Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt van Rijn

Rembrandt painted this group portrait of seven surgeons and the physician Nicolaes Tulp in 1632. He was only 26 years old at that point. Nicolaes...

Zuzanna Stańska 15 July 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1656) was the most accomplished female painter of the Italian Baroque. She specialized in Biblical scenes of strong...

James W Singer 8 July 2023

Pop art

Andy Warhol’s Ladies and Gentlemen

A club The Gilded Grape, situated in the no man’s land of Eighth Avenue and West 45th Street in New York City, was a hub of drag queens and Black...

Magda Michalska 28 June 2023

Eugène Delacroix, The Barque of Dante, 1822, The Louvre, Paris, France Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Barque of Dante by Eugène Delacroix

Welcome to Hell—tonight, our guide will be Virgil, Dante, and of course Eugène Delacroix. The Barque of Dante, the first major painting by French...

Anastasia Manioudaki 26 June 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Capturing the Moment by Joaquín Sorolla

The Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla spent most of his summers with his family in French Biarritz, 35 kilometers from the border with Spain. The beach...

Zuzanna Stańska 18 June 2023

Romanticism

Goya’s Ghosts: The Disasters of War Print Series

Francisco Goya (1746-1828) is considered to be the founder of the national genre in Spain. He was talented in many areas: portraits, historical...

Elizaveta Ermakova 17 June 2023

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 10 June 2023

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 10 June 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Sailboats by Lyonel Feninger

Cubism – the word instantly evokes images of Picasso and his figures with multiple noses. However, there is more than just Picasso who excels in...

James W Singer 28 May 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando by Edgar Degas

Feats of strength, super flexibility, the ability to hold one’s breath for long periods of time, combine all that with lions, clowns, and a...

Rachel Witte 24 May 2023

Pablo Picasso, Lovers, 1923, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Lovers by Pablo Picasso

The Lovers by Pablo Picasso explores the dynamics of courtship. It returns to an earlier painting tradition and invents a new interpretation.

James W Singer 22 May 2023

Women Artists

Mary Cassatt’s Feminist Mural Which Has Gone Missing

Mary Cassatt was a well-known Impressionist who often illustrated motherhood and traditional female activities in the 19th century. When she was 50,...

Magda Michalska 22 May 2023