The accomplished Mexican writer, screenwriter, and director Guillermo Arriaga, one of the most influential literary creators of contemporary Mexican literature and the Spanish-speaking world, says art is gambling by default. The higher the stakes, the more interesting the work.
Art is not able to offer answers, but it encourages questioning. And the more questions it raises, the stronger and more powerful it is. Gambling and casino art are two genres that blended brought nothing less than masterpieces.
Introduction
When it comes to gambling, it doesn't matter what stratum you belong to and what your IQ is. This is evidenced by the fact that many famous rulers, scientists, statesmen, artists, and the biggest scoundrels were avid gamblers throughout history. Gambling inspired many famous artists, and probably the most famous gambler, as evidenced by the title of his famous novel, was the great Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. In the art world of famous paintings and painters, there are so many great gambling artworks that inspire both modern artists and gamblers.
"The Cardsharps" by Caravaggio
Located at the Kimbell Art Museum, this is one of the most famous gambling painting pieces by Caravaggio. The scene portrays card players who are the undisputed protagonists of this artistic gambling composition. Looking at the picture you can understand very well, from the first moment, how a scam is in progress against a younger gambler.
Take a good look at the position of the two Caravaggio cheaters in the painting: both are leaning towards the victim of their deceptions, almost as if they wanted to put pressure on him or were ready to implement the next move of their plan to win by cheating.
Back in the day, finding a trickster was much easier than today. Still, if you use a strategy to beat the roulette wheel or count cards in online blackjack, casinos will look for a way to keep you far and away. The gambling art inspired you to try luck? Find player-to-player reviews of the best
Australian online casino real money games and check out slots, table and card games, and more.
“Casino/Gambling” and “The Gambler” – Zaza Tuschmalischvili
The great Georgian contemporary artist has an entire figurative-surrealistic series of pictures inspired by gambling, and this is one of the best-known. The established artist presented this work to a wider audience in 1995 and sold the first in the series immediately for more than $20,000.
Titled "Gambler", the second painting brought about $13,000 to the artist's bankroll, but we still don't know if he decided to spend it in a casino as part of his educational agenda that could eventually result in more pieces set in this surrounding.
"Argument over a Card Game" by Jan Steen
Jan Steen was a Dutch painter appreciated for his innovative ideas used in his artistic creation. Setting the scene in a lively bar, the talented artisan depicts a poker or backgammon duel went south with characters brought to life using a dose of healthy humour and psychological insights.
In the world of online casinos, arguing stays within the boundaries of a device used to gamble on, so you won't actually find so many similar scenes today. Still, the perfectly caught drama in a dingy bar reminds us how things used to be before HTML5 and other
online casino features designed to suit modern gambling fans. Is it good or bad – it's up to you to decide.
"The Card Players" Paul Cezanne
In the 1890s, the artist dealt with this theme of Caravaggesque inspiration on several occasions and gave the confrontation an exceptional gravity. For the subtle transition of gestures and glances, Cézanne substitutes the massive silhouettes and the silent concentration of the characters.
After painting another twice the size and enriched version of another character - a standing child - Cézanne cut out unnecessary details over three more successive performances, in which only two players face each other in a ruthless cards duel.
In 2011, the heirs of the Greek shipowner George Embiricos sold the painting to the royal family of Qatar. If he was the seller, Paul Cézanne would hold the world record for a private paintings art sale, with an estimated amount of $250 million, according to Vanity Fair magazine revelations. If that happened in our time, could you imagine what a boost for the
Australian gambling industry it would be?
"Soldiers Playing at Cards" by Fernand Léger
Inspired by the man we just talked about and displayed at the Kröller-Müller Museum, in Otterlo, the Netherlands, the famous gambling painting depicts robot-like characters playing cards. The so-called "pioneer of cubism" later stated, "There is no more Cubist than a war like this which neatly divides a man into several pieces and sends him to the four cardinal points".
Instead of leisure time, the painting brings all the horrors of the Great War. The soldier, devoid of physiognomy and gaze, is dehumanized because he becomes a simple mechanic, a man-machine of steel or iron devoid of feelings or humanity.
The largest and most complete of Léger's war paintings, it presents nothing tragic or warlike. Art is no longer figurative and translates the singular and extreme experience with the help of plastic metaphors. War is a card game where you have to destroy your assets, where the game can be rigged…
Conclusion
There are some other great deals, such as Dogs Playing Poker by the famous American artist
Cassius Marcellus Coolidge as many other painters have drawn attention to various aspects of human passions. Works of Caravaggio and Cézanne, trying to convey the atmosphere of gambling, influenced the popularization of the visual arts among ordinary people who are not interested in classical painting.
Gambling and paintings have a lot in common, as Guillermo Arriaga said at the beginning of this article. People admire both, each with its own reason: gambling as a form of earning money without having to work hard (that's just an opinion from uninitiated), while famous painting is something for which one could envy Coolidge or another painter.
In any case, take a look at these paintings - some of them will encourage you to play, other issue warning signs such as stay away from fraudsters and gamble responsibly. This is equally important, no matter if you're a newbie or a professional.
