What Art Has to Do with Politics: Gustave Courbet and the Paris Commune
The painter Gustave Courbet, a central figure of Realism, is known for his paintings in which he reveals the true lives of peasants and ordinary...
Rute Ferreira 10 June 2025
#france
The Scandalous Nudes of Gustave Courbet
In the 19th century, French painter and rebel Gustave Courbet generated outrage with his scandalous nudes. What exactly was so scandalous about his...
Kelly Hill 10 June 2025
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 10 June 2025
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 9 June 2025
Masterpiece Story: Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher
François Boucher (1703–1770) was the most celebrated French painter of the 18th century. His painting Madame de Pompadour captures the beautiful...
James W Singer 25 May 2025
Masterpiece Story: La Toilette by François Boucher
The soft rustle of silky cloth and the hard crackling of burning wood echo against the yellow-papered walls of the boudoir. The small room is...
James W Singer 25 May 2025
Georges Braque – The Second Father of Cubism
Everyone knows Pablo Picasso and considers him the father of Cubism. Everyone also knows that success has many fathers. Today, let’s talk about...
Joanna Kaszubowska 23 May 2025
Pablo Picasso in 8 Periods: Everything You Need to Know
Pablo Picasso, a prolific producer of paintings, prints, ceramics, and sculpture, his work has perhaps become over-familiar. Equally, in recent years...
Catriona Miller 23 May 2025
How Did Paris Fall in Love with Ballets Russes?
Ballets Russes was a ballet company founded by the famous impresario Sergei Diaghilev. No doubt, Ballets Russes made Russian ballet famous all around...
Guest Author 21 May 2025
Edgar Degas and His Most Beautiful Ballerinas
Edgar Degas was one of the founding artists of Impressionism, however, he didn’t like the term and preferred to call it “Realist” or...
Zuzanna Stańska 21 May 2025
Fifty Shades of Dr. Pozzi
There he is, a handsome gynecologist in a portrait entitled Dr. Pozzi at Home painted by John Singer Sargent. Pozzi was a dandy, a gynecologist, and...
Zuzanna Stańska 20 May 2025
Stroll Through Paris with Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper is known as one of the premier recorders of American mid-century life. Or mid-century malaise might be a better way to put it:...
Louisa Mahoney 15 May 2025
