Special

Medieval Art

All That Glitters: The Sparkling World of Medieval Mosaics

Welcome to the sparkling world of medieval mosaics! Although not as famous as illuminated manuscripts or stained glass, the mosaic was a popular art...

Alexandra Kiely 2 August 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Two Sisters (On the Terrace) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

This beautiful painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir is known under two titles. The first one – Two Sisters (in French: Les Deux Sœurs) was given to...

Zuzanna Stańska 1 August 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Portrait of Gabrielle d’Estrées and One of Her Sisters

To a 21st-century viewer, the portrait of Gabrielle d’Estrées might seem homo-erotic. However, pictured with her sister, the Duchess of Villars,...

Anna Ingram 1 August 2023

Painting

Sisterhood in Art: Portraying Sisters

It’s not surprising that many artists with sisters painted their portraits, especially early in their careers. They were probably easily available...

Europeana 1 August 2023

Women Artists

Pre-Raphaelite Sisters: Five Female Painters to Know

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, an all-male artistic fraction active during the second half of the 19th century, has become synonymous today with...

Anastasia Tsaleza 1 August 2023

JMW Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed, 1844, National Gallery, London, UK. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Rain, Steam and Speed by JMW Turner

JMW Turner‘s Rain, Steam, and Speed is a masterpiece of Victorian Romanticism infused with hopes, fears, and reminisces. It catapults the...

James W Singer 31 July 2023

Theater & Cinema

Harry Potter and the Lady of the Unicorn Tapestries

The Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries were made towards the end of the 15th century and are one of the most well-known sets of medieval tapestries. You...

Anna Ingram 31 July 2023

Animals

Secrets of Pets in Art

There’s nothing better than going to a museum and spotting a cute pet hidden in a painting. I mean, after all, one of art’s functions is...

Marta Wiktoria Bryll 31 July 2023

Dadaism

Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain and Why It Matters

Few artists have been as versatile and as bold as Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968). He was a painter, a sculptor, and a photographer; he was a seminal...

Guest Profile 31 July 2023

Piet Mondrian's Composition: Piet Mondrian, Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow, 1930, Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow by Piet Mondrian

Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow is a golden example of Abstraction, De Stijl, and Constructivism. It purges the art of individual subjects by...

James W Singer 30 July 2023

Impressionism

The Dazzling Davies Sisters and Their Impressionist Art Collection

The Davies sisters grew up in a remote corner of Victorian Wales. They were religious, teetotal and never married. But these demure young women, with...

Candy Bedworth 29 July 2023

Museum Stories

Her Life and Her Museum: Isabella Stewart Gardner

The story of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and its founder before the robbery in 1990.

Jennifer S. Musawwir 29 July 2023