#Death

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 10 February 2023

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 12 December 2022

Expressionism

Edvard Munch and His Portrayals of Death

“Illness, madness and death were the black angels that watched over my cradle and have since followed me through life,” Munch wrote in his notes,...

Zuzanna Stańska 12 December 2022

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 November 2022

Bizarre

Art Only Exists Because Death Exists. Skulls in Art

Dia De Los Muertos is celebrated every year across Mexico. A far cry from the Western commercial horror-fest of Halloween, it is a glorious...

Candy Bedworth 2 November 2022

Painting

11 Famous Funeral Paintings of Western Art

Funeral practices are deeply ingrained in all cultures. Varied traditions around the globe reflect widespread beliefs and values. On this day when we...

Zuzanna Stańska 1 November 2022

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Death and Life by Gustav Klimt

Death has been a fascinating theme for artists since the beginning of time. It was imagined as a personified force, also known as the Grim Reaper, a...

Zuzanna Stańska 11 July 2022

Women Artists

The Truth is in the Soil: The Elegiac Odyssey of Ioanna Sakellaraki

No phenomenon pertaining to human existence is as infallible and foundational as death. Expectedly, an occurrence that has this kind of defining...

Erol Degirmenci 13 January 2022

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 9 January 2022

Atala. Luis Monroy Josué, Last Moments of Atala, 1871,Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City, Mexico. Literature

Atala: The Tragedy that Transcended Pages

In the 19th century, Europeans went crazy for one story: Atala, or the Story of Two Lovers in the Desert. It is a novel by René de Chateaubriand...

Jimena Escoto 3 January 2022

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 10 October 2021

Symbolism

Symbolism Special: Jacek Malczewski’s Dates with Death

Jacek Malczewski is one of the most important Polish symbolist painters. Malczewski is associated with the Young Poland movement (Młoda Polska), a...

Magda Michalska 15 July 2021