Category Archive

I was 16, in Paris. I wanted to find out what a work of art was all about. I somehow knew that there was something to it that I hadn’t ever experienced myself. I went to the Musée d’Orsay. I found the Monet Water Lilies and started looking at them, trying to find what it was that made them so … Read More

Van Gogh’s “Almond Blossoms” There is certainly quite a bit in art that can be appreciated with one’s intellectual ability. Here is an example, from Van Gogh. Van Gogh gave this painting to his brother Theo on the occasion of the birth of Theo’s son. Van Gogh wrote to Theo: I should have greatly preferred him to call the boy … Read More

Jacques-Louis David’s “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” A work of art contains intellectual insights, of course. But the power of a work of art, and the reason people still love it centuries after it has come into existence, is in its emotional insight. Let’s have a look at an example in one of the most famous paintings in the world: Jacques-Louis … Read More

Here’s one of the most famous paintings in the world—Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party”. You’ve probably seen reproductions of it many times. But there’s something you may never have noticed about it before.