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Last fall when the lockdown was lifted for some time, and some of the museums in London had started opening up, I visited the National Gallery. It must have been my 20th or 30th visit to the museum (I don't even remember). But it is definitely my most memorable and impactful one. In the last one year, I have started painting and that has completely changed my outlook towards art. Now I realise how difficult painting some things could be, how critical getting the right colours and light is, and so I am able to appreciate and immerse myself in the paintings a lot more than before. Also I have slowly formed my own opinions and likes in art, so it is a lot more enjoyable appreciating and staring at the pieces I like. Which are generally landscapes, flowers, bright colours and realistic scenes. During these museum visits, I am also figuring out which artists and styles I like, and why. And it doesn't bother me if it doesn't match popular opinion - Art, I've realised is pe...

The Thyssen was my favourite museum of the ones I went to in Madrid. And it has an interesting history. This museum showcases paintings collected by the Thyssen-Bornemisza family over the years, one of the largest personal art collections in the world. Even though the Baron was German and wanted to have the display in Germany itself, it ended up shifting to Spain, in the 1990s. Of course, the fact that he was married to a Spanish woman had a part to play in it 😜.   (You can see the museum in 360 view here ) The museum houses some 1600 paintings, some of which the Spanish government bought from the family and the rest are loaned to the museum for a couple of years at a time. Since it is a personal collection, the pieces here span from pre-renaissance times all the way up to modern artists of the 20th century. And the display provides a sort of highlight of the painting styles over the centuries. Galleries of Thyssen The museum is spread over three floors with paintings ...

This article is an incomplete list, of some artists I have encountered while visiting museums (mostly in NY Met and the Prado in Madrid), when I liked some of their paintings and noted it down 😊. I hope to keep updating and adding to this list as I explore more art. Older Artists Juan di Espinosa:  I liked his still life paintings at the Prado museum in Madrid. He painted fruits on a table, like grapes, figs, plums and apples, each one of the fruits appearing life like. As much as I generally don't get drawn to still life paintings, his were different. And I would love to have one in my dining room. You can see these paintings  here , and my favourite of these were Grapes and apple and Octagonal still life . Leonardo Da Vinci: To be honest, I have seen a lot of his paintings, in National Gallery in London, in Florence, Louvre and so on. But I was never drawn to them. When reading his biography though, I understand why he is known as a master. Some of the effec...