Magda Michalska

Magda, art historian and Italianist, she writes about art because she cannot make it herself. She loves committed and political artists like Ai Weiwei or the Futurists; like Joseph Beuys she believes that art can change us and we can change the world.

Stories By Magda Michalska

20th century

Goodbye to Christo
By Magda MichalskaJune 6, 2020
Christo, I hope you will be wrapping up heavens. Below we’re sharing a survey of Christo’s works to remember how many groundbreaking pieces he made. It’s our goodbye to Christo. Debut Born Christo Vladimirov Javacheff to...
21st century

Black Artists Matter
By Magda MichalskaJune 2, 2020
In the past days I have been repeatedly asking myself what I, a white art historian (gosh, how privileged that already sounds), can do to help raise awareness about the continuing racism and discrimination not only...
Artist

Famous Painters and Their Children
By Magda MichalskaJune 1, 2020
On June 1st, 1925, the World Conference for the well-being of Children held in Geneva, Switzerland, proclaimed June 1 to be International Children’s Day. Later, in 1954 the UN established a Universal Children’s Day on the...
20th century

Violeta Parra, First Latin American in the Louvre
By Magda MichalskaMay 7, 2020
In April 1964 the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris hosted an extraordinary exhibition which went down in history as the first solo show of a Latin-American artist that the Louvre had ever witnessed. The artist...
Ancient Rome

Gradiva: What Did Freud and the Surrealists See in Her?
By Magda MichalskaApril 27, 2020
A woman who walks. That’s what Gradiva (the name of an anonymous woman from an antique bas-relief) means, as given by a fictional character from a novella by Wilhelm Jensen. In other words, it’s an invented...
Japanese art

Eleonora Ragusa or O’Tama Kiyohara: Japanese Painter in Sicily
By Magda MichalskaApril 14, 2020
Italy still holds so many secrets to me! One of such secrets was O’Tama Kiyohara (later Eleonora Ragusa), a woman so brave to leave her homeland for her husband and so ambitious to found a Japanese...
Animals

What Bunnies Are Capable of, Bunny Paintings Not Only for Easter
By Magda MichalskaApril 12, 2020
I had already written about eggs and how often they feature in art (quirky…). This Easter it is time for another symbol: the Easter Bunny! The cute little rabbit believed to bring Easter eggs to children, originated...
Animals

Puppies, Doggies and Pugs in Art (for Dog Lovers Only!)
By Magda MichalskaApril 11, 2020
Dogs are man’s best friends. And if a man happens to be a painter or a sitter for a painting, they must be included too. In the end, they are our most dedicated companions and that’s...
Art State of Mind

Here Comes the Sun… Sunrises for Hope in Art
By Magda MichalskaApril 4, 2020
We’ve been chatting with Kate what elements of nature bring us hope. She suggested rainbows but the first I thought of was sunrises. I don’t know if you also have it, but seeing a sunrise is...
Art State of Mind

All by Myself, a Lonely Story of Solitude in Painting
By Magda MichalskaMarch 25, 2020
Aaaaaaalllll by myseeeeeeeeelf, don’t wanna be, aaaaallll by myself- anymore… Shout out to all those lonely souls who at nights hold on tight to hot water bottles, or teddy bears (or pillows if in a fit...