European Art

Art reference to Lucas Cranach’s Adam and Eve in Dark, S03E04, 2017, Netflix. Netflix. Theater & Cinema

Art in the Netflix TV Series Dark

In June 2020 Netflix released the long-awaited third and final season of Dark. The German series, co-created by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, has...

Arianna Richetti 17 March 2023

John Singer Sargent in atelier Artist Stories

Six Things You Might Not Know About John Singer Sargent

There’s no question that John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) was an artistic superstar. Everyone knows his most famous painting Madame X, but do...

Alexandra Kiely 16 March 2023

Rosalba Carriera, The Allegory of Music, 1712 Bavarian National Museum, Munich, Germany. Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Rococo

Rosalba Carriera: The Accomplished Pastellist

Do you know the great Rococo portraitist Rosalba Carriera? She was one of the most famous painters of the early 18th century. Carriera became known...

Maia Heguiaphal 16 March 2023

Animals

Rosa Bonheur’s Magnificent Lions and the Portrait of Wildlife

Painting animals is part of a tradition in European art dating back to the 17th century when animal-specialized painters began contributing to...

Rute Ferreira 16 March 2023

Rosa Bonheur, The Horse Fair, 1852-1855, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA. Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Animals

Masterpiece Story: The Horse Fair by Rosa Bonheur

Today’s Masterpiece Story is that of The Horse Fair by French Realist painter Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899). The Horse Fair was the undisputed star of...

Alexandra Kiely 16 March 2023

Rosa Bonheur, Sheep by the Sea, 1865, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC, USA Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Sheep by the Sea by Rosa Bonheur

Rosa Bonheur was one of the most famous European artists of the 19th century, and she was definitely the most celebrated female artist of her time.

James W Singer 16 March 2023

Lucas Cranach The Elder, The Suicide of Lucretia, 1525-30, Staatliche Museen, Kassel, Germany. Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Ancient Rome

A Woman with A Knife: The Story of Lucretia

If you see a woman with a knife in a painting – think of Lucretia. She was an ancient Roman heroine whose fate played a vital role in the...

Zuzanna Stańska 15 March 2023

Ancient Rome

Ancient Bikini Girls from the Roman Mosaics

If you have ever wondered when the history of the bikini began, it started at the same time and place in history as philosophy, mathematics, and art:...

Magda Michalska 15 March 2023

Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire, Destruction, 1836, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA. Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Ancient Rome

Painting the Fall of the Roman Empire

After many centuries, we are still wondering why the Roman Empire disappeared. Many theories try to explain it: wars, ideological problems, a chaotic...

Celia Leiva Otto 15 March 2023

Ancient Rome

How to Identify a Roman Emperor by His Beard

How many times have you walked into a museum full of statues or busts and not been able to tell one ancient sculpture from another? It can be...

Lauren Dorsey 15 March 2023

Artist Stories

Meet Harald Sohlberg, A Solitary Genius

Harald Sohlberg was a Norwegian painter whose works can be described as Neo-Romantic. He is particularly known for his depictions of the mountains of...

Zuzanna Stańska 14 March 2023

Expressionism

The Amazing Midnight Sun in Paintings: Edvard Munch’s Summer Nights

Edvard Munch was fascinated by the Norwegian summer light which evokes both tranquillity and anxiety, two feelings that Munch tried to capture in his...

Magda Michalska 14 March 2023