10 Famous Artists You Wouldn’t Think Were Self-Taught
Think art school is the only path to greatness? Think again. These 10 artists defied convention through persistence, originality, and vision, without...
Wen Gu 22 January 2026
#Self-Taught Artists
Suzanne Valadon and Her Self-Portraits
Suzanne Valadon, the French artist of the 19th century, was an absolute master of self-portraits. She fashioned her own look in so many different...
Aniela Rybak-Vaganay 21 January 2026
The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau
Henri Rousseau was a French artist who painted in a Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier (the customs officer), which was a...
Zuzanna Stańska 12 January 2026
Let’s Ride a Tiger! Escape into the Tropics with Henri Rousseau
Let’s ride a tiger! Definitely not! We should never try to ride a tiger, and Henri Rousseau does not suggest it either! It would be horrible...
Sarah Mills 12 January 2026
Anna Coleman Ladd: The Sculptor Who Healed the Faces of War
When World War I left thousands of soldiers with faces they could no longer recognize, one sculptor decided to help them face the world again. Anna...
Wen Gu 10 November 2025
Marian Henel—Tapestries and Madness
Marian Henel’s tapestries are huge. The largest one measures over 6 m in length and 3 m in width (19 ft. 8 in. by 9 ft. 10 in.). Created in the...
Zuzanna Stańska 10 November 2025
Morris Hirshfield and His Bizarre Animals
It is a common opinion that if you would like to start a career in arts, you should begin as early as possible. But talent knows no boundaries, and...
Zuzanna Stańska 24 September 2025
Léon Spilliaert: Symbolism and Longing in His Art
A literary fan of Edgar Allan Poe with a Symbolist approach to painting, Léon Spilliaert thrives in the disenchantment, emotion, and decadence that...
Yasmin Ozkan 15 September 2025
How Art Saved His Life: Story of Horace Pippin
It took Horace Pippin 43 years to complete his first oil painting. Why so long? Because poverty, hard physical work, war, and disabilities got in his...
Magda Michalska 28 July 2025
13 Black Folk Artists from the American South
The thirteen self-taught artists below, from Bill Traylor to Nellie Mae Rowe, Thornton Dial to Mary T. Smith, among others, created some of the most...
Adam Oestreich 19 June 2025
A Creative Lunatic: Adolf Wölfli in 5 Artworks
Adolf Wölfli is now known alongside the label “Outsider Art” or Art Brut, a term Jean Dubuffet coined in 1945 to bring attention to...
Katerina Papouliou 25 April 2025
Anna Boberg—Self-Taught Painter of Lofoten Landscapes
Anna Boberg was a multidisciplinary self-taught artist active in Stockholm and Paris. She is best known for her arctic landscapes from Lofoten in...
Europeana 19 March 2025
