In the case of picking out a shade for the living room, we regularly are inclined to opt for the neutrals. The importance of images widespread to several cultures, nevertheless, may also be very different: the dragon representing avarice in European medieval allegory symbolizes friendliness in Japanese Zen painting; and the snake , symbol of temptation and eroticism in the West, signifies, by its pores and skin shedding, the renewal of life in East Asian iconography.
In the 20th century, nevertheless, enlightened patronage occasionally enabled leading trendy artists to execute paintings for specific sites: Monet ‘s Water-Lilies collection for the Paris Orangerie, for instance, and different murals in France by Vuillard , Matisse , Léger , Chagall , and Picasso ; in Mexico and the United States by Orozco , Rivera , Tamayo , and David Siqueiros , and also within the United States by Matisse, Shahn , Keith Haring