Painting

Museum Stories

Vase of Flowers: The WWII Theft of a Dutch Still Life

What happens to artworks and cultural treasures as a nation prepares for war? In the case of Jan van Huysum’s Vase of Flowers, the Dutch still...

Natalia Iacobelli 17 April 2023

Painting

The Countryside in Art: from Idyllic Scenes to Social Issues

Pure life in harmony with nature or hardship and poverty? Let’s take a look at various representations of the countryside in art. A Peaceful...

Europeana 17 April 2023

European Art

Escape to the Forest: The Birth of Barbizon School

During the 19th century, the most promising artists trained at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris. The Academy taught its pupils...

Gokce Dyson 17 April 2023

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Self Portrait in a Straw Hat, 1782, National Gallery, London, UK. Detail. Artist Stories

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun Travels Across Europe

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun was a French portrait painter working in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. While her subject matter and color palette...

Natalia Iacobelli 16 April 2023

Women Artists

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Amazing Women in Her Portraits

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and women in her portraits should be a reference for every art-lover. The French painter – also known as Madame Le Brun...

Pola Otterstein 16 April 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Self Portrait in a Straw Hat by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun

Why is art history predominantly focused on male artists? Are there not enough female artists to fill textbooks? Of course, there are enough, but the...

James W Singer 16 April 2023

Renaissance

The Unfinished Works of Leonardo da Vinci

As one of the most influential artists of the High Renaissance, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci left a prolific legacy in the realm of the arts.

Maya M. Tola 15 April 2023

Bizarre

Trompe L’oeil: How Artists Deceived Our Eyes Throughout the Ages

Without knowing, you have more than likely seen an example or two of trompe l’oeil in art. It is a term that encompasses many art forms in its...

Rachel Witte 13 April 2023

Bizarre

James Ensor’s Fighting Skeletons

Do you know the late Victorian and avant-garde painter James Ensor? Often likened to Edvard Munch is his ability to convey the miseries of human...

Sarah Mills 13 April 2023

Frants Henningsen, Funeral, 1883, National Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Funeral by Frants Henningsen

Funeral by Frants Henningsen is a Danish masterpiece of emotions. It examines the different psychological reactions to love, loss, and...

James W Singer 12 April 2023

Realism

Artists and Industrial Revolution: Images of the Changing World

The Industrial Revolution brought fundamental and irreversible social changes. But what was its influence on art and artists? Discover works by...

Europeana 12 April 2023

Women Artists

Anna Bilińska’s Parisian Career and Tragic Life

Read the story of Anna Bilińska, a Polish painter who spent her life in Paris. Discover her moving portraits and the fascinating story of her...

Magda Michalska 12 April 2023