European Art

History

The Story of Raphael’s Lost Portrait of a Young Man

Have you ever seen this painting? It is currently missing; in fact, it has been missing since 1945. Let’s explore the story of one of the most...

Zuzanna Stańska 6 April 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806) was the most prolific French painter of the 18th century. He created over 550 paintings embodying the spirit of...

James W Singer 5 April 2023

Andrea Mantegna, Bridal Chamber, Ocluus. Mantua, Italy. Renaissance

Fooling the Eye: Illusionistic Games in Andrea Mantegna’s Bridal Chamber

A masterpiece of the early Italian Renaissance, Andrea Mantegna’s Bridal Chamber has been described as the most beautiful room in the world.

Natalia Iacobelli 30 March 2023

Museum Stories

Van Gogh Museum Staff Picks

Have you ever wondered who knows the best of a museum’s collection? Probably the people who spend most of their lives between these artworks: the...

Kate Wojtczak 30 March 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Theatre Box by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Entertainments such as cabarets, theatres, and the circus were popular themes among the Impressionist painters whose mission was portraying modern...

Zuzanna Stańska 27 March 2023

Post-Impressionism

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Portraying Misia Natanson at the Theater

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec is famous for his portrayals of Parisian nightlife: cabarets, theaters, and brothels. He showed us a world of decadence and...

Alicja Gluszek 27 March 2023

Music

How to Show Music in Paintings? Best Depictions of Music in Art

There is an undeniable symbiosis between painting and music. The influence of one medium on the other is profoundly apparent in the works of many...

Maya M. Tola 27 March 2023

Aleksandra Waliszewska, Untitled, 1997-2022, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland. Contemporary Art

The Dark Arts of Aleksandra Waliszewska

Rather unsettling, quite macabre, and more than slightly erotic, the paintings and illustrations by Polish artist Aleksandra Waliszewska are...

Marta Wiktoria Bryll 23 March 2023

Animals

See a Man About a Dog: Dogs in Paintings

The title sentence is a charming English euphemism, usually used to apologize for one’s imminent departure or absence—generally to conceal...

Joanna Kaszubowska 23 March 2023

Animals

Dachshunds in Art

Dachshunds were first bred around the 15th century in Germany. Their primary purpose was to hunt small animals, particularly badgers, and they are...

Maya M. Tola 23 March 2023

Rivers in paintings: J.M.W. Turner, The Fighting Temeraire, 1839, National Gallery, London, UK. Painting

Down by the River: Rivers in Famous Paintings

From the dawn of civilization, rivers have been the crux of human life. Most great cities are built around rivers. We use them for sustenance,...

Anastasia Manioudaki 22 March 2023

Conservators restoring Plautilla Nelli’s Last Supper, found by Jane Fortune and her association. Women Artists

Art Detective Jane Fortune: Rediscovering Forgotten Female Artists

When Jane Fortune arrived in Florence in the 1960s to study art she was left with one burning question: where are the women artists? As she often...

Natalia Iacobelli 20 March 2023