Whistler didn’t want to bother
To paint anyone else but his mother,
But he did that so well
He must have thought:hell,
Why should I depict my brother?

 

The Dutchman Johannes Vermeer
Did soft interiors with enormous flair.
Even his yellow
Was utterly mellow.
His pictures are totally without glare.

The master of colors that was Titian
Also founded a school called Venetian.
What I admire most
And drink a toast
To, are the portraits, what a magician!

There was also a painter called Giotto
Who often retired to a grotto
What I’d like to know:
Did he do it, so
He could drink himself thoroughly blotto?

 

The maestro’s name was Caravaggio
He was known for his tremendous bravaccio
When he wasn’t painting
He was seen to be fainting
At the sight of a juicy carpaccio.

And then of course there was Freud
Whom it was really best to avoid.
As he got older
He was sexually bolder,
A guy very clearly paranoid.

Somewhere out there dwelled D. Hirst –
How every one loved him at first!
But after a while
Because of his style
We decided he was really the worst!

 

Let’s not forget sculptors, like Moore
Or Georgia, though slightly more dour.
Good old Brancusi
So very choosey
And Mick Buonarroti, for sure!

We’ve got Epstein and Swiss Giacometti
Whose people all look like spaghetti.
Benvenuto Cellini,
David Bernini,
Surely some others whose name ends with -etti! 

There was a French painter called Watteau
Who decided to go on a bateau.
He landed in Kent
Where he promptly went
And stuffed himself full of gateaux.

 

Picasso, the painter from Spain
Drove all the chiquitas insane
Their faces he mangled
He cubed and triangled
Is it sacred or is it profane?

 

 

The painter who’s known as El Greco
I am sure would have liked some Prosecco-
His art in the Prado
As every aficionado
Will tell you, is not at all like Art Deco.

And then there is Monet, the doyen
Of the impressionists. With his moyen
He did water lilies,
Some real dillies.
He is one of France’s most famous citoyen.

Frants Hals’s Laughing Cavalier
Looks like he’d had a bit of beer—
I love his moustache
Which adds to his dash.
There is so much in that canvas to cheer.

 

Matisse was initially a painter
Whose health and well-being grew fainter-
He embraced other media.
He sculpted and when needier
Made cut-outs that got quainter and quainter.

 

Kandinski was at first an attorney
But art became his principal  yearning-
When thirty of age,
He turned a new page
And started on an illustrious journey.

Piet Mondrian’s‘s thing  was the square.
He never really did care
For figurative art.
As for my part,
I adore his colorful fare.

 

 

Paul Klee‘s first love was etching,
But then he progressed by stretching
His talent immense
Used other media, hence
His work became very fetching.

 

The Russian painter Chagall
Decided to borrow from them all:
Fauvism, Modernism,
Cubism, even Chauvinism,
And the results do greatly enthral.

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