#france

Camille Claudel, Art Institute of Chicago Interview

Camille Claudel at the Art Institute of Chicago

Camille Claudel’s tempestuous life story—her passionate love affair with her teacher, Auguste Rodin, and her forced confinement in a psychiatric...

Natalia Iacobelli 24 July 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Truth Coming Out of Her Well by Jean-Léon Gérôme

A fair-skinned woman, nude. Mouth open in either shock, rage, or maybe even disgust, as she emerges from a well. One leg is already draped over the...

Kristin Urban 14 July 2024

Jacques Louis David, Death of Marat, 1793, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium Neoclassicism

Heroes, Martyrs, and Propaganda: Jacques-Louis David Painting the French Revolution

Jacques-Louis David is widely known for his historical-themed works and as the foremost painter of the Neoclassical style. However, his influence...

Javier Abel Miguel 11 July 2024

niki de saint phalle Women Artists

Niki de Saint Phalle and the Nana Statues

We all have seen somewhere these voluminous, beautifully dressed, and dancing sculptures. They are called Nanas, and they were made by a...

Wendy Gray 10 July 2024

Eugène Delacroix, The Barque of Dante, 1822, The Louvre, Paris, France Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Barque of Dante by Eugène Delacroix

Welcome to Hell—tonight, our guide will be Virgil, Dante, and of course Eugène Delacroix. The Barque of Dante, the first major painting by French...

Anastasia Manioudaki 3 July 2024

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 July 2024

Romanticism

The Orientalism of Eugène Delacroix – Beware of the Colors!

Eugène Delacroix was a French artist who was seen as the leader of the French Romantic school of art from the beginning of his career. 19th-century...

Zuzanna Stańska 3 July 2024

European Art

Escape to the Forest: The Birth of Barbizon School

During the 19th century, the most promising artists trained at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris. The Academy taught its pupils...

Gokce Dyson 21 June 2024

Fauvism

Henri Matisse in 10 Paintings

A renowned artist, Henri Matisse was one of the most prominent figures of the avant-garde movement. He is widely considered the father of Fauvism.

Valeria Kumekina 19 June 2024

Fauvism

Why Was Matisse Obsessed with Goldfish?

Goldfish here, goldfish there—in a bowl, in a tank, on a table, by the window—goldfish everywhere. As I delved into Henri Matisse’s work, I...

Magda Michalska 19 June 2024

Post-Impressionism

Father of Modern Art: Paul Cézanne

January 19th marks the birthday of one of the prominent French artists of Post-Impressionism – Paul Cézanne. He is often regarded as the father of...

Valeria Kumekina 5 June 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Chateau Noir by Paul Cézanne

Chateau Noir is one of several paintings Paul Cézanne made of a Neo-Gothic castle in his hometown, Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. Chateau...

Alexandra Kiely 5 June 2024