Art Forms

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Still Life with Mackerel by Anne Vallayer-Coster

Anne Vallayer-Coster was one of the foremost still-life painters in 18th-century France. She was enormously prolific and extremely popular. Her works...

James W Singer 7 January 2023

Leonardo da Vinci, Portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo Renaissance

All You Need to Know About Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa is an icon and masterpiece featured in numerous movies, television shows, and music videos. It is famous for being Leonardo da...

Anna Ingram 6 January 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Self-Portrait at 28 by Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer loved self-portraits. In the first half of his life, he made a series of them. The earliest is from 1484, when the artist was a...

Zuzanna Stańska 6 January 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger is one of those paintings that we know so well we tend to forget to look closer. It’s like the Mona...

Joanna Kaszubowska 6 January 2023

Painting

The Adoration of the Magi: Depictions in Christian Art

The Adoration of the Magi (or the Adoration of the Kings) is one of the two biblical accounts that convey the birth of Jesus Christ and describes the...

Maya M. Tola 5 January 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Breakfast of Birds by Gabriele Münter

Gabriele Münter (1877–1962) was a German Expressionist painter born in Berlin and most known for her landscapes and use of color. She developed a...

Heidi Werber 5 January 2023

Claude Monet, Magpie, 1868-69, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Magpie by Claude Monet

Magpie is a masterpiece by Claude Monet that captures the poetic play of light upon a winter landscape. It is a symphony of ivory and...

James W Singer 5 January 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump by Joseph Wright of Derby

An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump is not only a masterpiece from the Age of Enlightenment but also a monumental artistic achievement of Joseph...

Maya M. Tola 5 January 2023

Animals

The Goldfinch: Singing Across Time

See the lonely little bird, trapped in a situation over which it has no control. Chained, isolated. Sounds familiar? In these strange times we need...

Candy Bedworth 5 January 2023

Artist Stories

Kiyohara Yukinobu: Sublime Female Painter of the Kano School

Not many of us have heard of Kiyohara Yukinobu, but we probably should have. She was a Japanese painter in the early Edo period (1603–1868) and one...

Candy Bedworth 4 January 2023

Women Artists

A Female Artist from Japan: Nōguchi Shōhin

Nōguchi Shōhin (野口 小蘋) (1847–1917) was a leading Japanese painter from the Edo (1603–1867) and Meiji eras (1868–1912). She was born...

Isla Phillips-Ewen 4 January 2023

Women Artists

Pan Yuliang: The Queen of Self-Portraits

Pan Yuliang’s (1895–1977) works are a celebration of her Chinese heritage and feminine self. Born in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province as Chen Xiuqing,...

Anuradha Sroha 4 January 2023