WTF Art History

Love Story

Unhappily Ever After: Unequal Marriage by Vasili Pukirev

Vasili Pukirev’s painting, Unequal Marriage, has a legend surrounding it. Allegedly, after looking at it all the elderly grooms refused to marry...

Elizaveta Ermakova 18 September 2024

WTF Art History

6 Creatures by Hieronymus Bosch That Could Be Pokémon

Did you ever think where the ideas for Pokémon could be coming from? Here are six examples proving that in the 16th century, Hieronymus Bosch caught...

Zuzanna Stańska 16 September 2024

Bizarre

Can You Beat This Beard? Bearded Men in Paintings

According to some fashion experts, beards reached their peak 10 years ago. However, this is not just some seasonal trend. Long, short, trimmed, or...

Magda Michalska 16 September 2024

Rococo

Jean-Étienne Liotard Breakfast Scenes

The 18th-century painter, miniaturist, and pastelist Jean-Étienne Liotard is perhaps one of the most eccentric artists of his time. Known for his...

Anna Ingram 16 September 2024

Unicorns in art Animals

Unicorns in Art Across Time: From French Tapestries to Damien Hirst’s Sculptures

Unicorns, the enchanting and mythical beings, have been a captivating subject in art since ancient times, maintaining their inspirational allure for...

Ela Bobek 16 September 2024

Baroque

Fascinating (and Creepy) Coffin Portraits of the Polish Nobility

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Poland was a much bigger and more important country than it is today, as it encompassed some parts of the territories...

Magda Michalska 16 September 2024

Bizarre

Wunderkammer – A Universe in Your Closet

How would you feel if you found a mummified crocodile in your best friend’s room? Well, pretty awkward I guess, although I imagine that you’ve...

Magda Michalska 16 September 2024

Sculpture

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt and His Bizarre Character Heads

The so-called character heads created by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt are not only a bizarre collection of sculptures but also a unique portrayal of...

Zuzanna Stańska 16 September 2024

Theater & Cinema

Movie Scenes Staged as Famous Paintings

In 1911 the Italian film theoretician Ricciotto Canudo defined cinema as “the seventh art”. So it’s quite natural that from its birth cinema...

Arianna Richetti 16 September 2024

Art History 101

Contrapposto 101 – It’s All in the Pose

If you are taking an introductory art history course in school this semester, you’ll soon be talking a lot about contrapposto. I remember hearing...

Alexandra Kiely 13 September 2024

Prehistoric Art

All You Need to Know About the Lascaux Cave

Located in southern France, the Lascaux Cave houses some of the most famous prehistoric cave paintings, dating to approximately 15,000 BCE. The cave...

Vithória Konzen Dill 12 September 2024

Saltimbanques Harlequin, 1901 and his Companion by Pablo Picasso (1901) Art State of Mind

Feeling Blue? Color Psychology and Its Use in Art

The year was 1901 when Picasso’s dear friend, Carles Casagemas, committed suicide. That same year, Picasso sank into a deep depression during...

Bruno Guerra 10 September 2024