The Locations That Inspired Famous Oil Paintings THEN & NOW. See the painting, see the location.

El Greco's The Annunciation Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

El Greco, The Opening of the Fifth Seal The Vision of St. John: Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

El Greco A View of Toledo Then and Now Photo and Oil Painting.

A View of Toledo is among the best-known depictions of the sky in Western art, along with Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night and the landscapes of J. M. W. Turner and Claude Monet, among others.

Most striking is the unmistakable color contrast between the dark and somber skies above and the shining green slopes beneath. While influenced by the Mannerist style, El Greco's expressive treatment of color and form is without parallel in the history of art.

In this work of art, he takes liberties with the actual design of Toledo, seeing that specific building locations are re-arranged. Be that as it may, the area of the Castle of San Servando, on the right, is accurately depicted. This painting already has hints of abstraction, with the city, landscape, and sky being composed of circular patterns.

El Greco A View of Toledo, Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

The tilt-shift A View of Toledo photo had many possible areas that could give a perspective of distance, but because of the numerous angles of walls and landscape, the most appropriate area to focus on was the river. From this vantage point, distance is simulated in various directions.

Read the interesting biography of El Greco and see all the famous oil painting reproductions by El Greco. Click A View of Toledo if you like the oil painting and want to purchase it.

William Etty, Monk Bar, York Then and Now Photo and Oil Painting.

William Etty painted in 1838, Monk Bar, York, one of four oil paintings he did on this subject. By 1826, four of the city's "Bars", short for Barbicans (a tower over a gate that is used for defensive purposes), had been demolished. Etty began writing letters to local papers in 1832 for the preservation of the city walls and the remaining Barbicans. These were planned to be demolished to open up the city, which by now had outgrown itself. Some newspapers were supportive of preservation efforts for the sake of the tourist trade. However, the locals, who lived in the walled town with few entry/exit points, wanted the walls and the gates torn down. The walls were eventually saved in 1889, and Etty is credited with their salvation.

Everything remains the same as in the painting. The only thing that has disappeared is the house on the right, which was butting up to the gate and obstructing one of the pedestrian walkways.

William Etty, Monk Bar York Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

What makes this a difficult tilt-shift? The William Etty Monk Bar York photo has a monochrome color scheme, where even the people are blended into the background.

Read the interesting biography of William Etty and see all the famous oil painting reproductions by William Etty. Click Monk Bar, York if you like the oil painting and want to purchase it.

Caspar David Friedrich's Winter Landscape with Crumbling Wall Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

Caspar David Friedrich's Winter Landscape with Church Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

Caspar David Friedrich: The Stages of Life: Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

Caspar David Friedrich's Wanderer above the Sea of Fog Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

Caspar David Friedrich: Landscape with Rainbow Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

Chalk Cliffs on Rugen by Caspar David Friedrich Then and Now Photo and Oil Painting.

Friedrich wedded Christiane Caroline Bommer in 1818, and on their honeymoon, they visited relatives in Neubrandenburg and Greifswald. From there, the couple embarked on a trip to the island of Rugen with Friedrich's brother Christian. The Chalk Cliffs on Rügen was painted the same year to celebrate the couple's union. While the trees and sea are expertly painted, the focus is on the height of the cliffs, which forces the viewer to get closer and want to look over.

Rügen, together with the Danish island of Møn on the most distant side of Rügen in the Baltic Sea and the region around Dover in England, once formed a large chalk plateau, which had been pushed to the earth's surface by tectonic plate movements. The vast majority of this white chalk cliff land mass has since disappeared as a result of erosion and landslides.

Chalk Cliffs on Rugen by Caspar David Friedrich Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

The way Caspar David Friedrich's Chalk Cliffs on Rugen is laid out, it is very difficult to encompass the areas that need to be tilt-shifted in and out of focus due to the fact that the people at the bottom and the trees at the top are all technically in the foreground.

Read the interesting biography of Caspar David Friedrich and see all the famous oil painting reproductions by Caspar David Friedrich. Click Chalk Cliffs On Rugen if you like the oil painting and want to purchase it.

Armand Guillaumin Grainstacks Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

Tilt-Shift Photo of the Armand Guillaumin Bridge over the Marne at Joinville.

Armand Guillaumin The Banks of the Marne: Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

Armand Guillaumin Midday Landscape Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

Armand Guillaumin Then and Now: Notre Dame de Paris Photo and Oil Painting.

