THE MAGAZINE
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. But he was also vengeful and violent, supposedly decapitating the man who killed his brother and stabbing his rival goldsmith Pompeo de Capitaneis to death. Did he receive the punishment he deserved? No. Read on to find out why.
Taking the Scenic Route: A Timeline of Landscape Painting
Landscape painting is nothing new. It’s one of the most beautiful genres of painting to gaze at and artists have been painting their surroundings for as long as we have been experiencing it. How, though, has it changed throughout time, and what does our stylistic representation of the world say about how we view it?
A Tale of Two Portraits: Degas and the Anatomy of Family Life
In The Bellelli Family and Henri Degas and His Niece, Lucie, Edgar Degas transforms the domestic interior into a stage for private drama. Through such haunting portraits, Degas reveals the psychological weight of family: its silent tensions, coded gestures, and the emotional anatomy of modern life.
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.