Exploring Fantasy Art Prints and Posters

Fantasy art prints and posters are based on themes that are meant to indulge our minds and stir up interpretation. No doubt, for practically everything we see in this art from is based on illusory or mythological creatures, space fiction and dream spaces or simply some cool designs centered on patterns and symbols that we are always drawn to interpret. Now, that is what makes fantasy art prints and posters beautiful - the fact that they present pictures and paintings of creatures and objects which we do not see in everyday life that have ways of capturing our imagination and calling for attention. In this article, we would be exploring some of the top fantasy art prints and posters from two different categories: magical fantasy art and dreamscapes.

Magical Fantasy Art: Fairies, mermaids, cherubs. These are creatures that most of us have been familiar with right from childhood. Popular children's fairy tales such as Cinderella, the Emperor has no clothes and the Little Mermaid were some of the best reads of our early years. Fairies tend to conjure an image of innocence, an image of beauty and they always tend to possess qualities which we seem to desire - radiance, brightness, power and beauty. Fantasy art prints and posters capture these in all their form.

The image on the right entitled Dream Weaver by Brian Froud shows a fairy clothed in what looks like the wings of a insect, weaving dreams in a solemn fashion. In the world of fairies these are the dreams people dream while they sleep. Most fantasy art prints and posters that feature fairies always portray them as creatures well beyond plain humans. To achieve this, human qualities are often mixed with qualities of other creatures creating a blend that looks ethereal. 

Field of Dreams

Field of Dreams by Sheila Wolk shown on the left is a excellent representation of a class of fantasy art prints in which human characteristics blend perfectly with those of another creature, in this case the wings of a butterfly. The fairy in this painting looks sad and withdrawn all curled up in a silent form. Though the garden in this art print has a natural feel to it, due largely in part to the green colors used, the fairy and her butterfly wings make the work look sublime and exceptionally beautiful.

The image on the right called One is by Andrew Forrest. It is meant to show the unison of all things by using the concept of day and night. The sun and the moon separated by a tree are meant to remind the viewer that all things in nature are inextricably linked in one way or another. Sometimes explaining such things is much easier using fantasy art prints and posters since a single picture or painting is often able to describe an idea more clearly than a thousand words.

Dreamscapes: Few artists have captured the concept of dreamscapes like the famous Dutch painter Maurits Cornelis Escher (1878-1972) and the Spanish painter, Salvador Dali (1904-1989). As a matter of fact, an article about fantasy art prints and posters cannot be complete without mentioning these two artists who dug so deep into their minds to bring to the world masterpieces of illusion that we in contemporary times still find fascinating. Escher is most known for his so-called impossible structures.

Some works of Escher grouped in the impossible structures category are Ascending and Descending and Relativity. Several other similar works of his exist as art prints and posters, and can easily be obtained.

Escher is also known for his transformation structures, two of which include Encounter and Day and Night. In his transformation art works, he meticulously and ingeniously uses detail to create subtle transformations in which an image gradually acquires a different form in two directions.

The Persistence of Memory

Salvadro Dali became one of the best known surrealists for paintings he made in the 1920s such as The Persistence of Memory and The Lugubrious Game. His works truly belong to the class of fantasy art prints and posters because each time one looks at them, one is compelled to interpret them in a different way. Some of Dali's most best-known works today date from the 1950s and 60s when religion, science and history formed the subject matter of his paintings. Such works include Christ of St. John of the Cross, The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus and The Last Supper. 

We are grateful to Art.com Fantasy Gallery for permitting us to use the fantasy art prints and posters thumbnails which appear on this page. 

You can also get more information on other art prints and posters here.