Articles

Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Torment of Saint Anthony (detail), c. 1487–1488, via Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

Rebecca Levenson

Case Study: Michelangelo’s The Torment of Saint...

Early Renaissance painting reveals Michelangelo’s first work through narrative, anatomy, and the transformation of Schongauer’s engraving.

Giotto di Bondone, Entry into Jerusalem, c. 1305. Public Domain, via Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. Source here.

Jack Lowry

Palm Sunday in Art History: Structure, Symbol, ...

Palm Sunday recurs in art history as a structured image of movement and symbolism, tracing how artists construct and transform the Entry into Jerusalem.

Natalia Goncharova, Nature morte aux fruits, c. 1913–14, via Sotheby’s

Samuel Reed

Russian Avant-Garde: From Folk Tradition to Abs...

Russian artists redefined painting through structure, abstraction, and material practice, shaping modern art across interconnected avant-garde movements.

The Rothschilds' Surrealist Ball, 1972. Photographed by Prince Jean-Louis de Faucigny-Lucinge.

Margaret Allen

Inside the Rothschild Surrealist Ball of 1972 i...

At the Rothschild Ball of 1972, surrealism moved off the canvas into bodies and space, creating a night defined by image, costume, and illusion.

Léopold Survage, La Marchande de poisons (The Fishmonger), 1933, © ADAGP, Paris, 2024 via La Gazette Drouot

Nathan Cole

Five Niche Artists Who Shaped Twentieth-Century...

Discover five niche twentieth-century artists who reveal how modern art evolved through overlooked figures working across Europe and beyond.

Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart, Composition No. 142, 1943 via The Guggenheim

Taylor Grant

The Modernism Network Around Mondrian and His C...

A chronological network around Mondrian reveals how abstraction spread across Europe through exhibitions, travel, and exchange between artists and disciplines.

Sandro Botticelli, Annunciazione di Cestello (Cestello Annunciation), c. 1489, Public Domain, Web Gallery of Art.

Eleanor Brooks

The Many Images of Mary in Art History, Fully E...

Distinct images of Mary across art history reveal shifting meanings of divinity, motherhood, and human emotion through visual forms and cultural contexts.

Francis Bacon, From Muybridge “The Human Figure in Motion: Woman Emptying a Bowl of Water/Paralytic Child Walking on All Fours”, (detail), 1965. Photograph by Foto Hogers & Versluys. © Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam via Artsy.

Arthur Kingsley

A Guide to Art History’s Most Fascinating Irish...

A historical guide to Irish artists from medieval manuscript traditions to modern painters who reshaped portraiture, abstraction, and landscape.

Sergiu Ciochina, The Kiss (detail), 2024, Paris, France via the artist’s website

Rebecca Levenson

Matching Contemporary Artists With Art History ...

Historic masters continue to shape contemporary painting through shared imagery, symbolism, and techniques, as seen in the work of painters today.

Domenico Remps, Cabinet of Curiosities, ca. 1690s via Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

Jack Lowry

Curiosity Cabinets and Collecting in Venetian P...

Curiosity cabinets shaped Venetian painting through images of collected objects that reflect knowledge, discovery, and the culture of early modern collecting.