WTF Art History

Art History 101

Artist and Patron – Friend or Foe?

Since ancient times, patrons have played a vital role in art history. Patronage can be found almost everywhere – in Europe, feudal Japan, and...

Candy Bedworth 7 August 2023

Artist Stories

A Strange Story about Andy Warhol and Plastic Surgeries

Andy Warhol was obsessed with the idea of turning into a machine which, partially, led to his slight addiction to plastic surgeries. The father of...

Zuzanna Stańska 6 August 2023

Pop art

How to Party Like Andy Warhol

If Andy Warhol were to host a birthday celebration, he would likely have thrown a massive party, given that his Factory attracted socialites, drag...

Magda Michalska 6 August 2023

Feathers in Pre-Columbian Art:Juan Bautista Cuiris, Portrait of Christ, 1950s, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Detail. South American Art

All the Fuss and Feathers in Pre-Columbian Art

Artisans in pre-Columbian and colonial Mexico, as in Peru, used feathers to create exquisite adornments for nobles, fancy textiles for the elite, and...

Alicja Gluszek 5 August 2023

History

The International Dispute over Moctezuma’s Headdress

Throughout Mexico’s rich history, two significant milestones have shaped its identity: the fall of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec city that laid the...

Magda Michalska 5 August 2023

WTF Art History

Top 10 Weird Christian Relics

Heads, shoulders, knees, and toes… Saintly toes? The variety of saintly relics really offers it all. I hope all of this is not too morbid for you.

Marta Wiktoria Bryll 4 August 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Portrait of Gabrielle d’Estrées and One of Her Sisters

To a 21st-century viewer, the portrait of Gabrielle d’Estrées might seem homo-erotic. However, pictured with her sister, the Duchess of Villars,...

Anna Ingram 1 August 2023

Theater & Cinema

Harry Potter and the Lady of the Unicorn Tapestries

The Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries were made towards the end of the 15th century and are one of the most well-known sets of medieval tapestries. You...

Anna Ingram 31 July 2023

Animals

Secrets of Pets in Art

There’s nothing better than going to a museum and spotting a cute pet hidden in a painting. I mean, after all, one of art’s functions is...

Marta Wiktoria Bryll 31 July 2023

Museum Stories

Her Life and Her Museum: Isabella Stewart Gardner

The story of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and its founder before the robbery in 1990.

Jennifer S. Musawwir 29 July 2023

WTF Art History

The Dark Age of Rome – The Cadaver Synod

In a career that spanned over two decades, Jean-Paul Laurens painted some of French art’s most plaintive historical moments: two young princes...

Guest Profile 27 July 2023

Art State of Mind

It’s Too Hot to Move – Paintings for the Heatwave

As the heatwave rolls across Europe, it is certainly becoming too hot to move. And when we’re not moving, nothing is more pleasant than to lie...

Joanna Kaszubowska 27 July 2023