#Portraits

Painting

Art and Science in Vermeer Paintings

As a scientist, I have always been attracted to images of science in works of art—whether a portrait of Newton, a depiction of Galileo using his...

Tom Anderson 28 November 2024

African Art

Martin Senkubuge: Fighting the Stigma of Vitiligo

At first glance, Martin Senkubuge’s drawings look like actual photographs. The artist is the founder of Part of Us, a visual campaign aimed to...

Vithória Konzen Dill 20 November 2024

Painting

Francis Bacon in 10 Paintings: Flesh and Distortion

Francis Bacon stands out as one of the most renowned postwar painters. His trauma fueled his emotions, crafting a disturbing world filled with dark,...

Errika Gerakiti 18 November 2024

Hanna Hirsch-Pauli, Friends, 1900-1907, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden. Detail.  Women Artists

Hanna Hirsch-Pauli: Friendship Goals and Feminism in the 19th-Century Stockholm

Swedish artist Hanna Hirsch-Pauli (1864-1940) is best known for her genre scenes and portraits. She studied at the painting school of August...

Europeana 11 November 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Young Bacchus by Mary Beale

Mary Beale is a rarity: a prolific, well-documented, successful, 17th-century woman artist. Her painting of Young Bacchus perfectly illustrates how...

Catriona Miller 10 November 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Grace Dalrymple Elliott by Thomas Gainsborough

The Frick Collection has an amazing ensemble of European masters. For example, works by Vermeer, Fragonard, and Goya grace its walls. Every room has...

James W Singer 10 November 2024

Artist Stories

Powerful or Problematic? Robert Mapplethorpe’s Photographs

Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe shocked the world with his images of bondage, gay sex, female bodybuilders and naked black men. Technically brilliant or politically problematic, what do you think?

Candy Bedworth, Guest Profile 4 November 2024

Painting

Amy Sherald and the Quiet Revolution of Black Portraiture

Imagine a portrait of a woman, her skin rendered in shades of gray, her gaze direct yet serene, dressed in a strikingly modern, patterned dress. The...

Sabrina Phillips 4 November 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Officer of the Hussars by Kehinde Wiley

Let’s talk about the Officer of the Hussars by Kehinde Wiley. Wiley is a Nigerian artist, based in New York, with studios in China and Senegal. He...

Joanna Kaszubowska 3 November 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The African King Caspar by Hendrik Heerschop

White subjects have dominated the Western art tradition for millennia, while people of color have been vastly underrepresented and misrepresented.

James W Singer 3 November 2024

Nan Goldin, Self-portrait with eyes turned inward, Boston, 1989. © Nan Goldin. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Review

This Will Not End Well by Nan Goldin: The International Tour

In her latest solo exhibition, American photographer Nan Goldin immerses viewers in the intimate highs and lows of the human experience—not as...

Emily Snow 24 October 2024

Baroque

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Anthony van Dyck

Anthony van Dyck, a Flemish Baroque painter of remarkable skill, left an indelible mark on art history. His signature style of refined portraits and...

Jimena Aullet 24 October 2024