Category: Art History
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St Jerome’s home office is fit for a genius
For centuries, people had their portrait painted to reinforce their role in society. It had little to do with our modern, lonely desire to feel seen for who we really are. Do we still believe a person can be described from a single viewpoint? Or is multimedia replacing the official painted portrait?
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Alexandra Exter: One night in Kyiv
In her day, Ukrainian artist Alexandra Exter was one of the brightest stars in the European avant-garde. Her friends and colleagues included Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Fernand Léger. We know so much about them. Why do we know so little about her?
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Titian paints lust with eloquence
The Roman goddess Venus is depicted nude in works of art because she represents the lofty ideals of spiritual love and divine beauty. Not Titian’s Venus. She represents something more carnal.
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Pissarro’s unforgettable conversation
When the Prussian Army began its march on Paris, Pissarro packed up his family’s belongings and shuttered their house in Louveciennes, a small town near the capital. It would be safer to move away than to stay. Here’s the harrowing story at the center of his painting “The Conversation, Louveciennes.”
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Decoding the mysterious art of Paul Klee
Unlike Picasso, Paul Klee doesn’t suffer from being taken way too seriously. But maybe it’s time his compositions carried more weight. Klee’s Bauhaus lectures contain over 1,200 pages of his own research into color, shape, and pattern that are among the most detailed in art history.
The Shy Museumgoer 