#france

Jean Antoine Watteau, Feast of Love, ca 1718-19, oil on canvas, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Germany. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Feast of Love by Jean-Antoine Watteau

Feast of Love is a beautiful painting by Jean-Antoine Watteau that explores the themes of love and impermanence. It holds a polished mixture of urban...

James W Singer 31 December 2022

Symbolism

Odilon Redon’s World of Darkness

The Balloon-Eye, The Crying Spider, The Cactus Man, The Cyclops… This is not a list of creatures from some horror movie. These are paintings...

Zuzanna Stańska 17 December 2022

Art History 101

Les Nabis 101

“Nabis” in Hebrew means “prophets.” In the Fall of 1888, a group of students at the Parisian Académie Julian disappointed with the strict...

Magda Michalska 17 December 2022

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Train in the Snow by Claude Monet

Claude Monet painted The Train in the Snow in 1875. The work was not shown in the Impressionist exhibition, but it reveals Monet’s attraction to...

Zuzanna Stańska 11 December 2022

Art Nouveau

René Lalique, The Master Jeweler of Art Nouveau

René Lalique (1860-1945) was a French jeweler and one of Art Nouveau’s most renowned craftsmen. Trained in Paris and London, Lalique was unusual...

Europeana 2 December 2022

Theater & Cinema

What Did Belle Époque Artists from Midnight in Paris Look Like in Real Life?

In Woody Allen’s 2011 Midnight in Paris, the main character, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself transported back in time to Paris from the...

Rachel Witte 19 November 2022

Medieval Art

An Illuminated Year with Limbourg Brothers

Just imagine you are an extremely rich duke living in the 15th century who likes pretty books and magnificent castles. What do you do to have them...

Magda Michalska 15 November 2022

Medieval Art

Medieval Take on Comic Books – Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

The Middle Ages have a very sketchy reputation. On one hand, we know that a lot of amazing art was created during that time. On the other hand,...

Joanna Kaszubowska 15 November 2022

Artist Stories

5 Sculptures by Auguste Rodin You Should Know

Francois Auguste Rene Rodin was born in Paris on November 12th, 1840. The French sculptor is known as the progenitor of modern sculpture. Even though...

Pola Otterstein, Nicole Ganbold 12 November 2022

Sculpture

Watch Auguste Rodin Sculpting in 1915

Auguste Rodin was a master of modern sculpture. Instead of copying traditional academic postures, he preferred his models to move naturally around...

Zuzanna Stańska, Ania Kaczynska 12 November 2022

Sculpture

Scandalous Rodin: The History of Balzac’s Monument

One of the greatest French novelists dies. One of the greatest French sculptors is commissioned to raise him a monument. Yet instead of presenting...

Magda Michalska 12 November 2022

Art History 101

Orientalism – Quick Explanation

19th-century Europeans were fascinated by the Near East and North Africa. Everything began roughly around the time of the Napoleonic invasion of...

Magda Michalska 3 November 2022