#Propaganda

Nicaise de Keyser, William II (1792-1849), King of the Netherlands, when Prince of Orange, 1846, Royal Collection, UK. History

Willem II: The Queer King of the Netherlands

Willem II ruled the Netherlands from 1840 to 1849. In modern terms he would be considered a bisexual man, as he had relationships with both women and...

Jimena Escoto 14 June 2023

Ancient Rome

The Portrait of Rome’s Decline: Bust of Decius

The turmoil of Rome’s decline in the 3rd century enclosed the 21-month reign of Decius. His tenure as emperor was not exceptionally short for the...

Guest Profile 11 June 2023

El Lissitzky, Klinom krasnym bei belykh (Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge), 1919, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Beat The Whites With The Red Wedge by El Lissitzky

Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (Клином красным бей белых!) is a 1919 lithographic Soviet propaganda poster by artist Lazar...

Zuzanna Stańska 24 April 2023

British royal portraits European Art

Power and Propaganda – The British Royal Portraits

Royal portraiture is a centuries-old tradition, but it might be called the forerunner of the posed selfie – an artfully curated image that is meant...

Candy Bedworth 20 February 2023

Architecture

Aesthetics of Totalitarian States’ Architecture

People include the architecture of 20th century dictatorships in the category of totalitarian art. Totalitarian architecture invokes a feeling of...

Diana Sadretdinova 22 August 2022

Neoclassicism

Portraits of Catherine the Great, Empress of all the Russias

Catherine the Great (1729-1796) ruled almost the entire second half of the 18th century. Her reign was very successful on the world arena and gave...

Elizaveta Ermakova 25 March 2022

Ancient Egypt

Man, Woman or Both? Meet Akhenaten, the Only Androgynous Pharaoh

If you thought that ancient Egypt had always been only about a large pantheon of gods, solid and emotionless sculptures, and masculine pharaohs, have...

Magda Michalska 20 November 2021

Yan Pei Ming and His Mop Brush of History

It’s not a joke. Yan Pei Ming, a contemporary painter, uses a pretty extraordinary tool, which reminds me more of house renovation squads rather...

Magda Michalska 1 December 2020

Fashion

Wearing the Message: Changing the World One Outfit at a Time

From the original silk banners worn by the Suffragettes, through to slogan T-shirts, we often quite literally wear our protest message. This...

Candy Bedworth 24 November 2020

Art of the Spanish Civil War: Political Propaganda and the Modernist Avant-Garde

April 1, 1939 marked not only the end of the Spanish Civil War but also the fall of the Second Spanish Republic. The victory of General Francisco...

Kacper Grass 1 April 2019