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Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Abbey in the Oakwood by Caspar David Friedrich

Sadness and desolation fill this scene like an oppressive melancholy. The sun is dying behind the horizon as fog enshrouds the ground. Skeletal trees...

James W Singer 16 March 2024

Ancient Egypt

The Egyptian Icon in Berlin: The Bust of Queen Nefertiti

The bust of Queen Nefertiti housed in Berlin’s Neues Museum is one of Ancient Egypt’s most famous works of art. A prime example of ancient...

Nadine Waldmann 16 March 2024

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 15 March 2024

News

Gesina ter Borch’s Sole Signed Painting Emerges at an Art Fair

Recently Rijksmuseum announced an acquisition of a highly sought-after newly emerged work by a Dutch Golden Age artist, Gesina ter Borch. This...

Nicole Ganbold 15 March 2024

Woman with Stylus, 55-79 CE Ancient Rome

Woman with Stylus: What a Portrait Can Tell Us About Women in Ancient Rome

Woman with Stylus is an ancient Roman fresco unearthed in Pompeii nearly two millennia after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. Various details...

Natalia Iacobelli 15 March 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Oath of the Horatii by Jacques-Louis David

In a Neoclassicist masterpiece painted on the eve of the French Revolution, Jacques-Louis David depicts the beginning of an epic Roman story in The...

Coleman Richards 15 March 2024

Baroque

The Art of Story Telling: The Abduction of the Sabine Women

According to popular belief, there are only seven plot types in storytelling. Hence it is not surprising to find artists inspired by the same...

Wendy Gray 15 March 2024

Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire, Destruction, 1836, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA. Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Ancient Rome

Painting the Fall of the Roman Empire

After many centuries, we are still wondering why the Roman Empire disappeared. Many theories try to explain it: wars, ideological problems, a chaotic...

Celia Leiva Otto 15 March 2024

Art State of Mind

Florence Welch — A Modern Pre-Raphaelite Muse

We all know Florence Welch, the leader of the indie-rock band Florence + The Machine. And if you don’t, I suggest you find her cosmic music right...

Elizaveta Ermakova 15 March 2024

Fauvism

Fauvism in 10 Paintings

Can you believe that the now well-known masterpieces created by artists such as Henri Matisse and Maurice de Vlaminck were once called “wild...

Valeria Kumekina 14 March 2024

Exhibition view of Frans Hals, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Photo by Rijksmuseum/Albertine Dijkema. Review

The Frans Hals Experience at the Rijksmuseum

Frans Hals, one of the most innovative and fascinating artists in Western art history, is making international headlines at the Rijksmuseum.

Nicole Ganbold 14 March 2024

Women Artists

Making Something Beautiful: An Introduction to Inuit Artist Kenojuak Ashevak

Kenojuak Ashevak (1927-2013) is the most globally recognized Inuit artist. Pioneering the way, she was among the first Inuit artists to garner...

Iolanda Munck 14 March 2024