Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Street, Dresden by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

The swirling crowds and electric lights of the modern city. This is the subject of today’s Masterpiece Story, created by one of the greatest...

Zuzanna Stańska 21 July 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Tables for Ladies by Edward Hopper

Indeed, when we look at this painting, everything is very Hopper-ish – the circulating sensation of sadness and loneliness, the weariness of...

Zuzanna Stańska, 21 July 2024

Sofonisba Anguissola, The Game of Chess, 1555. Women Artists

Masterpiece Story: The Game of Chess by Sofonisba Anguissola

Sofonisba Anguissola is known for her self-portraits and portraits of Spanish royalty. But her most provocative painting is perhaps The Game of...

Anna Ingram 19 July 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: A Glass Compote with Peaches, Jasmine Flowers, Quinces and a Grasshopper by Fede Galizia

Fede Galizia’s beautiful A Glass Compote with Peaches, Jasmine Flowers, Quinces and a Grasshopper is one of Italy’s first-ever still life...

Alexandra Kiely 18 July 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: A Burial at Ornans by Gustave Courbet

Who nowadays doesn’t appreciate Gustave Courbet‘s striking realism? We all do, but as happens with many geniuses, Courbet was not appreciated by...

Magda Michalska 17 July 2024

Rembrandt, Abduction of Ganymede, 1635, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Germany. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Abduction of Ganymede by Rembrandt

Rembrandt is less known for his mythological paintings, but their visual impact matches any of his religious images and secular portraits. The...

James W Singer 15 July 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Woman with a Parrot by Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet, the enfant terrible of French 19th-century art, did everything he could to save himself in the memory of the contemporary art...

Zuzanna Stańska 14 July 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Truth Coming Out of Her Well by Jean-Léon Gérôme

A fair-skinned woman, nude. Mouth open in either shock, rage, or maybe even disgust, as she emerges from a well. One leg is already draped over the...

Kristin Urban 14 July 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Our Ancient Gods by Saturnino Herrán

Saturnino Herrán’s Our Ancient Gods is a masterful painting of Mexican Modernism from the early 20th century. It evokes the strength, dignity, and...

James W Singer 14 July 2024

Rembrandt van Rijn, Saskia van Uylenburgh as Flora Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Saskia as Flora by Rembrandt

Rembrandt van Rijn married Saskia van Uylenburgh in 1634. They were together for only eight years before she died after childbirth, probably from...

Catriona Miller 12 July 2024

Baroque

15 Things You Didn’t Know About the Night Watch by Rembrandt

The Night Watch painted by Rembrandt van Rijn is a monumental canvas displayed today in the “Gallery of Honour” of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam,...

Zuzanna Stańska, Nicole Ganbold 12 July 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Gustav Klimt’s Last Painting – Lady with a Fan

Since its creation, at the end of Gustav Klimt’s life, Lady with a Fan was controversial. The piece was shown to the public only three times,...

Giordana Goretti 12 July 2024