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…

Continue reading →

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…

Continue reading →

Two brides for one groom: The riddle of a picturesque plot about the mystical betrothal of St. Catherine
The American artist Marilyn Sunderland covers her pumpkin sculptures with the plexus of leaves, flowers and berries, figures of fantastic fish, birds and butterflies, turning a regular vegetable grown in…

Continue reading →

modern

1 2 3 5

As in the Sistine Chapel, the shame was also painted over other cases of strange censorship in the history of art

Censorship is sometimes unpredictable. For example, Facebook has been seen more than once in censorship scandals … naked antique sculptures, once during an advertising campaign for an international exhibition of statues. And on Iranian television athletes are covered up during competitions in rhythmic and artistic gymnastics (which is puzzling – because then there is no point in watching the competitions). It is impossible to embrace the history of censorship, but it has its own significant events.

There is a team: hide behind

In Novosibirsk, in one of the universities in 2018, students suddenly found all antique statues placed along the corridors draped in impenetrable bedspreads. So the university has prepared for a visit by representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. Continue reading

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

7 beloved women by Pablo Picasso

“If he had not become an artist, he would have become Don Juan,” once said a friend of Pablo Picasso, the French playwright Jacques Cocteau. And it’s hard to disagree with him. You can write a lot about the views of the artist (creative, smoothly flowing into sharply political), family and friends (who have had a significant impact on his success), but this review will focus on the role of women in the work of Pablo Picasso.
In many ways, the stages of the artist’s work (blue, pink, cubic, etc.) were accompanied by the woman who was next to him during his life. To be more precise, it was the woman who led him to one or another stage of the creative path with the totality of her styles and directions. As Picasso himself admitted: “Life is extended by work and women.” Continue reading

1 2 3 5
How Pavel Tretyakov competed with the emperor to create the most famous art gallery in Moscow
Before the revolution, patronage of the arts was considered not only charitable, but also beneficial for the donor himself, and the point here was not taxes at all. According to…

...

Sentimental paintings about the village children of Frederick Morgan
Today, lovers of sentimental painting are given the opportunity to get acquainted with the magnificent gallery of genre paintings by the English artist Frederick Morgan, who worked at the turn…

...

What butterflies meant in the paintings of world famous artists
Butterfly and moth are one of the main symbols in art and a significant number of major artists include this image in their canvases. It is noteworthy that the butterfly…

...