I used to think this painting was titled “Summer,” I guess because it seemed, in my memory of it, to convey the end of a hot, hazy day among tall grass, ponds, and woods, all [...]

“Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son,” 1875 Claude Monet , “Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son,” 1875 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons Public Domain) Most perfectly well-intentioned [...]

Under the name of “Phoebus Apollo” (Phoebus is a Greek word that means “shining, radiant, bright”), the god Apollo daily drove the sun across the sky, manning a chariot drawn by four barely controllable horses.  [...]

Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) is well known for his 3/4 life-size fin de siècle paintings of dreamlike women in oil, gold leaf, and other precious metals. The oil-on-canvas painting The Kiss of 1907-08, [...]

Not sure whether to paint a seascape or a landscape? Try a marsh! Marshes combine the colors and skies of landscape with the light effects of water. They’re a great subject for a painting in [...]

It’s “England’s favorite painting” according to a BBC poll in 2005, it’s reproduced on the British £20 banknote, and it’s one of the greatest paintings of the 19th century period. JMW Turner's The Fighting Temeraire depicts [...]

Getting an accurate image into a human portrait is hard enough, right? Then there's getting the LIFE into it. To those not privy to the process, a successful finished portrait can seem like a miracle, destined [...]

What Makes This Painting Great? An occasional series all about analyzing what makes paintings beautiful, iconic, memorable, or effective. Painters, beginners and masters alike, make leaps and bounds by studying creative triumphs of the art. [...]

Johan Christian Dahl, Swinoujscie in the moonlight, 1840 Growing up in poverty, the son of an unambitious fisherman, left him bitter; being kept down and exploited by his first art teacher infuriated him. [...]