Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) La Première Sortie (At the Theatre) 1876–1877 Oil on canvas, 65 × 49.5 cm National Gallery, London We seem to be sitting in a box at the theatre, which we share with two young women. But we can’t be…
Raffaello (1483-1520) Madonna Garvagh / Madonna Aldobrandini (Garvagh Madonna or Aldobrandini) c.1510–1511 Oil on wood, 38.9 × 32.9 cm National Gallery, London This is one of several small and medium-sized Madonnas made by Raphael in the years immediately following his arrival in…
Van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890) Roses 1890 Oil on canvas, 93 x 74 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York On the eve of his departure from the asylum in Saint-Rémy in May 1890, Van Gogh painted an exceptional group of four still…
Cassatt, Mary (1844-1926) Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge 1879 Oil on canvas, 81.3 × 59.7 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Cassatt created a series of theater scenes in the late 1870s, displaying an interest in city nightlife…
Botticelli, Sandro (c.1445-1510) Annunciazione (Annunciation from San Martino alla Scala) 1481 Detached fresco, 243 x 555 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze The usual subject of the announcement to the Virgin Mary by archangel Gabriel is set in a renaissance palace, overlooking…
Cézanne, Paul (1839-1906) Une moderne Olympia (A modern Olympia) 1873–1874 Oil on canvas, 46.2 x 55.5 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris Cézanne‘s early works, executed in dark colors, were strongly inspired by those of the Old Masters and by the compositions of Delacroix,…
Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre (1824-1898) La Poésie dramatique (Dramatic Poetry, Aeschylus) c.1896 Oil on canvas, 124.1 x 63.2 cm Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia This painting is a scaled-down version of an enormous canvas—over 14 × 7 feet—that Puvis de Chavannes painted as…
Lotto, Lorenzo (1480-1557) Madonna col Bambino tra i santi Caterina e Tommaso (Madonna and Child with Saints Catherine and Thomas) 1527–1533 Oil on canvas, 117 x 152 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The motif of a gathering of saints around the Madonna,…
Angelico, Fra (c.1395-1455) Madonna dell’Umiltà (The Virgin of Humility) c.1440 Tempera on panel, 74 x 52 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam As a Dominican monk, Fra Angelico was not subject to the strict rules of the Florentine painters’ guild. He was thus free…
Gauguin, Paul (1848-1903) Nature morte avec des tournesols sur un fauteuil (Still Life with Sunflowers on an armchair) 1901 Oil on canvas, 73 x 92 cm Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg In 1901, when this painting was produced, Gauguin was still living…