Why We Connect with Vincent van Gogh’s Paintings
Van Gogh was a troubled soul and master painter who relied on his emotions and color to create art that continues to attract millions of viewers.
Metadata for Image Search and Discovery
Metadata helps you search for and find images of cats, for instance, whether or not you have a specific feline in mind.
Red House: The Perfect Home for a Victorian Socialist
Subject to myriad interpretations over the last 150 years, William Morris’s Gothic-inspired home has been an enduring influence on Anglo-American architecture.
How to Find and Choose the Best Images for Your Project
To spot high-quality images, you'll need to draw on your basic visual literacy skills.
Lina Bo Bardi: Architect of Brazilian Modernism
A community-oriented architect, Lina Bo Bardi embraced the principles of modernism to design public buildings that remained connected to Brazil’s past.
How René Magritte Became the Grudging Father of Pop Art
Though he dismissed Pop as “window dressing, advertising art,” many critics and artists of the 1960s claimed Magritte as the movement's greatest forebearer.
Country Roads and City Scenes in Japanese Woodblock Prints
Explore two centuries of printmaking—from Hokusai and Hiroshige through Hiratsuka—in this online collection shared by Boston College.
Dummy Boards: the Fun Figures of the 1600s
These life-sized painted figures, popular in Europe and colonial America in the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, were designed to amuse and confuse.
Taking Liberties With Biblical Stories
In the Christian New Testament, Saint John the Baptist and Salome never meet. Why, then, does she appear at the bars of his cell in Guercino’s moody painting?
How to Interpret the Meaning of an Image
This week, we practice using our skills of visual analysis and learn how to "read" deliberately constructed images.