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

Eastern world

Autumn Moon in Japanese Woodblock Prints
By Magda MichalskaSeptember 25, 2020
Does anyone here live by the water? If you do you will probably confirm that the first autumnal evenings have something transcendental in them, when the moon reflects on the water and the air is so...
Artist

Autumn Atmosphere in the Paintings of Paul Klee
By Magda MichalskaSeptember 21, 2020
Hello autumn! I really like this season, especially because of its color palette: reddish and yellowish leaves, beige coats, green wellies, orange pumpkins… The colors of autumn are warm and they create a unique atmosphere of coziness....
19th Century

Flaming June or Dorothy Dene? A Muse of Frederic Leighton
By Magda MichalskaSeptember 5, 2020
In 1879, Frederic Leighton’s biographer and neighbor (that’s handy, isn’t it?), Mrs. Barrington, noticed “a young girl with a lovely white face, dressed in deepest black, evidently a model.” This girl was actress Dorothy Dene, a...
Artist

Meet Great Teachers of Famous Artists
By Magda MichalskaSeptember 3, 2020
September and October are the months when students return to school or university. The experience of education and our memories of it are shaped by the people who can make school fun, or on the contrary,...
Art State of Mind

Online Learning? Back to the Old School in Art
By Magda MichalskaSeptember 1, 2020
Certainly 2020 will go down in history as a groundbreaking year in education, forcing millions of students and teachers to switch to online learning and bringing school to a new digital era. Since every year we...
Artists' Stories

Get Inspired: Famous Painters’ Bedrooms
By Magda MichalskaAugust 30, 2020
Moving houses is an enterprise, isn’t it? Packing, getting rid of useless but loved items, sending boxes with winter clothes… Then, there is always the excitement for the new mixed with nostalgia for the piece of...
Design

Spot a Rug: Ottoman Carpets in Renaissance Paintings
By Magda MichalskaAugust 25, 2020
Art history has always been inseparable from international trade exchanges and the mingling of nations and cultures. Manuscripts, works of art, decorative objects, jewelry, household items… They all crossed borders and always had an impact on the place of...
21st century

Karoliina Hellberg and the New Finnish Interiors
By Magda MichalskaAugust 24, 2020
Karoliina Hellberg is a young Finnish painter who graduated in 2015 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. In 2019 she had her solo show at the Didrichsen Art Museum in Helsinki, a part of...
Bodies And Erotic Art

Looking for Hot Renaissance Boys? Well, Here They Are!
By Magda MichalskaAugust 23, 2020
Look no further! If you are in need of the sight of some muscular bodies this year, don’t bother going to the beach, but book yourself a ticket to the Sistine Chapel, where these hot Renaissance...
19th Century

Olga Boznanska: An Uneasy Story of a Polish Painter
By Magda MichalskaAugust 18, 2020
Olga Boznanska is one of the most famous female Polish Post-Impressionists. Her multiple portraits of fragile women and children are permeated with notes of melancholy which Olga carried with her from early childhood. Was it because...