Magda Michalska

Author

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.

Articles by Magda

Dine & Wine

Meet Asparagus, The King of Vegetables! Not Just for Vegetarians

The season for asparagus is very short as it starts around the 23rd of April (St George’s Day) and lasts only until June. Its special qualities and...

Magda Michalska 28 May 2026

Animals

The Fluffiest Side of Art: Dogs in Art History

Dogs are man’s best friends. And if that man happens to be a painter or a sitter for a painting, their four-legged friends must be included in them...

Magda Michalska, Aniela Rybak-Vaganay 26 May 2026

Women Artists

Mary Cassatt’s Feminist Mural Which Has Gone Missing

Mary Cassatt was a well-known Impressionist who often illustrated motherhood and traditional female activities in the 19th century. When she was 50,...

Magda Michalska 25 May 2026

Photography

Femininity in Francesca Woodman’s Photographs

This is going to be a story of beauty and an underappreciated genius that came to an untimely end. Brace yourselves for an unhappy ending and the...

Magda Michalska 19 May 2026

Women Artists

Tina Modotti: Photographer Made Revolutionary

Her life story reads like a script tailor-made for a movie (are you listening, Hollywood?). After all, how often do we encounter narratives of...

Magda Michalska 19 May 2026

Erotica

The Unashamed Gaze: The Story of Goya’s Naked (and Clothed) Maja

Which one do you prefer? The Naked Maja or The Clothed Maja? – this question might have been asked by the painter Francisco Goya when he completed...

Magda Michalska 14 May 2026

Erotica

Is Jeff Koons’ Art Pornography?

Jeff Koons has been controversial from the very beginning of his career, which began around 1979. Having experimented with inflatable bunnies,...

Magda Michalska 14 May 2026

Ancient Egypt

The Pharaoh Who Looks Like a Woman—The Mystery of Akhenaten’s Body

If you thought that ancient Egypt had always been only about a large pantheon of gods, solid and emotionless sculptures, and masculine pharaohs, have...

Magda Michalska 13 May 2026

Symbolism

Symbolism Special: Jacek Malczewski’s Dates with Death

Jacek Malczewski is one of the most important Polish symbolist painters. Malczewski is associated with the Young Poland movement (Młoda Polska), a...

Magda Michalska 8 May 2026

Expressionism

Paula Modersohn-Becker: The Pioneering Expressionist

Some time ago, I came across a fascinating German Expressionist who was not part of the famous Die Brücke group. All the more, this painter was a...

Magda Michalska 6 May 2026