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 …
Paintings
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 …
In the heart of the Danish capital city of Copenhagen, you can find a fascinating museum that houses an incredible collection of fine art. The Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK) is the National Gallery of Denmark and has a history that dates back to the year 1750. This was the year that an Art Chamber …
When a young man rose to power in 16th-century Florence, many wealthy and influential people in the city hoped to enrich themselves. Little did they know that the young man was a cunning and strong-willed politician. He eventually managed to transform the Republic of Florence into the Grand Duch of Tuscany. Cosimo I de Medici …
Some artists developed new techniques, other artists wrote about them, and a few extremely talented individuals in art history did both. Jean Metzinger (1883-1956) was a French artist who definitely fell into the latter category. Not only did he complete several Cubist masterpieces but he also wrote a theoretical work on the movement, the manifesto …
The metropolitan area of London is home to dozens of great museums for you to visit and many have some of the greatest works of art ever created on display. It’s sometimes difficult to decide which museums to visit when there’s such an abundance of choices, isn’t it? To make it a bit easier, I …
If there’s one painting that visualizes the economic struggle at the start of one of the darkest economic periods in American history, then this is the one. Edward Hopper (1882-1967) was an American painter who focused on realistic depictions of landscapes and urban life. During his long career, he produced some of the best-recognized paintings …
Did you know that the historic Roman Forum in the heart of the Italian capital was once a meadow with grazing cows for many centuries? It was only in the late 19th century that serious excavations were begun to uncover the architectural ruins of the once-thriving marketplace of ancient Rome. An English artist painted the …
Apart from Last Supper paintings and works depicting the Virgin Mary, paintings of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and other religious figures are the most-produced religious artworks in history. This subject emerged in Byzantine art after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the Middle Ages, and all the way from the Renaissance to …