What Is In A Title?
What about you - do you title your paintings? What kind of titles do you use? Are the titles descriptive, poetic, random, long, short, weird, or something else? Why do some paintings have no title at all - ahem, Untitled? Why are some modern titles so strange? This topic is explored in this fascinating video produced by @SolarSands.
It turns out that for many paintings, the title we know them by today is not their actual title. For example, Do you know the titles of these paintings? Click on each image below to reveal the real title.
The Night Watch | Actual Title: Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq | Rembrandt van Rijn
The Mona Lisa | Actual Title: La Gioconda (Italian); La Joconde (French) | Leonardo da Vinci
The Great Wave of Kanagawa | Actual Title: Under the Wave Off Kanagawa | Katsushika Hokusai
Whistler's Mother | Actual Title: Arrangement In Grey and Black No. 1 | James McNeill Whistler
I prefer paintings to have a title. I’m especially intrigued by titles that arouse my curiosity. While some artists prefer that their paintings speak entirely for themselves, I enjoy having a jumping-off point provided by a thoughtful title.
