista inglese vissuto tra la fine dell'epoca vittoriana e l'inizio del XX secolo.

È noto per i suoi paesaggi rurali del Berkshire, sua terra natale, e per i suoi piccoli dipinti di genere, raffiguranti bambini ed animali.

Gore si collocava nella tradizione del tardo Romanticismo e Naturalismo vittoriano, fioriti nel periodo a cavallo tra l'inizio del XX secolo, ma che rapidamente divennero fuori moda all'indomani della Grande Guerra e dei successivi cambiamenti sociali e politici.

Salvatore Quasimodo | Estate / Summer

Cicale, sorelle, nel sole

con voi mi nascondo

nel folto dei pioppi

e aspetto le stelle.

Peder Severin Krøyer | Summer Evening at Skagen Beach, The Artist and his Wife, 1899

Vincent van Gogh | Garden with Courting Couples, 1887

Van Gogh called this sunny park scene 'the painting of the garden with lovers'.

Couples in love are strolling under the young chestnut trees and sitting along the winding paths.

He used a free variation on the technique of the Pointillists.

Essential Facts:

Title: Garden with Courting Couples: Square Saint-Pierre

Date: Paris, May 1887

Artist: Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Medium: oil on canvas

Dimensions: 75.0 cm x 113.0 cm

Current location: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)