Art Forms

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Ocean Breezes by Edward Henry Potthast

This seems to be the perfect painting depicting a nice memory of a summer vacation. It is titled Ocean Breezes and was painted by Edward Henry...

Alexandra Kiely 8 June 2025

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Summer Squall by Winslow Homer

The crashing waves roar with deafening thunder, and the foamy spray flies with a quickening speed. Great gusts of wind blow the waters over the rocks...

James W Singer 8 June 2025

Baroque

5 Best Works by Diego Velázquez

Diego Velázquez is the most important figure of the Spanish Baroque period and one of Europe’s most significant old masters. He was born in...

Anna Ingram 6 June 2025

Art History 101

Everything You Must Know About Las Meninas

This is one of Velázquez’s largest paintings in which he worked very hard to create a complex and credible composition that would convey a...

Zuzanna Stańska, Nicole Ganbold 6 June 2025

Painting

Diego Velázquez in 10 Paintings

Diego Velázquez was one of the greatest painters of the Spanish Golden Age. Born in 1599 in Seville, he began with religious commissions but soon...

Jimena Aullet 6 June 2025

Surrealism

Queen of Chicago: American Surrealist Gertrude Abercrombie

Gertrude Abercrombie’s barren landscapes, cats, female figures in long dresses, and other repeated imagery built a complex body of haunting...

Theodore Carter 5 June 2025

Painting

Paintings Within Paintings: Time to Go Meta in the Art World

A few years ago, the art world celebrated the complete restoration of Johannes Vermeer’s Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window. One of the...

Jimena Escoto 5 June 2025

Jeff Koons, Balloon Dog (Magenta), 1994-2000, Château de Versailles, Versailles, France. Photo by Marc Wathieu via Versailles' website. Contemporary Art

Jeff Koons and His Balloon Dogs

What do Jeff Koons, Jay-Z, Christie’s, and clowns have in common? Balloon dogs. Koons is a controversial figure in the contemporary art world,...

Zuzanna Stańska 5 June 2025

Art State of Mind

Wind and Fun: Kites in Art

So far we’ve had balloons and celestial bodies as part of this series. Now we move to kites as our flying objects in art, but where do we start?...

Sarah Mills 5 June 2025

Cats

Women with Cats in Art: Crazy Cat Ladies or Independent Individualists?

Within arts, cats can have a symbolic meaning, and that meaning may vary depending on the period of time. Their nocturnal habits gave them a negative...

Lauren Kraut 4 June 2025

Cats

Can You Spot the Cat? Cats Hidden in Famous Paintings

I like cats and I’m sure that many of you do, too. A fascinating animal, the cat has earned itself an important place in culture, literature, and...

Marina Kochetkova 4 June 2025

Women Artists

Rachel Ruysch in 5 Paintings

Rachel Ruysch was a Dutch still-life artist renowned for her elaborate and lifelike floral paintings. Her talent earned her a position as a court...

Nikolina Konjevod 3 June 2025