THE MAGAZINE
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.
Encrypting Secret Messages in Music: Mercury, or, the Secret and Swift Messenger
Before espionage had satellites and surveillance, it had something subtler: music. Step into the seventeenth century, where court musicians slipped secrets into their scores and John Wilkins sketched a cipher that transformed music into a covert script. Read on to find out their secrets.
Ballet Across the Globe: Bournonville and the Danes
August Bournonville’s choreography gave Denmark a ballet identity of its own: rounded arms, delicately musical footwork, and allegro that seems to float rather than land. Learn how this nineteenth-century master shaped a national style that remains unmistakable on stages today.
From New York with Love: The Frick Collection
With the Frick’s 2025 reopening, a visit to the Upper East Side feels less like a museum trip and more like slipping into a remembered century—emerald rooms, gold-leaf frames, and women whose painted gazes echo across time. Olivia writes from New York about art, weather, and the selves we meet in between.
Grounds for Rebellion: Bach’s Coffee Cantata
“If I can’t drink my bowl of coffee three times daily…” Bach’s Coffee Cantata begins as a lighthearted story about a girl and her devotion to caffeine—but beneath it runs a quiet feminist rebellion taking shape in 1730s Leipzig.
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.
Guest Artist: Kazuto Muraki, Tokyo University of the Arts
Contemplate the tension between external perception and inner selfhood through the work of Kazuto Muraki, a Tokyo University of the Arts painter whose still, grain-textured images explore the fragile border between memory and identity.
Lea Brückner, Violinist and Climate Activist: “You Can Drive Social Change Through Culture.”
Lea Brückner is a violinist, moderator and climate ambassador who has carved out a unique career for herself, combining her passion for music with her commitment to sustainability. TWoA talked to Lea about the role culture can play in the battle against climate change, and about the specific steps cultural organisations can take towards becoming more sustainable.
Helene Schjerfbeck: Painting the Soul
Why does Helene Schjerfbeck’s gaze feel like it looks straight through you? In this gripping TWoA exploration of Finland’s most enigmatic modernist, discover the stories behind her haunting self-portraits, her pioneering role in shaping Finnish art, and the quiet resilience that made her one of Europe’s most radical women painters. A must-read for anyone fascinated by modernism, identity, and the art of painting the soul.
Pointe Shoe Rewind: A Brief History of Ballet’s Signature Shoe
How did a delicate pink slipper become ballet’s most powerful symbol? From flying machines and broken-in satin to Maria Taglioni’s game-changing rise en pointe, TWoA traces the wild, glamorous, and sometimes dangerous evolution of the pointe shoe. Discover the hidden history behind ballet’s signature shoe—and why its design still shapes the way dancers defy gravity today.
From London with Love: A Night at the Moulin Rouge
Soho isn’t just a postcode—it’s the pulse of London after dark. In this glitter-soaked TWoA City Letter, follow Maya into the heart of the West End for a night at Moulin Rouge: neon windmills, velvet decadence, and the kind of London chaos where theatre, food, and nightlife blur into one unforgettable story. If you want to know London the way Londoners do, start here.
Whispers in the Wings: Meet Josephine Baker, Dancer and Spy
She wasn’t just the Jazz Age’s brightest star—she was a spy, a trailblazer, and a force for civil rights. In this electrifying TWoA profile, step behind the curtain with Josephine Baker, the dancer who rewrote the rules of fame, weaponized performance against racism, and risked everything in the French Resistance. A gripping story of art, power, and unapologetic brilliance.
The Swing of the Affair: Fragonard, Infidelity, and the Art of Heedlessness
What if the most iconic Rococo painting is really a masterclass in cheating? TWoA dives into the hidden symbols, erotic secrets, and deliciously scandalous backstory behind Fragonard’s The Swing—a painting that turns infidelity into an art form. From kicked-off shoes to voyeuristic lovers in the bushes, discover why this flirtatious masterpiece still seduces viewers and exposes our own appetite for mischief.
The Mathemagical Music of Michael Maier
What if a piece of music could unlock the secrets of the universe? Step inside the strange, exhilarating world of Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens, where alchemy, mathematics, and melody fuse into a single “mathemagical” code. In this TWoA deep dive, discover how Early Modern magicians used music as a tool for cosmic knowledge—and why their mystical sounds still intrigue scholars today.
From New York with Love: The New York Philharmonic
What does a night with the New York Philharmonic feel like? In this luminous TWoA City Letter, follow Olivia up Ninth Avenue into a transformed David Geffen Hall, where Gustavo Dudamel leads Varèse, Ravel, and Gershwin on a voyage that turns New York into something mythic. A love letter to the Philharmonic, to spring, and to the magic of hearing a city through its orchestra.
Chun-Wing Lam, Paris Opera Ballet: “I never danced so well before I had my wealth management firm.”
Paris Opera Ballet’s Chun-Wing Lam is probably the only dancer in the world to combine a successful dance career with running his own wealth management firm. TWoA talked to Chun about moving from Hong Kong to Paris when he was fourteen, about the unique promotion system at the Paris Opera Ballet, and about the artistic and mental benefits of having two careers at the same time.
Death in Springtime: The Uncanny Power of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”
When spring arrives, most composers paint blossoms and sunshine—Stravinsky delivered terror. This TWoA deep-dive unravels why The Rite of Spring still sends audiences into a primal panic: pagan sacrifice, Nijinsky’s convulsive choreography, revolutionary harmonies, and a riot that changed music forever. A visceral journey into the masterpiece that blurs rebirth, brutality, and the uncanny pulse of nature itself.
Guest Artist: Motomitsu Fujiwara, Tokyo University of the Arts
Meet Motomitsu Fujiwara, the rising Tokyo University of the Arts painter whose canvases blend spiritual memory, Indigenous history, and a belief that true art speaks beyond language. From dandelions as divine messengers to mammoths roaming sacred Uluru, Fujiwara’s work reimagines faith, childhood, and primal expression for a contemporary world hungry for meaning. A quietly electrifying TWoA spotlight on an artist you’ll want to follow now.
From Sicilian Fisherwomen to Pious Folk Hymns: Cathy Berberian’s “New Vocality” Style
Discover the world of Cathy Berberian, the trailblazing mezzo who shattered classical singing rules and reinvented what the human voice could be. From the raw cries of Sicilian fisherwomen to the airy purity of American folk hymns, Berberian’s “New Vocality” style reshaped 20th-century music and inspired icons from Luciano Berio to Laurie Anderson. A whirlwind tour of the singer who made the voice a limitless instrument—and changed music history in the process.
From Berlin with Love: The Philharmonie Berlin
Step into a rain-slick Berlin night and follow Christina Ezrahi into the glowing, golden shell of the Philharmonie, where pianist Mao Fujita turns a dark February evening into pure electricity. From the suspense of his first Chopin note to the thunder of Beethoven’s Appassionata, this City Letter captures Berlin’s eclectic audience, the hall’s legendary acoustics, and the quiet magic of a performer who’d rather play than bask in applause. A warm, luminous escape into one of Europe’s most unforgettable concert nights.