Articles

Botticelli

Madelyn Kenney

Art Attacks: Art and Psychology

Has a painting ever made you feel emotional? Have you ever looked at a sculpture and felt your stomach drop? These works will undoubtedly evoke powerful sentiments when experienced in...

Dali

Taylor Hunt

Timeless Timepieces: Watches in Art

Watches from a particular era or historical figure reflect unique aesthetics and values. At the same time that watches became a symbol of wealth, they were used in portraits and...

Physical Suffering for Art

Jesslyn Low

Physical Suffering for Art

Pain and suffering of the physical body have been topics explored by many artists.While pain is something that most of the world strives to avoid, there are some who embrace...

Justus Susterman's Portrait of Cosimo III de Medici as baby

Madelyn Kenney

Ugly Renaissance Babies

Artists did this to elevate baby Jesus’s holiness in an attempt to make out as if his divinity began at birth, doing away with many soft infant features to replace...

rom a book of hours from France, 15th century , beinecke rare book & manuscript library via Real Life Elsewhere

Madelyn Kenney

Mid-Evil Cats: Why Dark Age Artists Made Them S...

Why medieval artists painted cats so oddly: from dark superstitions to moral lessons, these bizarre felines reveal much about medieval beliefs.

Famous detail from Alexandre Cabanel 's The Fallen Angel painting

Taylor Hunt

Evolution of Tears in Art

Throughout history, teardrops remain a powerful visual motif in art, capable of conveying a wide range of emotions and experiences. Whether used to express grief, love, or hope, they continue...

 Wassily Kandinsky, Sketch for Several Circles, 1926. Image courtesy of New Orleans Museum of Art.

Emma Livingston

The Fascinating Phenomenon of Synesthesia and Art

Synesthesia—a neurological condition that occurs when certain sounds cause a person to see specific shapes or colors, or when a name triggers a mental image instantaneously—is the closest experience humans...