Holbein, Hans the Younger (c.1497-1543) Noli me Tangere 1526–1528 Oil on oak panel, 76.7 x 95.8 cm Royal Collection, Hampton Court Palace, London When the diarist John Evelyn saw this painting in Charles II’s Private Lodgings at Whitehall in 1680 he recorded…
Zurbarán, Francisco de (1598-1664) San Francisco rezando (Saint Francis in Prayer) c.1638–1639 Oil on canvas, 117.5 x 90.2 cm Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena St. Francis of Assisi, a mystic and poet, was also the founder of the Franciscans, an important mendicant…
Zurbarán, Francisco de (1598-1664) Cristo crucificado, con un pintor (The Crucified Christ with a Painter) c.1650 Oil on canvas, 105 x 84 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid A painter devoutly contemplates the almost-sculptural figure of Christ on the Cross, which stands…
Matisse, Henri (1869-1954) Le bonheur de vivre (The Joy of Life) 1905–1906 Oil on canvas, 176.5 x 240.7 cm Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia This monumental canvas, which once hung in the famous collection of Gertrude and Leo Stein, is one of the watershed…
Matisse, Henri (1869-1954) Luxe, calme et volupté (Luxury, Calm and Pleasure) 1904 Oil on canvas, 98.5 x 118.5 x 2.2 cm Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris © Succession H. Matisse, Paris Luxe, calme et volupté testifies to the work Henri Matisse…
Matisse, Henri (1869-1954) Les toits de Collioure (View of Collioure) c.1905 Oil on canvas, 59.5 x 73 cm Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg © Succession H. Matisse Collioure was a small southern French town on the shore of the Mediterranean where Matisse worked…
Matisse, Henri (1869-1954) La Fenêtre ouverte, Collioure (Open Window, Collioure) 1905 Oil on canvas, 55.25 × 46.04 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington Matisse‘s Open Window, Collioure is an icon of early modernism. A small but explosive work, it is celebrated…
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) Diane chasseresse (Diana) 1867 Oil on canvas, 199.5 x 129.5 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington Renoir had his girlfriend Lise Tréhot pose as the ancient Roman goddess Diana. He chose a mythological subject and painted it at grand…
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) Les Deux Soeurs, Sur la terrasse (Two Sisters, On the Terrace) 1881 Oil on canvas, 100.4 × 80.9 cm Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago “He loves everything that is joyous, brilliant, and consoling in life,” an anonymous interviewer once…
Delacroix, Eugène (1798-1863) Jeune orpheline au cimetière (Orphan Girl at the Cemetery) 1824 Oil on canvas, 65.5 x 55 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris