Masterpiece Stories

Chambri People, Ancestor Mask, early 20th century, wood and natural pigments, Ceremonial House, Chambri Lake Village, Papua New Guinea, Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Chambri People’s Ancestor Mask

Ancestor Mask is a masterpiece of Papua New Guinean art. It symbolizes a vanishing tribal lifestyle rarely seen outside of...

James W Singer 30 November 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Paris Street; Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte

Paris Street; Rainy Day is probably the most known work of French artist Gustave Caillebotte (1848–1894). In this painting, we see a number of...

Zuzanna Stańska 29 November 2023

Vilho Lampi, Nocturne, 1930, oil on plywood, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Finland. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Nocturne by Vilho Lampi

Vilho Lampi’s Nocturne is a masterpiece of Finnish Expressionism that explores the complex relationship between the artist and his...

James W Singer 23 November 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Treachery of Images by René Magritte

As you can see, this painting depicts a pipe. Underneath it, there is a French sentence that says “This is not a pipe”. You may ask, what...

Zuzanna Stańska 21 November 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Perseus Rescuing Andromeda by Cavaliere d’Arpino

The roar of the sea monster blends with the screams of the scared princess! The chained beauty awaits her bloody death as the ugly beast lurches...

James W Singer 19 November 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Irises by Vincent van Gogh

One year before his death on March 30, 1890, Vincent van Gogh chose to enter Saint Paul de Mausole, an asylum in Saint-Rémy, originally a...

Zuzanna Stańska 3 November 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The First Cloud by Sir William Orchardson

At first glance, Sir William Orchardson’s The First Cloud is a late Victorian domestic scene that appears to be tranquil, refined, and placid.

James W Singer 9 October 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Tribuna of the Uffizi by Johan Zoffany

Johan Zoffany (1733-1810) was a German-born neoclassical painter. In the autumn of 1760, he moved to England and started to work for a clockmaker,...

Klaudia Zelazowska 26 September 2023

Renaissance

All You Should Know About Albrecht Dürer’s Melencolia I

A renowned print, famously titled “Melencolia I” and crafted by Albrecht Dürer, stands as one of the most captivating works in art...

Zuzanna Stańska 13 September 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Ruins of the Château de Pierrefonds by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Soon after Château de Pierrefonds was displayed, Emperor Napoleon III restored the actual Château de Pierrefonds in the 1850s under the direction...

James W Singer 11 September 2023

Jan Havicksz Steen, Woman at her Toilet, 1655-60, oil on panel, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Woman at Her Toilet by Jan Steen

Jan Steen’s Woman at Her Toilet is a provocative masterpiece of genre paintings because of its visual complexity and seductive allure, inviting...

James W Singer 28 August 2023

Johannes Vermeer, Art of Painting, ca 1666-68, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Art of Painting by Johannes Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer is an enigmatic figure in the history of art. He is considered one of the most famous artists of the Dutch Golden Age. Why are his...

James W Singer 23 July 2023