Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Duchamp’s La Joconde aka L.H.O.O.Q

This masterpiece, La Joconde, is all about codes, reversals, play with conventions, and provocation. In other words, it’s an epitome of Dada...

Magda Michalska 15 December 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Divan Japonais

Divan Japonais is a lithograph poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec which was an ad for a café-chantant of this exact name. The poster is like a...

Zuzanna Stańska 24 November 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Aristide Bruant in his Cabaret

In the 1890s Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was one of a group of young avant-garde artists whose color lithography was a vehicle for innovative...

Zuzanna Stańska 24 November 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Kensingtons at Laventie by Eric Kennington

The painting The Kensingtons at Laventie, which we present today, is Eric Kennington’s most famous work. It has been described as “one of the...

Zuzanna Stańska 11 November 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece of the Week: Andreas Gursky, Rhine II

It seems to be one of those pictures you may accidentally take on holiday when the weather is bad. Rhine II by Andreas Gursky is not a photo we...

Joanna Kaszubowska 22 August 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Painting of the Week: Thomas Cole, The Architect’s Dream

The Architect’s Dream is an outstanding example of architectural genre. It was painted by American artist and founder of the Hudson River School Thomas Cole in 1840 for the New York architect Ithiel Town. The painting seamlessly stitches together Egyptian, Graeco-Roman and Gothic styles into a fantastical landscape.

Rucha Vijay Bodas 8 August 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: A Ride for Liberty by Eastman Johnson

The cool morning dew blew against their warm sweaty skin as the horse led them towards the free North. Stories of another life, a free life,...

James W Singer 11 April 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Flora by Rembrandt van Rijn

Rembrandt painted his wife Saskia van Uylenburgh as Flora, goddess of spring and flowers, three times during their relatively short but meaningful...

Zuzanna Stańska 21 February 2021

Masterpiece Stories

History in Art: Washington Crossing the Delaware

Throughout history, artists have documented the world around them. Consequently, this has culminated in some of the most famous historically-based...

Rachel Witte 19 January 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Princess Olga Orlova by Valentin Serov

Late Tsarist Russia evokes images of great social inequality in respect of health, wealth, and happiness. In addition, it evokes images of extreme...

James W Singer 17 January 2021

Artist Stories

The Story of Vincent van Gogh’s Bedroom and Its Three Versions

The Bedroom(s) are among the most famous paintings of Vincent van Gogh. Why the plural? There are three similar paintings of the same title. All...

Zuzanna Stańska 9 January 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Painting of the Week: Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis

The bejeweled woman from the mosaic, holding the measuring tool for the Roman foot, is identified by the restored Greek inscription as Ktisis. She is...

Zuzanna Stańska 18 October 2020