Philosopher in Meditation by Rembrandt van Rijn has become an icon of philosophy, in part, I’d argue, because of Rembrandt’s expressive use of light and shadow.

Petro Levchenko (1856 - 1917) studied in Saint Petersburg as well as in Paris and Rome during the ascendency of Impressionism.

Levitan's work is filled with profound feeling. His landscapes are meaningful beyond simply the view he's chosen to depict.

Great works of art don’t make us think; they return us to a place where thinking and feeling are the same.

Who says you can’t start breaking the rules at the same time you’re learning them?

Vermeer stands out because he put impeccable technique at the service of a timeless humanism you must read his paintings carefully to enjoy. 

In a pyramidal or triangular arrangement, either forms assume the shape of a three-sided figure or visual weight is more or less evenly distributed among various elements that definitely relate to one another in a triangular, or triadic, arrangement. 

If Hopper is a realist, it’s not because of his hard-won draftsmanship, but because of how he captures aspects of our experience so authentically that, in Berman’s words, “we can hardly see a tumbledown house near a deserted road or a shadow slipping across a brownstone facade except through his eyes.” 

Sometimes design is so subtle that it acts almost invisibly. Last time, we looked at Sorolla, where design was obvious. We looked at one of his plein air compositions not in terms of compositional formulas (e.g. [...]

It’s part of the contract you signed when you fell in love with art.