Armand Guillemin's painting of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris shows the Pont de l'Archeveche on the left and the Pont Saint Louis on the right. Although the bridge on the left is still standing as the original bridge, the bridge on the right in the painting has been updated.

A suspension bridge replaced it in 1842. Twenty years later, this was supplanted by a metallic bridge with a single arch, the one appearing in the painting. In 1939, this one was also demolished. In 1941, it was replaced by a "passerelle" resembling an iron cage. And finally, in 1968, the present bridge (in the photo) was constructed and inaugurated in 1970. Guillemin painted many scenes on the Seine during the reconstruction on the banks of the Seine River.

Armand Guillaumin's Notre Dame De Paris Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

The tilt-shift area for Armand Guillaumin's Notre Dame de Paris is in the middle of the oil painting. This focus produces a photo where the people, river, and boats are miniaturized, giving this painting a dramatic effect. Click on Notre Dame de Paris if you like the oil painting and want to purchase it.

Armand Guillaumin Pont Marie From The Quai d Anjou Then and Now Photo and Oil Painting.

Painted around 1878, it shows the work in progress of the cobblestone paving of the wharf on the Seine river. He also painted another view looking in the opposite direction.

The Pont Marie gets its name from the designer Christophe Marie, who proposed its construction beginning in 1605 with the specific end goal of increasing and aiding the urbanization of the île Saint-Louis. However, the bridge was not actually endorsed for building by the king until 1614, at which point Louis XIII laid the primary stone as a component of a formal bridge-building ceremony.

Following approval, the Pont Marie's construction was spread out over more than 20 years. Hence, the bridge is one of the oldest bridges in Paris. It is fascinating to note that in each of the five arches of the Pont Marie, the niches in the abutments were never filled with any busts or statues, although that was not the initial plan.

Armand Guillaumin Pont Marie From The Quai D'Anjou Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

The area of the tilt-shift Armand Guillaumin The first thing to be worked on is the sand pile in the middle of the oil painting. By focusing here, and blurring the area above and below it, it produces a photo where the characters are miniaturized.

Read the interesting biography of Armand Guillaumin and see all the famous oil painting reproductions by Armand Guillaumin. Click Pont Marie From The Quai d Anjou if you like the oil painting and want to purchase it.

Harold Harvey A View Of Mousehole Harbour Cornwall Then & Now Photo and Oil Painting.

Harold Harvey found most of his inspiration for painting in the area of Penzance in Cornwall, England. Mousehole (pronounced 'Mauzl') is a tiny pilchard fishing village of five hundred residents located at the tip of England's southwest corner, two miles from Penzance, and here in 1933, Harvey came to paint A View Of Mousehole Harbour Cornwall.

The painting was done in the late afternoon at high tide, with the small fishing boats in the harbor. The viewpoint is from The Ship Inn, an old inn and pub on the dockside.

Harold Harvey A View Of Mousehole Harbour Cornwall Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

Picking the right components to do a tilt-shift Harold Harvey A View of Mousehole Harbour, Cornwall, seems easy at first, but it requires careful manipulation to get the right people and objects into the frame. It was critical to get the bystanders on the rail and the man in the rowboat at the same time. This composition enabled a more intense depth of field focus.

Read the interesting biography of Harold Harvey and see all the famous oil painting reproductions by Harold Harvey. If you like the oil painting and want to purchase it, click here: A View of Mousehole Harbour Cornwall.

Edward Hopper's House By The Railroad Then & Now Photos and Oil Paintings.

The house is on the west side of Rt. 9W, three houses north of the intersection of Main and 9W in Haverstraw, NY, on the Hudson River. The house has had some renovations.

The left photo shows the railroad tracks; the house is on the right. The middle photo shows the house at the same angle as the painting, and the right photo is the oil painting. Hopper is known for changing scenes and adding or deleting things for the sake of the painting. So this house by the railroad tracks, about 3 hours north of New York City, where he lived, is the correct house. It is said that this painting was an inspiration for the house used in the Psyco movie in the 60s.

Edward Hopper's House by the Railroad Oil Painting & Tilt-Shift Photo.

For the Tilt Shift Edward Hopper's House by the Railroad, there are a couple of possible areas where to concentrate on the tilt-shift, but the obvious one is not the house, but the railroad tracks. Bringing the tracks into clear focus adds a rich depth of field to the painting. Click on House By The Railroad if you like the oil painting and want to purchase it.