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The film "Le Scaphandre et le papillon" (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) by Julian Schnabel and the novel the it was based on by Jean-Dominique Bauby are beautiful, rare, and very notable artistic works.



Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor of the French edition of Elle magazine when he suffered a stroke at the end of 1995, at forty-three, that left him paralyzed from head to toe and only able to communicate by blinking with left eye, but with a fully functioning mind in what is known as locked-in syndrome. His speech therapist taught him how to communicate by blinking his eye to indicate a letter, and she and an assistant wrote down his every letter to create the novel. The book is deeply humane, beautiful, wry & inspiring in so many ways, and as you read each word and know the effort that put into it, you're....awed. Jean-Do, as he was called, passed away shortly after the book was published.



The movie is also remarkable. It's humorous, and profound, and it shot in a way that really puts the viewer in the mind of Jean-Do. Every time he blinks, the screen does dark for that blink. It's like we're communicating with him. The movie was nominated for a heap of awards, and Julian Schnabel won several best director awards.



Schnabel is also a really brilliant, daring painter.



Others:

*The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, for giving its readers a personal perspective of Afghanistan

*The paintings of Jasper Jones

*Disney Concert Hall & all the other buildings by architect

Frank Gehry

* The book & the movie "The Hours" and the performances by Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman & Ed Harris



: )

I think the DaVinci Code by Dan Brown meets this standard. Why? Because I have never been so disturbed by any other book like this one. It shook all the fundamental religious teachings of a lifetime, that's why. It's value is questionable, nevertheless, it is notable for what it did.

The literature of Toni Morrison (among those: _Beloved_, _The Bluest Eye_) , of Thomas Pynchon (_V._, _Gravity's Ranbow_, _The Crying of Lot 49_).



The architecture of Franciso Calatrava is widely considered on account of its aesthetic innovation.

Check out the link below for work by the sculptor Henry Moore. It is notable because of it's distinctiveness - no one would mistake another sculptor's work for his. It's value lies in it's distinctiveness and the sheer volume of his work.