How many times have famous artists painted the same subject to finally be happy with the final product?
I am not sure sure about his happiness, but throughout his life, Giorgio de Chirico painted more than 80 versions of his Disquieting Muses, and at least 60 versions of his Piazza d’Italia. Clyfford Still is known for the curious fact that he almost always painted at least two versions of his large abstract paintings. Andy Warhol was notorious for producing big series of variations of one subject, such as for instance his self portraits, images of Marilyn Monroe, Campbells Soup Cans, etc. Claude Monet made many versions of the Haystacks, or of the facade of Chartres Cathedral at different times of the day, in order to demonstrate the impact of light on a subject. The German painter Arnold Böcklin painted three versions of his painting Iphigenie (19th century). The two versions of Goya’s Maja (one with clothes and one nude) are interesting in this regard, too. One was “public”, the other very private. Once, the two versions were installed on top of each other, so that the nude version wa
