Art and casinos go together better than you think; some casinos like the famous Bellagio in Las Vegas are even known for their art collections and they themselves are pieces of art.
Today we’re going to explore our favourite casino- and gambling-related paintings, including pieces by the Dutch masters that you can think about while playing at the following Dutch online casinos. You’d be surprised to learn how many famous artists painted the art of gambling.
The Gamblers by Hendrick Ter Brugghen
Just as we promised, we will start with the Dutch masters. Hendrick Ter Brugghen (1588- 1629) was one of the most famous followers of the Italian genius Caravaggio and he similarly painted in the tenebrism style (tenebroso is a lighting technique creating stark contrast between light and dark).
The Dutch painted also had interest in the same subject matter as his idol; he either painted large-scale religious scenes or vignettes of real life. The Gamblers (1623) is a perfect example of the latter. The painting depicts three men over a table with playing cards and silver coins, suggesting they made bets on the outcome of the game.
The painting “cuts” the subjects in half which prompts the viewer to also zoom-in and study the table and the subjects’ reactions. The older man uses his spectacles to inspect the dice, while the younger man appears to be talking with the other man in the background chiming in as well.
It looks like the older man disagrees on the outcome of the card game, while the younger man tries to convince him otherwise. As you can see, some things never change in casino gambling.
Where you can find it – The Gamblers is housed in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Cardsharps by Caravaggio
If you liked The Gamblers, you’ll definitely like its possible inspiration – The Cardsharps (c.1595) by Caravaggio (1571-1610) himself. The painting similarly depicts three men, two of whom are playing a card game for money, but Caravaggio depicts the game as it’s happening.
The man on the left is likely being coached by the man behind him, while the man on the right is reaching for a card hidden in his pants, showing that he’s trying to cheat. If Ter Brugghen used this painting as an inspiration for his own, then we know that the older man in The Gamblers was right to be suspicious of the outcome of the game.
What we love about The Cardsharps is that Caravaggio’s subjects are active which makes them more lifelike. We see the action (the man reaching for a card) as it’s happening and we can easily picture what follows later.
Where you can find it – The Cardsharps is housed in the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.
The Card Players by Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), the famous French post-impressionist, might have painted in a style as divorced from the majestic Baroque pieces of Caravaggio as possible, and yet he was still inspired by the Italian master.
The Card Players (c.1890-1896) is a series of five paintings by Cézanne which show men playing a card game, harking back to Caravaggio’s The Cardsharps. He carefully studied the body language and expressions of local card players before he depicted them on the canvas.
It seems like he was not happy with the first painting of the series, depicting three men playing while another one is smoking a pipe and watching the game, as he painted an (almost) identical scene again in the second piece of the series, adding another subject, a little child observing the game, and using more muted colours.
The third painting of the series portrays a completely different scene, depicting two men playing a card game in a way that makes the scene feel more intimate. Two other versions of that scene exist, which have differences in the colours used, along with the body language and expressions of the two players.
One of the versions of this painting was purchased by the Royal Family of Qatar for $250 million, which shows the never-dwindling interest in Cézanne’s card playing series.
The colour work in the series is magnificent and despite the post-Impressionistic style, you can clearly see the expressions of the players and experience their emotions.
Where you can find them – The Card Players (first scene, version one) is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET), New York, New York; The Card Players (first scene, version two) is in the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; The Card Players (second scene, version one) is in a private collection; The Card Players (second scene, version two) is in the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK; The Card Players (second scene, version three) is in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.
Poker Game by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge
There was no way we could write this article without including the arguably most famous casino-inspired painting of all time – Poker Game (1894) by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge (1844-1934). The painting depicts four anthropomorphised St Bernard dogs playing a poker game while smoking cigars and drinking whiskey.
We doubt Coolidge thought that his kitsch painting would create such an uproar but the painting became instantly famous and he was hired by the advertising firm Brown and Bigelow to create similar works that could be used for calendars and cigar ads, and that’s how the Dogs Playing Poker series was born.
Coolidge painted 16 paintings for Brown and Bigelow depicting anthropomorphic dogs of different breeds doing anything from playing poker to doing secret masonic rituals. Nine of these paintings are in the Dogs Playing Poker series.
Some of these poker paintings are based on works we already discussed such as The Cardsharps by Caravaggio and The Card Players by Cézanne. While you won’t see them hanging in famous museums (most belong to private collections), you’re undoubtedly going to come upon them at some point as they are still a pop cultural phenomenon.