Thumbing through a copy of our forthcoming “Art + Travel Europe: Step into the Lives of Five Famous Painters”, you’ll find that if you want to understand Van Gogh, you need to see the yellow fields of Arles yourself, if you want to get inside Vermeer, a trip to Delft is in order, and, if the dark spirit behind ... Read More »
Take a look at that dark, but still vibrant, painting of Paris’ famous Le Blute-Fin windmill on the left there. It may resemble something you once spied in your dentist’s office, but, according to new findings, it may very well be an original Vincent Van Gogh. But where, you say, are the flourishes of sunlight, the telegraphed geometric shapes ... Read More »
Yes, of all the artists profiled in our upcoming title, “Art + Travel Europe: Step into the Lives of Five Famous Painters”, Caravaggio is the most randy, rough, and dangerous of the bunch. A playboy, bon vivant, and murderer, Caravaggio’s taste a facility for sin has become almost as famous as his ability with a paintbrush. It’s interesting, then, ... Read More »
Just like that wonderful day in high school when the yearbooks arrived, our offices are filled with excitement and the smell of freshly bound pages as our newest title, “Art + Travel: Step Into the Lives of Five Famous Painters” were dropped off this morning. A unique tour through five European culture capitals, “Art + Travel” walks you through ... Read More »
As seen yesterday, even if you manage to find the vantage from which a painter sketched a real-life scene, history, changes in perspective, and the artist’s own agenda might mean you’ll never actually be able to see the world from that same perspective. Still, it’s sure fun to try. One of the more interesting examples of pairing art with ... Read More »
Pablo Picasso was no slouch—in his 92 years, scholars estimate he created over 50,000 works (1,885 paintings, 4,100 sculptures and ceramics, and some 12,000 drawings.) As many of his pieces appear in museums, thousands more are in the hands of wealthy and not-so-wealthy collectors. Still, the sale of his “Tête de Femme (Jacqueline)” (detail, above), a 1963 portrait of ... Read More »
News comes today that the somewhat controversial “La Belle Ferronnière”, a painting most likely from the 18th Century and once questionably attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci, has sold through Sotheby’s auction house at the princely sum of $1.5 million, about twice what it was expected to garner. Beautiful as it is, “La Belle” has been through the critical ringer ... Read More »
It’s been a museum and a murder scene, a palace and a private home, but today, the Mauritshuis (Korte Vijverberg 8, The Hague, Netherlands) is home to one of Europe’s premier art collections. There you’ll find the so-called “Mona Lisa of the North,” Johannes Vermeer’s famed portrait, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, and the rest of the royal ... Read More »
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