THE MAGAZINE
A Tale of Autumn
Ever felt inspired by autumn? Good. So were Osslund, Tchaikovsky, and Rohmer, among many others. Read this article to find out how the season appears in art, music, and film, and why its briefness makes artists notice things they ignore the rest of the year.
What a Farm Wife Painted: On Grandma Moses, the Pioneer of American Primitivism
Seventy-eight may seem like a late start. But for Grandma Moses, it was the beginning of a prolific career as an artist. Read the article to find out how she went from a farm wife to one of Americas most prolific primitive painters.
A Murderous Artist Pardoned by the Pope: Benvenuto Cellini and the Art of Punishment
Renaissance artist Benvenuto Cellini was an award-winning goldsmith and sculptor lauded by Pope Clement VII—and also a man who killed more than once. He supposedly decapitated his brother’s murderer and stabbed his rival Pompeo de Capitaneis to death. Did he receive the punishment he deserved? No. Read on to find out why.
Of Fields and Feelings: A Brief History of Landscape Art
For centuries, landscapes were mere backdrops—symbolic, sublime, or decorative. But in the nineteenth century, a revolution took place. Through the Barbizon School and the Impressionists, landscapes captured internal and external reality, sealing transitory beams of light, atmosphere, and sensation into eternity. Read the article to find out more.
Bites of Luxury: From the Renaissance to the Kardashians
In art, life, and social media, food does more than tempt: it signals status. TWoA looks at how lobsters, lemons, Erewhon smoothies, and untouched piles of fruit became a visual shorthand for luxury—and why this is a trend that keeps resurfacing. Read on.
Composing Abstract Expressionism: On Jazz and Jackson Pollock
Ever wondered how sight and sound collided in post-war America? The Abstract Expressionists—Jackson Pollock above all—absorbed the improvisational logic of jazz musicians. How, why, and when? Read on.
Sargent’s Madame X: The Portrait That Hurled Painter and Sitter into Scandal
John Singer Sargent’s Portrait of Madame X didn’t just scandalise the 1884 Paris Salon—it reshaped the possibilities of modern portraiture. Beyond capturing Paris’s infamous “it girl,” Virginie Gautreau, the painting exposed subtler tensions: artist versus sitter, authenticity versus artifice, ambition versus expectation. Read on to explore its reception and enduring cultural reach.
Taking the Scenic Route: A Timeline of Landscape Painting
How do artists choose to see the world, and what do their landscapes reveal about us in return? From ancient frescoes to Turner’s tempest and Lucas Arruda’s meditative pseudo-horizons, this timeline traces how painters have reimagined nature across centuries. Read on.
A Tale of Two Portraits: Degas and the Anatomy of Family Life
Degas treated the family portrait as an incision point—clean, controlled, and made to reveal. Through The Bellelli Family and Henri Degas and His Niece, he turns the domestic interior into a stage where the anatomy of family life—resentment, duty, longing—can finally bleed out.
Helene Schjerfbeck: Painting the Soul
“As a Finnish person, when I think of Finnish art, I think of Helene Schjerfbeck. Exhibited at the Finnish National Gallery, the presence of her art punctuated my every visit there. I would always go to her and take a moment to stare at her striking self-portraits.”
The Swing of the Affair: Fragonard, Infidelity, and the Art of Heedlessness
The Swing, explained. Fragonard’s brush captures the rush of infidelity—before the fall, before the consequence.
The Architecture of the Oscar Nominees
The 2025 Oscars came and went, and with no shortage of excellent films nominated from this past year. What many of the films have in common is a stunning and real focus on multifaceted architecture within their stories and cinematography.
Palazzo Medici: Scandal, Power, and Politics
The Medici mastered money—but their real genius was in perception. When too much grandeur could kill you, the Medici built smarter—not bigger.
From the Bosphorus With Love: The Istanbul Museum of Modern Art
Istanbul’s location between Europe and Asia makes it one of the most special cities in the world. Experience the city’s special vibe in our correspondent’s letter from Istanbul, and find out how Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota and Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson draw inspiration from the city’s location.
Artful Anchovies: The Art History Behind the Tinned Fish Revival
Canned seafood has transformed from cheap staple to a vibrant luxury that is quickly becoming a bespoke influence on the culinary and aesthetic world. There is another element that has been snatching the attention of small businesses, social media users, and consumers: the artwork that the fish comes wrapped in.
The Wall of Memory: The Lost Ukrainian Monument
Almost forty years ago, in 1986, the Soviet authorities destroyed the largest work of art in Europe, The Wall of Memory. The Ukrainian artists Ada Rybachuk and Volodymyr Melnychenko had spent thirteen years constructing the monument in Kyiv, just to find it forbidden by the Soviet authorities. Today, the AVRM foundation is still working for its restoration, against the backdrop of the war that started on 22 February 2022 with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
From London With Love: The Thursday Gallery Crawl
When it comes to art and culture, there’s hardly a city as hecticly eclectic as London. In this exclusive letter, TWoA spills the tea on all the going-ons in the London art scene, giving you insider information into the British art world, its peoples, and its dramas.
Reclaiming Venus: How We Misunderstand Beauty
The rise of imperfection as a new aesthetic challenges Renaissance ideals, but Botticelli’s Venus reminds us that beauty is more than skin deep—it’s a gateway to the divine. To find out why, read this article and discover how her beauty is just as moral and philosophical as it is physical.
Life in La Jolla: Three 20th-Century Modern Architectural Masterpieces
Los Angeles is experiencing a tragic series of wildfires. California houses multiple biospheres as well as the San Andreas fault, leaving the state prone to natural disasters such as wildfires, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Roughly 200 kilometers south of LA, various 20th-century architectural structures line La Jolla’s rugged coastline. Although they are not located in a fire risk zone, these structures must withstand earthquakes, tidal waves and erosion, and could be affected by tsunamis.
The Wicked Witch of Art History
In the recently released Wicked film, Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, belts out, “As someone told me lately: Everyone deserves a chance to fly!” But when it comes to witches in art history, not everyone shared this sentiment.