Industrialisation transformed work, cities and everyday life. Railways, steamships, telegraphs and photography altered experiences of distance, time and memory. Romanticism resisted the age of machinery, while realism examined its social consequences. Nationalism, democracy and mass culture gathered strength.
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The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard lived a life saturated with loneliness, sorrow, and humiliation. This backdrop, though, made him able to analyse and describe life in a way that is highly useful, even today.
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The painting “The Odalisque” by Dominique Louis Féréol Papety oozes of sensuality. No wonder, perhaps, when we start to investigate what is depicted.
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This funny museum painting does not simply show art on the walls; it shows the act of looking at art.
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Art history is filled with intriguing turns and transitions. Some paintings have been attributed with greater impact than others, and this one from Édouard Manet is especially interesting.
2 min read
Imagine being able to draw images like the one below at childhood! There is an intriguing mood to most of Edward Hopper’s painting that is premeditated in this painting, somehow.
4 min read
Some paintings may not have a deeper meaning. At least nothing that is possible to formulate in words without being... blunt. Still, they may be worthwhile to spend some time with.
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Some paintings are understated in the exact right way. This is one of them.
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Simple paintings can be powerful. Especially when we consider the artist and his possible state of mind at the time of painting.
3 min read
The image of Elise is at first just interesting, but the longer I look at it, the more this little girl start to grow on me. Her gaze keeps me captive, and makes me wonder about who she was.
5 min read
The famous artist Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot may have hidden a love story. And love stories are always interesting to dwell upon. Whatever the nature of their relationship, however, this portrait of Berthe Morisot bear witness of affection on part of the artist.
5 min read
A canal can symbolise different kinds of borders. I think it is easy to see what the canal below divides, but you might have different views on the matter.
6 min read
August-Pierre Renoir is one of those painters that stands like magnificent examples of that great art is all about. Still, Renoir had doubts about how to best express himself, suggesting to us—the ordinary people—that even the masters don’t see things as clearly as posterity seems to suggest.
5 min read
William Blake is an enigmatic person to me. I have to confess, I initially thought he was foremost a poet, but it turns out he executed some rather mysterious pictures. It is hard to imagine how a life such as his must have been.
5 min read
It is interesting how motives of painting and photography sometimes blend, and gives rise to seeing both mediums in different ways.
7 min read
There is something about the turn of the 19th century that fascinates me. Especially intriguing is it to try to imagine what happened when now famous people met.
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Sometimes I come across paintings that seem to be made with a different brush. Jessica Hayllar must have had an eye for detail.
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This painting by Frédéric Bazille reveals more than an orientalist interior. Beneath its surface lie social hierarchies and a subtle medical observation—details that only emerge when we learn how to look closely.
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Sometimes I become quite overwhelmed with all the things I should have done, all the tiny bits and pieces that demands attention in order to have a private and working
