Art has the ability to express every sense of emotion imaginable. This includes instilling a sense of fear into the viewer that can linger for an extended period of time. Scary paintings have been produced for a wide variety of reasons since the Middle Ages, but the most gruesome examples emerged during the Renaissance era. …
Artworks
One of the greatest American artists of the 19th century was fascinated by Photography, a technology that was still in its infancy during his lifetime. Because of this, Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) incorporated an extreme sense of Realism in his works which makes them resemble actual photographs. This in combination with the fact that he was …
The Dutch Golden Age or “Gouden Eeuw” as it’s locally referred to was a period in history in which the Dutch Republic was the most advanced nation in Europe. The period is generally dated to between the establishment of the Dutch Republic in 1588 and the “Rampjaar” in 1672, which is almost a century. That …
If you plan to visit the city of Liège in southeastern Belgium, then you surely have to enter a fascinating church just north of the city’s historical heart. Here you can find one of the most remarkable Romanesque artworks ever produced, a baptismal font that can be described as the epitome of Mosan art. This …
Nude paintings were produced in antiquity and revived during the Renaissance, but there was still something that caused this painting by Manet to be controversial. Édouard Manet (1832-1883) is often considered one of the 19th century’s most influential artists. Some art historians even refer to him as the “Father of Modernism.” The French painter was …
One of the most famous Belgian artists in history produced thought-provoking images that have become some of the best-recognized paintings in the world. René Magritte (1898-1967) was a Surrealist artist who often depicted common objects in such a way that his paintings didn’t make sense. Although he studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in …
The simplest of images became one of the most thought-provoking paintings of the 20th century, and the Belgian artist who painted it had some explaining to do. René Magritte (1898-1967) became one of the leading Surrealist artists in history because he managed to depict seemingly common objects in a such way that it scrambles our …
You will hardly find a better place to admire sculptures than in the streets and squares of Florence, the capital city of the Tuscany region in central Italy. Not all statues in Florence are original ones because several have been placed in Florentine museums. This doesn’t apply to this one decorating the historical heart of …
When a group of Avant-Garde artists started using bold and unnatural colors to complete paintings in the early 20th century, they were referred to as the “Wild Beasts.” Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958) was a French artist who was one of the leading painters of Les Fauves, a group of artists who radically changed the course …
The career of one of the most influential French artists in history took a drastic turn in the early 20th century. Henri Matisse (1869-1954) spent the summer of 1904 in St. Tropez in Southern France and it inspired him to experiment with bright and unnatural colors. This was the start of a brief but highly …