European Art

Animals

The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau

Henri Rousseau was a French artist who painted in a Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier (the customs officer), which was a...

Zuzanna Stańska 4 September 2024

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 4 September 2024

Sir Edwin Landseer, Monarch of the Glen, ca 1851, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, UK. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Monarch of the Glen by Edwin Landseer

Monarch of the Glen by Edwin Landseer is one of the most famous British paintings of the 19th century. It is a Victorian melodrama at its most...

James W Singer 4 September 2024

European Art

Masterpiece Story: The Pineapple Picture

Known as the “pineapple picture,” this enigmatic 17th-century painting captures the royal reception of King Charles II. The British royal...

Maya M. Tola 3 September 2024

Bizarre

The Most Bizarre Building in Scotland: Pineapple House

You likely would not connect pineapples and architecture, right? Wrong! There exists a real artistic folly, and not in Las Vegas where such a...

Magda Michalska 3 September 2024

Women Artists

Polina Raiko, The Self-Taught Folk Artist Who Turned Tragedy to Triumph

In 1998, for the first time ever, Polina Raiko (1928-2004), a 69-year-old woman who had spent almost her entire life as a wife, mother, and farmer,...

Adam Oestreich 2 September 2024

Anna Boberg, Fishing Harbour with Sunlit Mountains. Study from North Norway, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden. Women Artists

Anna Boberg – Self-Taught Painter of Lofoten Landscapes

Anna Boberg was a multidisciplinary self-taught artist active in Stockholm and Paris. She is best known for her arctic landscapes from Lofoten in...

Europeana 2 September 2024

Artist Stories

Let’s Ride a Tiger! Escape into the Tropics with Henri Rousseau

Let’s ride a tiger! Definitely not! We should never try to ride a tiger, and Rousseau does not suggest it either! It would be horrible (especially...

Sarah Mills 2 September 2024

Artist Stories

8 Things Everyone Should Know About Joaquín Sorolla

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida was a Spanish painter whose style was a variant of Impressionism. His best works, painted in the open air, vividly portray...

Zuzanna Stańska 30 August 2024

Impressionism

Masterpiece Story: Strolling along the Seashore by Joaquin Sorolla

This painting is the crowning work of Joaquin Sorolla’s late period. It shows his wife, Clothilde, and eldest daughter, Maria, walking elegantly on...

Zuzanna Stańska 30 August 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Capturing the Moment by Joaquín Sorolla

The Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla spent most of his summers with his family in French Biarritz, 35 kilometers from the border with Spain. The beach...

Zuzanna Stańska 30 August 2024

Interview

My Great-Grandmother Tamara de Lempicka: An Interview with Marisa de Lempicka

You may not know her name but you surely know her works. Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980) is the icon of a modern woman, the epitome of Art Deco. She...

Lauren Kraut 29 August 2024