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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Secret meanings of Brueghel's visual “Flemish proverbs: Reflection of the essence of man and being
Northern Renaissance Master Brueghel the Elder is a Dutch Renaissance artist and engraver known for landscapes and peasant scenes. He was sometimes called the "peasant Brueghel." He portrayed his incredible…

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Paintings of an artist who has loved one woman and one city for 60 years
It is not often that fate favors artists with benefits at the same time in all areas of life. Few people manage to walk a life and career on a…

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their marriage

What are the secret meanings of the image of a parrot in the paintings of great artists of different eras

For artists of the Gothic, Early Renaissance and High Renaissance, birds were part of a rich visual symbolism. In a society with limited literacy, allegorical images were vital for the spiritual enlightenment and education of ordinary people. For many centuries, artists assigned special roles to the images of parrots on their canvases. First of all, this is caused by the unusual features of parrots: their spectacularly colored plumage and the ability to imitate human speech. What is the hidden meaning of this bird?

Since the Middle Ages, the parrot has been an attribute of the birth of Christ by the Virgin Mary or acted as a witness to the fall. It has also been noted as the pet of wealthy families. This bird was more noticeable in the Dutch scenes of ordinary life. The parrot often appears in still lifes and portraits, sometimes posing as people or replacing them, playing the role of a woman’s beloved or taunting the stupidities of human behavior. Continue reading

Was there a boy, or what they argue about for many years, looking at Chardin’s picture “Prayer before dinner”

He was called the “artist of animals and fruits.” He had a significant influence on Henri Matisse and Paul Cezanne. In art, this artist sought naturalness and humanity as opposed to the official Rococo style. All this is about Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin and his picture “Prayer before dinner.” What is the main debate of art critics about this picture?

The 18th century French artist Jean Simeon Baptiste Chardin was known for his still lifes and genre paintings. His refined and realistic style had a significant impact on a number of the greatest artists of the XIX-XX centuries, including Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954) and Paul Cezanne (1839 – 1906). Chardin’s canvases were simple, but workshops performed. The Chardin world is a world with feeling (and not gallantry), with humility (and not vanity), with simplicity (and not covetousness). For the bourgeois establishment, the works of Chardin represented a salutary contrast with the “decadent aristocratic fragility” of many of the artist’s colleagues (including Watteau). Continue reading

10 years of happiness and 28 years of grief in the life of the artist Vasily Surikov

The personal life of prominent people always attracts the attention of readers, especially if it is full of piquant details, incredible stories, secrets and mysteries. But today we will talk about the personal life of the artist Vasily Surikov, about which not so much is known. But the amazing story of his love will not leave anyone indifferent.

A bit from the biography

Artist Vasily Surikov was born in Krasnoyarsk, his ancestors were from the Don Cossacks who conquered Siberia with Ermak, after the death of which they went up the Yenisei and founded the Krasnoyarsk prison. The artist was born in 1848 in the family of an office clerk who came from an old Yenisei Cossack family. And is it necessary to say that the character of the future painter, formed in the harsh environment of the Siberian region, was just as strong and unshakable. Years later, this power was embodied in the heroic images of his paintings. 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 -…

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High Renaissance Titans: Who They Are and What Their Contribution to Art History
The Renaissance refers to the rediscovery of ideals from classical antiquity. Artists no longer thought about the art of antiquity. Now they had the tools, technology, knowledge and confidence to…

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Unknown portrait of Da Vinci’s brush: Did the great master really write “Princess Leonardo” and whom he portrayed
It may seem that the legacy of Leonardo da Vinci has many paintings - this artist, who died five hundred years ago, is mentioned too much and too often in…

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