Long Read

Art History 101

What Is a Wunderkammer? Best Cabinets of Curiosities

The characteristic of arousing surprise for the observer is typical for the so-called Wunderkammer or Cabinet of Curiosities. These are real rooms of...

Caroline Galambosova 23 September 2024

Theater & Cinema

Looks Familiar? Art References in Disney Movies

For Disney’s acolytes, spotting hidden references that link different movies brings more excitement and joy than unwrapping presents. But what if...

Giordana Goretti 23 September 2024

Mermaids, Evelyn de Morgan, The Sea Maidens, 1885 History

Siren Song: History of Mermaids in Art

Benevolent or deadly? There are so many depictions of this mythical creature. Let's explore how mermaids have been portrayed in art.

Candy Bedworth 19 September 2024

Symbolism

Mythological Femmes Fatales in Mysterious Symbolist Paintings

Symbolism developed in the 19th century. It began as a literary movement but quickly moved into other art forms. Symbolist painters rejected the...

Anastasia Manioudaki 19 September 2024

Contemporary Art

13 Black Folk Artists from the American South

The thirteen self-taught artists below, from Bill Traylor to Nellie Mae Rowe, Thornton Dial to Mary T. Smith, among others, created some of the most...

Adam Oestreich 17 September 2024

Unicorns in art Animals

Unicorns in Art Across Time: From French Tapestries to Damien Hirst’s Sculptures

Unicorns, the enchanting and mythical beings, have been a captivating subject in art since ancient times, maintaining their inspirational allure for...

Ela Bobek 16 September 2024

Expressionism

The Frieze of Life by Edvard Munch

By 1902, Edvard Munch’s life had seen a pattern of chaos within his professional life, his health, and his love life. While his life had become...

Wendy Gray 16 September 2024

Theater & Cinema

Movie Scenes Staged as Famous Paintings

In 1911 the Italian film theoretician Ricciotto Canudo defined cinema as “the seventh art”. So it’s quite natural that from its birth cinema...

Arianna Richetti 16 September 2024

Art History 101

Back to School: The Great Art History 101

Welcome to Art History 101! Here we’ll get to “oh“ and “ah” over iconic art that has shaped human ideas and thinking for centuries as we...

Ledys Chemin 13 September 2024

Herstory

Masterpiece Story: The Portrait of Empress Dowager Cixi by Katharine Augusta Carl

Art and politics have been closely intertwined throughout global history. This article studies the case of The Empress Dowager Cixi of China by...

Iolanda Munck 11 September 2024

Art State of Mind

The Art of Well-Being: Hygge Found in Masterpieces

In 2016, The Collins English Dictionary named “hygge” the runner-up word of the year. Since then, countless books have been published on the...

Ledys Chemin 10 September 2024

Art History 101

Dutch Golden Age Explained

When one thinks of any Golden Age, the first thing that comes to mind is the 17th-century Netherlands at its glory – the Dutch Golden Age. The most...

Nicole Ganbold 9 September 2024