European Art Archives

Painting

Paintings Within Paintings: Time to Go Meta in the Art World

A few years ago, the art world celebrated the complete restoration of Johannes Vermeer’s Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window. One of the...

Jimena Escoto 5 June 2025

Self-portrait of a Caucasian woman at her easel, leaning back in her chair looking at the viewer. On her easel is a painting of man happily playing the violin. The artist is wearing a purple dress with white collar ruff and cap. Dutch Golden Age Women Artists.

Women Artists

Judith Leyster: The Leading Star of the Dutch Golden Age

Judith Leyster was a highly regarded genre painter in 17th-century Holland. Her career was cut short by her marriage, and after her death, her...

Catriona Miller 3 June 2025

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough

Originally titled A Portrait of a Young Gentleman, this iconic painting by Thomas Gainsborough was first presented at the Royal Academy exhibition of...

Maya M. Tola 1 June 2025

Abstract Expressionism

Willem de Kooning in 5 Works: A Look at the Abstract Expressionist Master

Willem de Kooning was a pivotal figure in 20th-century art and a leading force in Abstract Expressionism. His dynamic brushwork, complex...

Carlotta Mazzoli 29 May 2025

Baroque

Meet Maria de Knuijt: Was Vermeer’s Main Patron a Woman?

We all know Girl with a Pearl Earring, but have you ever wondered to whom the piece originally belonged? In light of the recent, largest Vermeer...

Nicole Ganbold 28 May 2025

Impressionism

Louisine Havemeyer and Her Modern Art Collection

A great pioneering art collector, Louisine Havemeyer (1855–1929), was the first American to patronize the French Impressionists. Together with her...

Alexandra Kiely 28 May 2025

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 27 May 2025

Women Artists

Nives Kavuric-Kurtovic: Pushing the Limits of Surrealism

Nives Kavuric-Kurtovic was the first female Croatian Surrealist painter and one of the greatest artists of Croatian contemporary art. As a painter,...

Guest Author 26 May 2025

Surrealism

Marion Adnams: A Teacher Who Turned Into a Surrealist

Would you ever suspect one of your teachers to be a painter? Marion Adnams, a modern languages teacher from Derby, England, turned out to be a hidden...

Magda Michalska 26 May 2025