Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Monkey Painter by Jean-Baptiste Chardin

It’s tacky! It’s funny! It’s weird! Yes, Jean-Baptiste Chardin’s The Monkey Painter is definitely not what you would consider in good taste.

James W Singer 29 January 2024

Impressionists, Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1906 Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Water Lilies by Claude Monet

Water Lilies is a masterpiece of Impressionism. It blends the artist’s objective world and subjective...

James W Singer 28 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose by John Singer Sargent

Known for his striking portraits of high-society figures, John Singer Sargent was one of the most successful painters of his day. But after causing a...

Natalia Iacobelli 28 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Almond Blossom by Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime. He was not a financially successful artist, and he was entirely dependent on his...

James W Singer 28 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Vase with Flowers by Rachel Ruysch

Let’s discuss one of the greatest still-life artists: Rachel Ruysch. Still-life paintings do not draw the crowds at museums. They are often...

James W Singer 28 January 2024

Georgia O’Keeffe Jack-in-the-Pulpit Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Jack-in-the-Pulpit No. IV by Georgia O’Keeffe

Georgia O’Keeffe is one of the greatest female artists of the early 20th century. She could also be considered the mother of American Modernism.

James W Singer 28 January 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 25 January 2024

manet monet quiz Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Luncheon on the Grass by Édouard Manet

Édouard Manet’s The Luncheon on the Grass (Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe) (1863) was one of the first works that broke away from established...

Catriona Miller 23 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi by Angelica Kauffman

Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi by Angelica Kauffman shows a pretty Roman woman and her three children. But it’s much more than that. It has an...

Alexandra Kiely 21 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Roses of Heliogabalus by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Lust, Gluttony, and Sloth. Three of the Seven Deadly Sins are depicted in Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s The Roses of Heliogabalus. Many other sins are...

James W Singer 21 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Still Life with a Golden Goblet by Pieter de Ring

Why is food such a popular image for art and culture? For millennia it has been a source of inspiration from ancient Roman mosaics through Dutch...

James W Singer 20 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Chateau Noir by Paul Cézanne

Chateau Noir is one of several paintings Paul Cézanne made of a Neo-Gothic castle in his hometown, Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. Chateau...

Alexandra Kiely 19 January 2024