Painting

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Phoenix Portrait of Elizabeth I

One of the most famous depictions of Elizabeth I is Nicholas Hilliard’s Phoenix Portrait, depicting the Queen with a pendant shaped like a mythical...

Guest Profile 5 December 2024

winter landscape paintings Camille Pissarro, The Louvre Under Snow, 1902, The National Gallery, London, UK. Painting

Baby, It’s Cold Outside: 7 Snowy Landscape Paintings to Enjoy

Snow. You either love it or hate it. Are you able to picture a fresh snowfall in your mind? Or is it falling outside your window as you read this...

Rachel Witte 5 December 2024

Kandinsky video: Video

Watch Kandinsky Drawing on a Rare Footage from 1926

In 1926, filmmaker Hans Cürlis, a pioneer of art documentaries, took this rare footage of the abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky on video. The...

Zuzanna Stańska, Aniela Rybak-Vaganay 4 December 2024

Gabriele Münter, Portrait of Wassily Kandinsky. Composition VIII, 1923, Expressionism

Wassily Kandinsky in 5 Abstract Paintings

As a visual genius, Wassily Kandinsky revolutionized abstract art and pioneered some of the most influential art movements of the 20th century. His...

Ruxi Rusu 4 December 2024

Artist Stories

What Inspired Kandinsky? Nature, Spirituality and Other Artists

Wassily Kandinsky – a lawyer turned painter, a painter turned lecturer, a green-fingered man for whom a house with a garden was a curse (as he...

Magda Michalska 4 December 2024

William Merritt Chase, At the Seaside, ca. 1892, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, USA. North American Art

5 American Impressionists You Need to Know

Impressionism is an art movement that originated in France in the 19th century. Artists associated with this movement are known for their dream-like...

Ruxi Rusu 4 December 2024

Music

This Looks out of Tune? Finding Dissonance in Kandinsky’s Paintings

Wassily Kandinsky painted some of the most beautiful pieces of art in a style that is instantly recognizable. The flurry of lines, colors, and...

Craig Wakerley 4 December 2024

Claude Monet, Impression Sunrise, 1872, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, France. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet

Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise is a masterpiece of Impressionism that captures the elusiveness and the impermanence of an autumn...

James W Singer 3 December 2024

Artist Stories

Pierre-Auguste Renoir: The Impressive Life of an Impressionist

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, a leading member of Impressionism, was perhaps the most vibrant painter of color and light in the famous French movement.

Sam Malone 2 December 2024

Art History 101

The Most Pioneering Painters of the Venetian Renaissance

The Venetian School refers to the painters of the Venetian Renaissance. It developed in Venice in the late 15th century and lasted until around 1580.

Charlotte Stace 2 December 2024

Piet Mondrian's Composition: Piet Mondrian, Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow, 1930, Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow by Piet Mondrian

Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow is a golden example of Abstraction, De Stijl, and Constructivism. It purges the art of individual subjects by...

James W Singer 1 December 2024

Alma Thomas, Tiptoe Through the Tulips, 1969, acrylic on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Tiptoe Through the Tulips by Alma Thomas

The style of Alma Thomas has been compared to Byzantine mosaics and the Pointillism of Georges Seurat. However, it firmly belongs to the Washington...

James W Singer 1 December 2024