It is difficult to be original when it comes to jigsaw puzzles. Some companies have innovated with unusual die cuts, while others have produced silhouette puzzles or even 3D puzzles. Dividing an image in three contiguous sections is another way to be original. The company Spiel Spass produced some puzzles in this format, as part of their Triptychon series. The title of this one is Lawn with Poppies, although the only title in the box was in German: Mohnwiese. There is no reference to the artist.
The result is interesting, with a panorama effect. I am sure that the framed puzzles would look nice hanging on a wall. However, the selection of the images are questionable, at least in the puzzles that I have seen belonging to the same Triptychon series. They look like the stock images that we can find at hotel rooms or at the dentist's office. In any case, de gustibus non est disputandum, and fortunately we all have different taste and preferences.
Why did I complete Lawn with Poppies?
Whenever I buy a used puzzle, the seller can guarantee...
1000
1000, Clementoni, Moulin Rouge, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
13
May
When I started this puzzle, I knew that there was a missing piece. It should have 999 pieces, but there were only 998 pieces. Some time ago, when this happened, I used to verify the puzzle a second time. My hope was that I had made a mistake, but the second verification gave always the same result. It was a shame, because this puzzle by Clementoni with a poster of the Moulin Rouge by Toulouse-Lautrec was very unusual. However, after buying more than 200 incomplete puzzles, it is not disappointing anymore. It's part of what we do at Rare Puzzles: being sure that we only list the complete ones.
Initially, I was listing the incomplete puzzles in the online store at very low prices. However, when I decided to start the Missing Pieces replacement service, I thought it was better to keep them, put them together, and offer them for replacements. So, I have accepted the idea that I am now a puzzle enthusiast that will only assemble incomplete puzzles.
Moulin Rouge: La Goulue
That is the complete title of this poster by Toulouse-Lautrec. It was a color lithograph from 1891. Although they printed around 3000 copies, most of them were pasted as...
1000, Flamenco, Landing Place, Jan Brueghel the Elder
17
Mar
The name Brueghel is very popular among puzzle enthusiasts. There are four main painters with this name and they all belong to the same family line: Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Jan Brueghel the Elder, and Jan Brueghel the Younger. Very often, the jigsaw manufacturer just includes the name Brueghel as the artist and nothing else. Then, there is no way to know who the real author of the painting is. In the case of this puzzle, the only information in the box is Brueghel, but we have to complete the research and find out that the real title of the painting is Landing Place, and the artist is Jan Brueghel the Elder.
Other versions of Landing Place
There are two larger versions of this puzzle. MB manufactured a 3000 pieces version in 1981. However, the title in the box is The Cove, which is, in fact, a small sheltered bay, like the one that appears in the painting. I don't know what source did MB use to come up with that title. The fact is that there are virtually no references online to The Cove. Two years after the version by MB, Ravensburger published another 3000 pieces version,...
1000, Selegiochi, Concave and Convex, Maurits Cornelis Escher
23
Feb
Maurits Cornelis Escher is the creator of Concave and Convex, and he is one of the most interesting artists in the 20th century. One may like his paintings or not, but we must all agree that he is unique. In fact, most people are able to identify his work as soon as they see it, even if they don't know the name of the painter. Perhaps they just know he was the Dutch graphic artist that painted impossible stairs, upside down rooms, strange reflections... However, when they see one work, they know it belongs to him.
For that reason, we can say that he is a quite popular artist. The M.C. Escher Foundation organizes exhibitions with his works regularly, and they always attract thousands of visitors. In fact, there was an exhibition in Madrid in 2017 for 8 months that showed around 200 works by Escher. It was one of the most visited in 2017.
Concave and Convex and other dichotomies
Escher got his inspiration partly on Mathematics and Geometry. Symmetry is a constant in the images he invents. For that reason, many of his paintings have a dichotomy in the title, like Concave and Convex in this case. However, we also have...
1000, Educa, The Prophet Daniel, Michelangelo
07
Feb
Educa has a very long tradition of great choices for their jigsaw puzzles, particularly in terms of fine arts puzzles. This 1000 pieces version of The Prophet Daniel, by Michelangelo, is a good example. They manufactured it in the early 80's. The box corresponds to the design of their earlier puzzles, long before they started to publish them in the beautiful boxes with stripes, or the elegant white box design of the 90's.
The Prophet Daniel without the Lions
This fresco painting is part of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo painted a total of 7 prophets from the Old Testament. It was common to represent the figures of the Bible with the attributes that might help people identify them. In the case of the Prophet Daniel, the most important event in the tradition was the fact that they threw him into the den of the lions as a punishment, but an angel saved him. However, in Michelangelo's portrayal, there is no reference to the lions, which is very interesting. Instead, Michelangelo shows Daniel reading a great book, which is held up by a muscular figure from beneath it.
It is interesting to note that the image of this puzzle corresponds to...