Backgrounds in painting hold secrets, symbols, and atmosphere. They guide the viewer’s eye and transform the meaning of every work of art.
Self-portraits reveal artistry and identity across time. From Dürer to Kahlo, these works chart ambition, vulnerability, and the search for legacy.
The 1913 Armory Show brought Cubism, Fauvism, and radical European art to the United States, shocking audiences and changing American art forever.
Throughout art history, these male painters painted women with grace, romance, and beauty, portraying them in rich clothing and luminous colors.
Fauvism brought a radical use of pure color and expressive brushwork. Led by Matisse and Derain, it transformed early 20th-century painting into modern art.
From bullets to blood, these 10 controversial performances reveal how artists pushed the limits of the body, morality, and art itself.
From serpents to vanitas skulls, symbols reveal centuries of artistic meaning, shaping how viewers understand life, death, and belief.
Beyond melting clocks, Dalí painted visions of desire, war, science, and myth. These underrated works reveal his imagination in vivid and unexpected ways.
Modernism flourished worldwide. Artists in India, Mexico, and Japan adapted the movement to their own cultures, reshaping its forms, politics, and meanings.
Forgotten women of early modern Europe shaped art with portraits, still lifes, and altarpieces, leaving legacies that deserve renewed recognition.