Masters
Degas and the horse races
Born into a well-off Parisian family, Edgar Degas (Paris, 1834- 1917) decided to put his law studies at the Sorbonne on hold to devote himself to art. From 1856 to 1859 he travelled through…
Masters
Masters
Honoré Daumier: criticism and humour in art
The Frenchman Honoré Daumier turned his wit into art, leaving behind fascinating drawings and canvases full of savage satire and social criticism. Through his incredible talent as…
Masters
Vermeer, another meaning for music
On the lid of the harpsichord in La lección de música, the Baroque painter Johannes Vermeer left an inscription in Latin: “Music is the companion of joy and a balm for sorrow”. This attachment to music…
Masters
The Pre-Raphaelites, the first avant-garde in history
In the straitlaced Victorian art world of the mid 19th century, realism stood as the only path open to artists. In this context, three young students at the Royal Academy…
Masters
Friedrich: building a new landscape
At the height of Romanticism, the German painter Friedrich revolutionised the landscape genre with an approach in which the objective, faithful depiction of the elements of nature was subordinated to achieving a reflection…
Masters
Water lilies, Monet's great obsession
In 1909, Claude Monet confessed that along with his water lily pond, tended by no fewer than five gardeners, his landscapes of water and reflections had become his greatest undertaking and his…
Masters
Odilon Redon: the two faces of colour
Although Odilon Redon was a contemporary of the Impressionists, he developed his painting far away from them. Unconcerned with the light that Monet's friends praised so highly, his dark creative world…
Masters
Paula Modersohn- Becker: the first steps of modern art
Lost in her thoughts, an old woman holds a foxglove firmly in her hand. She sits right on the edge of the picture plane, her back to a field of poppies and to what looks like an upturned…