The wedding art story - from Venice to the Nordics
The history of wedding art is an unwritten chapter. The concept has been around for centuries; to hire an artist to paint a unique piece of art dedicated to a wedding couple has been one of the most beautiful and unique gifts anyone could give away. Even so this type of wedding paintings has never generated any particular interest from art historians. What has been well-documented and created plenty of interest are art pieces depicting wedding parties. The biblical story of the The Wedding in Cana is one of the oldest most well-known examples of how weddings and wedding parties has inspired to art. Tintoretto's painting from 1561 that can be found in the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice and Veronese's painting from 1563, displayed at the Louvre in Paris, are true master pieces of art depicting a wedding. Both paintings depicts a apparently lively wedding party including Jesus in the center of the art piece, in accordance with the biblical story, performing his first miracle by transfoming water into wine.
However, these paintings are far off from what we within this context would like define as a wedding painting – a piece of art created dedicated as a personalized gift to a wedding couple. A painting including the names of the couple, the date and sometimes the location of the wedding. In the region of Dalarna, the inland of the central of valley of Sweden, there is a long tradition of creating kurbits paintings as wedding art. Kurbits paintings depicts imaginary curvy plants consisting of bundles of flowers and leafs following a characteristic style including a palette of colors typical for the region. Often the kurbits is painted directly on the walls of peoples homes, on wardrobes and as separate pieces of art on a canvas. The kurbits paintings became popular during the end of the 18th century and was used already then as wedding-related decor. One of the most famous art pieces is Ålderstrappan (The stairs of ages) that describes the different phases of human life, from the cradle to the grave. The painting's center piece is a wedded couple aging together at each step of life. Also today kurbits decor are popular, not least on wedding invites in Dalarna. One of the most unique and personalized wedding gifts you can give away at a wedding in Dalarna is a wedding painting with kurbits details, including the names of the wedding couple, date and location of the wedding.
Through the technical advances of internet and digitalization a unique wedding poster can today be created in a few minutes directly online. At The Wedding Poster the person giving away a wedding gift or the couple themselves can create a unique design and personalize their own wedding art, instantly visualized on The Wedding Poster website. The Wedding Poster brings the concept of personalized wedding art closer to the people directly involved; the friend or the family member who wants to create a unique and personalized wedding gift, the husband or wife wanting to give away a creative and alternative wedding day gift, or as a a different and fun wedding party decoration that will later be a perfect unique piece of home decor, dedicated to one on life's most memorable moments.