Art Stories

The Prison Courtyard by Vincent van Gogh, fine art print

Van Gogh Painted The Prison Courtyard While Confined in an Asylum, Copying a Doré Engraving of Newgate

In February 1890, confined at the Saint-Paul Asylum in Saint-Rémy, Vincent van Gogh copied an 1872 Gustave Doré engraving of the Newgate exercise yard. The result, The Prison Courtyard, now...

Van Gogh Painted The Prison Courtyard While Confined in an Asylum, Copying a Doré Engraving of Newgate

In February 1890, confined at the Saint-Paul Asylum in Saint-Rémy, Vincent van Gogh copied an 1872 Gustave Doré engraving of the Newgate exercise yard. The result, The Prison Courtyard, now...

Art print "The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne" by Leonardo da Vinci, fine art print

Sigmund Freud Claimed He Found a Hidden Vulture in the Drapery of Leonardo's The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne

In his 1910 study of Leonardo, Sigmund Freud endorsed the idea that a vulture lay hidden in the drapery of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. The whole theory...

Sigmund Freud Claimed He Found a Hidden Vulture in the Drapery of Leonardo's The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne

In his 1910 study of Leonardo, Sigmund Freud endorsed the idea that a vulture lay hidden in the drapery of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. The whole theory...

Pollice Verso by Jean-Léon Gérôme, fine art print

Ridley Scott Decided to Make Gladiator the Moment He Was Shown Gérôme's Pollice Verso

Jean-Léon Gérôme finished Pollice Verso in 1872, and decades later a single reproduction of it convinced Ridley Scott to direct Gladiator. This is the story of the painting, its misread...

Ridley Scott Decided to Make Gladiator the Moment He Was Shown Gérôme's Pollice Verso

Jean-Léon Gérôme finished Pollice Verso in 1872, and decades later a single reproduction of it convinced Ridley Scott to direct Gladiator. This is the story of the painting, its misread...

Venus of Urbino by Titian, fine art print

Mark Twain Called Titian's Venus of Urbino the Foulest and Vilest Picture the World Possesses

In his 1880 travel book A Tramp Abroad, Mark Twain called Titian's Venus of Urbino the foulest, vilest, obscenest picture the world possesses. He wasn't condemning the art. He was...

Mark Twain Called Titian's Venus of Urbino the Foulest and Vilest Picture the World Possesses

In his 1880 travel book A Tramp Abroad, Mark Twain called Titian's Venus of Urbino the foulest, vilest, obscenest picture the world possesses. He wasn't condemning the art. He was...

The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, fine art print

A Student Played the Music Bosch Painted on a Damned Soul in The Garden of Earthly Delights: How a Hidden Renaissance Score Went Viral

When a music student noticed sheet music tattooed onto a tortured figure in Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights, she transcribed a 600-year-old melody from Hell itself. Her discovery...

A Student Played the Music Bosch Painted on a Damned Soul in The Garden of Earthly Delights: How a Hidden Renaissance Score Went Viral

When a music student noticed sheet music tattooed onto a tortured figure in Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights, she transcribed a 600-year-old melody from Hell itself. Her discovery...

The Scream by Edvard Munch, fine art print

The Blood-Red Sky in Munch's The Scream May Be a Real Volcanic Sunset He Watched From Oslo

In 1893, Edvard Munch witnessed a sunset that turned the Norwegian sky blood-red. This article explores how a volcanic atmospheric phenomenon became expressionism's most famous scream.

The Blood-Red Sky in Munch's The Scream May Be a Real Volcanic Sunset He Watched From Oslo

In 1893, Edvard Munch witnessed a sunset that turned the Norwegian sky blood-red. This article explores how a volcanic atmospheric phenomenon became expressionism's most famous scream.