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: The Football Players by Henri Rousseau

Welcome to the bizarre world of Henri Rousseau (1844–1910), the quintessential naïve artist, and meet his masterpiece depicting oneiric, striped...

Anastasia Manioudaki 21 May 2023

Titian's The Rape of Europa Renaissance

Titian’s The Rape of Europa (Metamorphoses V)

In a series of articles, we are meeting each of the seven Poesies, which Titian delivered to Philip II of Spain in the 1550s and early 1560s. Each...

Isla Phillips-Ewen 9 May 2023

El Lissitzky, Klinom krasnym bei belykh (Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge), 1919, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Beat The Whites With The Red Wedge by El Lissitzky

Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (Клином красным бей белых!) is a 1919 lithographic Soviet propaganda poster by artist Lazar...

Zuzanna Stańska 24 April 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Hieronymus Bosch and His Fascinating World: The Garden of Earthly Delights

Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights remains a mystery to this day. The most respected experts in late gothic iconography...

Marta Loza 20 April 2023

Cornelis Saftleven, Who Sues for a Cow?, 1629, oil on wood panel, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Who Sues for a Cow by Cornelis Saftleven

Who Sues for a Cow is a masterpiece of social commentary by now-forgotten artist, Cornelis Saftleven. It is a strange painting from the Dutch Golden...

James W Singer 16 January 2023

Theater & Cinema

Iconic Pieter Bruegel’s Hunters in the Snow in Movies

The Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel the Elder belongs to the magnificent collection of Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Discover its story...

Zuzanna Stańska 11 December 2022

Masterpiece Stories

Meet Mona Lisa’s Twin!

Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world. But did you know that she has a twin? Covered with multiple layers of dark and cracked varnish,...

Zuzanna Stańska 14 September 2022

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Tughra of Sultan Süleiman the Magnificent

During the 16th and 17th centuries, The Ottoman Empire reached the height of its powers and extended into several continents, crossing nations and...

James W Singer 7 August 2022

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Death and Life by Gustav Klimt

Death has been a fascinating theme for artists since the beginning of time. It was imagined as a personified force, also known as the Grim Reaper, a...

Zuzanna Stańska 11 July 2022

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Fish Magic by Paul Klee

Fish Magic is a mysterious and very fascinating work by Swiss-born German artist Paul Klee, a painter who balanced on the verge of a few modern art...

Kate Wojtczak 19 June 2022

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Season’s Greetings by Banksy

What if a children’s game turned into a frightening nightmare? And what would you think if the cause was… you? In Port Talbot, UK, Banksy...

Camilla de Laurentis 20 May 2022