Special

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Merode Altarpiece by Robert Campin

The Merode Altarpiece is one of the most famous works by Robert Campin and his workshop. It serves as a link between the medieval tradition and...

Alexandra Kiely 27 April 2025

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Annunciation and Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico

Annunciation and Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico is a masterpiece that can be viewed both as medieval and Renaissance. How so? Keep on reading...

Alexandra Kiely 27 April 2025

Nubian, Faras, Saint Anne, 8th to 9th century, Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Saint Anne

To the south of Egypt is the mysterious land of Nubia. It has a complex history due to the different states and religions that have occupied the...

James W Singer 27 April 2025

Artist Stories

Pablo Picasso and Women in His Life

Pablo Picasso, perhaps the most influential and recognizable painter of the 20th century, is well known for his tumultuous (or even abusive)...

Pola Otterstein 25 April 2025

Artist Stories

Paul Gauguin—Master or Monster?

When Paul Gauguin visited Tahiti in the 1890’s was he a genius in search of paradise, or a seedy sex tourist? A painter, printmaker, sculptor,...

Candy Bedworth 25 April 2025

Artist Stories

A Creative Lunatic: Adolf Wölfli in 5 Artworks

Adolf Wölfli is now known alongside the label “Outsider Art” or Art Brut, a term Jean Dubuffet coined in 1945 to bring attention to...

Katerina Papouliou 25 April 2025

Art State of Mind

Titian Revisited: Grand Old Man of the Renaissance or Dirty Old Man?

Titian’s sensuous interpretation of classical myths of love, temptation, and punishment came together for the first time in nearly 500 years, at...

Guest Author 25 April 2025

Architecture

10 Most Famous Brutalist Buildings in the World

The 2024 film The Brutalist, a 3.5 hour epic for which Adrien Brody won an Oscar, has renewed public interest in Brutalist architecture. Whether...

Julia Bourbois 24 April 2025

john singer sargent madame x studies Artist Stories

Exploring John Singer Sargent’s Unknown Drawings

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) is primarily known and celebrated for his massive virtuoso portraits of late 19th and early 20th-century American,...

Alexandra Kiely 24 April 2025

Design

Natural Shine – 5 Nature Inspired Jewelry Pieces from the V&A Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has a fantastic collection of jewelry. This time we will take a look at pieces inspired by natural forms.

Joanna Kaszubowska 22 April 2025

Artist Stories

More Than Fifty Shades of Grey in the Life of Romaine Brooks

The story of Romaine Brooks could have been a story of success, luxury, and the easy life since she was born into a very wealthy American family (her...

Magda Michalska 21 April 2025

Anne Vallayer-Coster, Still Life with Flowers in an Alabaster Vase and Fruit, 1783, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Still Life with Flowers in an Alabaster Vase and Fruit by Anne Vallayer-Coster

Still Life with Flowers in an Alabaster Vase and Fruit by Anne Vallayer-Coster is a masterpiece of the still-life genre, 18th-century French art, and...

James W Singer, 20 April 2025