#Death

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: A Burial at Ornans by Gustave Courbet

Who nowadays doesn’t appreciate Gustave Courbet‘s striking realism? We all do, but as happens with many geniuses, Courbet was not appreciated by...

Magda Michalska 17 July 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Madonna by Edvard Munch

The Norwegian painter Edvard Munch realized the colored lithograph Madonna in 1895. He is considered the precursor of Expressionism, therefore his...

Maia Heguiaphal 16 June 2024

Post-Impressionism

Vincent van Gogh’s Last Painting?

In July 1890, Vincent van Gogh painted one of his best-known artworks, Wheatfield with Crows. The painting is on display in The Van Gogh Museum in...

Heather Johnson 13 June 2024

Aleksandra Waliszewska, Untitled, 1997-2022, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland. Contemporary Art

The Dark Arts of Aleksandra Waliszewska

Rather unsettling, quite macabre, and more than slightly erotic, the paintings and illustrations by Polish artist Aleksandra Waliszewska are...

Marta Wiktoria Bryll 20 May 2024

Bizarre

Dark Side of Art History in 13 Creepy Paintings

Forget watching horror movies on Netflix—here we have something that will make your jaw drop! Welcome to the eerie realm of creepy paintings, where...

Zuzanna Stańska 20 May 2024

Art History 101

A Small Guide to Still Life Symbols

You may think that all those marvelous Dutch still lifes from the 16th and 17th centuries were just some random sets of fruits, vegetables, and...

Zuzanna Stańska, Nicole Ganbold 3 May 2024

Bizarre

James Ensor’s Fighting Skeletons

Do you know the late Victorian and avant-garde painter James Ensor? Often likened to Edvard Munch is his ability to convey the miseries of human...

Sarah Mills 11 April 2024

Vincent van Gogh - Self-portrait with bandaged ear (1889, Courtauld Institute) Artist Stories

The Mystery of Vincent van Gogh’s Death

Vincent van Gogh’s death occurred in the early morning of 29 July 1890, in his room at the Auberge Ravoux in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise in...

Zuzanna Stańska 30 March 2024

Bizarre

Chilling Beauty: Exploring Europe’s Bone Churches

From the ancient period through the 18th century, European Catholics and Orthodox Christians displayed and maintained bones of the deceased to honor...

Julia Bourbois 28 March 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Aeneas Taken by the Sibyl to the Underworld by Jacob van Swanenburgh

Aeneas Taken by the Sibyl to the Underworld is one of only 11 known surviving works by Jacob van Swanenburgh. It is a rare gem of late Renaissance...

James W Singer 9 March 2024

Bizarre

Vile Bodies? Anatomy in Art

Are you ready to journey into the fascinating world of anatomical art? Read on, as we reveal flesh and blood art through the...

Candy Bedworth 4 March 2024

Alexandre Cabanel, Cleopatra, 1887, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Cleopatra by Alexandre Cabanel

Queen Cleopatra is a popular subject today – as she was in the late 19th century. Alexandre Cabanel’s Cleopatra explores a single moment of her...

James W Singer 3 March 2024