Art Movements

William Blake The Ancient of Days, from Europe A Prophecy, 1794, watercolor etching, The British Museum, London, UK. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Ancient of Days by William Blake

The Ancient of Days, designed, printed, and hand colored by William Blake, was the frontispiece of his 1794 poem Europe a Prophecy. An epic...

Catriona Miller 3 January 2024

Mannerism

Tuscan Secret Spot: Colosso Appenninico in Vaglia

A 30-minute drive from central Florence lies a true Tuscan secret: a 16th-century sculpture Colosso Appenninico by Giambologna. Discover with us this...

Noa Weisberg 2 January 2024

Art History 101

Elegance and Drama: All You Need to Know About Mannerism

Young artists who left workshops in the years following the activity of Michelangelo and Raphael must have had a very hard time: how could one create...

Magda Michalska 2 January 2024

Mannerism

Arcimboldo’s Allegories of the Seasons

Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s paintings of the four seasons have been astonishing audiences from the 16th century up to this day. Even though allegorical...

Anastasia Manioudaki 2 January 2024

Mannerism

The Mannerist Splendor: Meet Four Powerful Women of Bronzino

Agnolo di Cosimo (1503–1572), known as Bronzino, was an Italian Mannerist painter. He lived and worked in Florence and became the court painter of...

Joanna Kaszubowska 2 January 2024

Cubism

Georges Braque – The Second Father of Cubism

Everyone knows Pablo Picasso and considers him the father of Cubism. Everyone also knows that success has many fathers. Today, let’s talk about...

Joanna Kaszubowska 1 January 2024

Painting

5 Painters from Faroe Islands You Should Know

In the middle of the North Atlantic lie 18 islands most people have never heard of. They are called Faroe, which loosely translates to sheep islands.

Theresa Kohlbeck Jakobsen 1 January 2024

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette, 1876, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette is a masterpiece of French Impressionism and a celebration of happiness and...

James W Singer 1 January 2024

Art State of Mind

Best Party Posters of the 19th Century

Although lithography was invented in 1798, at first it was too slow and expensive for poster production. Most posters were made using wood or metal...

Zuzanna Stańska 31 December 2023

Design

Turquoise: Art, Culture, and Myth of a Gemstone

The bright blue-green Turquoise has been valued and revered for centuries by all the cultures around the world that had access to it. Several...

Nadine Waldmann 30 December 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: I was a Rich Man’s Plaything by Eduardo Paolozzi

Eduardo Paolozzi’s 1947 collage I was a Rich Man’s Plaything, which can be seen in the Tate Modern in London, was one of the first works of Pop...

Chris Dobson 29 December 2023

Pop art

Two Worlds Collide: Pop Art and the Cuban Revolution

Would it surprise you to learn that pop art aesthetics became popular in socialist Cuba at the very same time it was gaining fame across the USA and...

Kacper Grass 29 December 2023