#Political Art

Pieter van Aelst, Christ's Charge to Peter, from the Acts of the Apostles Renaissance

Renaissance Tapestries 101: Religious, Political, and Magical

Renaissance tapestries are the most underestimated subject in art history. As expensive and enormously large works of art, tapestries attributed to...

Anna Ingram 5 June 2026

Contemporary Art

New York Art Week 2026: 12 Highlights from NYC’s Spring Art Frenzy

Between marquee art fairs, auction-house madness, downtown openings, uptown previews, long-awaited gallery and museum exhibitions, and the artsy...

MJ Rivera 28 May 2026

Maria Gvardeitseva, Men In Suits Performance, 2024 Interview

Maria Gvardeitseva: Art as Transformation

In this deep-dive interview we explore the work of contemporary artist Maria Gvardeitseva, who explores exile, identity and belonging through the mediums of performance, sculpture and video.

Candy Bedworth 25 May 2026

African Art

Art as a Catalyst: How Art Played a Pivotal Role in the End of Apartheid

South Africa is infamous for its time of apartheid (1948-1994), a legal system for racial segregation. It was a period of violence and oppression...

Guest Author 25 May 2026

Dioskourides, Gemma Augustea, 9-12 CE, sardonyx and gold, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Gemma Augustea by Dioskourides

The Gemma Augustea is the second largest cameo surviving from antiquity, and one of the most artistically valuable pieces of ancient Roman art. It is...

James W Singer 17 May 2026

Realism

Gustave Courbet in 10 Paintings

Gustave Courbet was the bad boy of 19th-century French art. A political and artistic radical, he was imprisoned after the failed 1871 Commune and...

Catriona Miller 11 May 2026

Villa Mairea in Noormarkku Architecture

To Be Finnish or Not to Be: National Identity in Alvar Aalto’s Architecture

Alvar Aalto (1898–1976) is one of the most famous Finnish architects of the 20th century connected with modernism. His style has been associated...

Catherine Razafindralambo 11 May 2026

Artist Stories

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 11 May 2026

Theater & Cinema

The Empire’s Visual Language: A History of Star Wars Propaganda Art

Few franchises have looked history this directly in the face. George Lucas did not invent the Galactic Empire’s visual identity from scratch.

Errika Gerakiti 4 May 2026

Women Artists

Mastering Details: Heads and Hands in Käthe Kollwitz’s Art

The focus of Käthe Kollwitz’s art is the human being. Above all, a compassionate, humane outlook is characteristic of her approach. She was mainly...

Petra Dragasevic 23 April 2026

Lily Furedi, Subway, 1934, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, USA. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Subway by Lily Furedi

Subway by Lily Furedi is a masterpiece of New Deal art that expresses the excitement of modern transportation. It is populated with commuting workers...

James W Singer 12 April 2026

Barbara Kruger, Untitled (We Don't Need Another Hero), 1987. Screenprint on vinyl. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA. Contemporary Art

Barbara Kruger: The Radical Voice of American Art

Barbara Kruger stands out as one of the most influential artists of the 21st century. Notably, in 2021, TIME magazine featured her on their 100 Most...

Errika Gerakiti 10 April 2026