"The Invisible Artist", which creates paintings on people, like on canvases
Since today many acts of civil protest in China remain strictly prohibited, a well-known Chinese artist-photographer, master of the original creative camouflage of people, Liu Bolin invented a unique technique…

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The tragedy of the author of the most famous portrait of Chekhov: How he lost his family and paintings, and why he got to Solovki Osip Braz
Over several centuries of development, Russian culture has presented the world with a galaxy of brilliant painters, whose works are included in the world treasury of fine art. Among them…

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19th Century Girl Albums: Entertainment for Bored Aristocrats or a Separate Genre in Art?
The young ladies of the 19th century were not so different from the modern ones: they also needed attention, recognition, evidence of sympathy from friends and, of course, a cordial…

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the cortex

The bloody drama that broke out centuries ago in Rembrandt’s brilliant painting Lucretius

As a rule, artists in all ages, creating their paintings, meticulously approached the choice of subjects that would inspire them to write unique and masterpieces. And since in the old days, plots were taken from legends, myths, biblical stories, the same theme was revealed by painters in different variations and several times. And today I would like to recall one of such legendary stories that laid the foundation for the works of many eminent masters of European painting. This heart-rending plot did not pass by the famous Dutchman Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn.
And the story, which occupied all the thoughts of the artist, was about the pious Roman Lucretia, the beloved heroine of the Renaissance and Baroque artists, who tragically passed away, but tried to save her honor. Continue reading

How Peter Konchalovsky managed to avoid repression and why the artist was called the Soviet Cezanne

Not many painters who disobeyed the socialist regime in times of bloody repression managed to escape punishment. Today I would like to recall the name of one of them – Pyotr Petrovich Konchalovsky. In those terrible years, the artist managed to remain a “pure” painter who avoided the embodiment of socialist reality and portraits of its leaders in his creations. Moreover, to take as a basis for his work the direction of the hostile Western art, which is why he was named in his time – the Soviet Cezanne.

It should be noted that the great merit of Anatoly Lunacharsky, the first People’s Commissar of Education of the RSFSR, was that Pyotr Petrovich was allowed to create freely, despite the attacks of critics who longed for the proletarian coup and the ecstasy of socialist work in the artist’s works. Anatoly Vasilievich convinced the guardians of the dogmas of socialist realism that Konchalovsky in his modern day “sings the poetry of our everyday life” and, apparently, the People’s Commissar did quite well. Continue reading

Symbolism of the most mysterious stone: Women with pearls in the paintings of famous artists

The dual nature of pearls has inspired artists at all times: pearls have been used for centuries as attributes of vanity, purity, innocence and even generosity. According to the National Gallery of Art, “symbolically, pearls were associated with vanity and worldly cares. Titian, for example, dyed Venus’s hair adorned with pearls. They can also represent purity, as can be seen from Lorenzo Lotto’s painting of St. Catherine.”

In 17th-century Dutch painting, pearls are depicted in earrings, necklaces and bracelets of heroines in portraits, historical paintings and vanitas objects. Perhaps the most famous painting with pearls is rightfully considered the “Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Jan Vermeer.
Jan Vermeer “Girl with a Pearl Earring” Continue reading

How the primitive paintings of Grandma Moses influenced the course of the Cold War
Having crossed the age limit for 60 years, many no longer expect any fateful changes from life and quietly live out their lives. However, history knows many cases when older…

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The bloody drama that broke out centuries ago in Rembrandt’s brilliant painting Lucretius
As a rule, artists in all ages, creating their paintings, meticulously approached the choice of subjects that would inspire them to write unique and masterpieces. And since in the old…

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Secrets of self-portraits of famous artists: Reflection in the mirror, portrait-bacon and other oddities
Self-portrait in most cases is an instrument of narcissism, an attempt to leave your image in eternity. But if a genius takes up the matter, his image on canvas can…

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