How Impressionist Berthe Morisot Painted Women’s Lives
Berthe Morisot never became as famous as her counterparts Claude Monet and Édouard Manet, but her work has an important place in art history.
How American Artists Have Portrayed Haiti
In the early 20th century, African American artists created work that expressed solidarity with Haiti--whether they had been there or not.
This British Suffragist Used Her Art for Activism
Sylvia Pankhurst gave up painting to focus on suffrage and anti-colonialism activism, but she continued to use her design sense throughout her career.
The Mystery behind Charlotte Salomon’s Groundbreaking Art
Before she was killed by Nazis, Charlotte Salomon created a unique, genre-bending artwork that may have also been a confession to a murder.
Victor Hugo: Surrealist Artist
Victor Hugo created visual art that was intuitive, experimental, and inspired by Spiritualism. In other words, nothing like his novel Les Misérables.
The Colonialist Gaze of Matisse’s Odalisques
Henri Matisse's odalisques, or reclining nude females, were inspired by trips to exotic French colonies. But what was the story outside the frame?
Marking the Grave of the First African American Landscape Artist
Robert S. Duncanson was among the first African American artists to gain international fame. And yet his grave has stayed unmarked for 146 years.
Painter, Proust Scholar, P.O.W.
Józef Czapski was a painter, writer, and Proust scholar -- as well as one of the few Polish military officers not executed by the Soviet Union in 1940.
When Artists Painted with Real Mummies
The popular paint pigment called “mummy brown” used to be made from—yep—ground-up Egyptian mummies.
Summertime Poems and Paintings
Summery poems by Mary Oliver, Matthew Zapruder, and other poets, along with seasonal paintings by Claude Monet and other artists.