Terracotta column-krater, Lydos, Archaic, ca. 550 BCE, Attic, Terracotta, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Here is a thing worth knowing about ancient Greek pottery. People used it. They drank... Continue Reading →

André Aciman's novel, and Luca Guadagnino's 2017 film,  is saturated with ancient Greek art. They are not backdrop elements, but arguments. The crumbling statues in the Perlman villa garden, the... Continue Reading →

Bronze statue of Eros sleeping, Hellenistic, 3rd-2nd century BCE, Greek, Bronze, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Desire, for the ancient Greeks, was not a private tremor. It was a... Continue Reading →

In ancient Greek art, water was never only an element of scenery. It was a force that shaped identity, danger, and transformation. Rivers were personified as gods, seas were chaotic... Continue Reading →

Once one begins digging deep into the art of the Romans, it is apparent that Roman art is inseparable from memory. More than beauty or innovation, Roman artists focused on... Continue Reading →

Before Impressionism, landscapes rarely existed on their own without a certain context. It should be noted that there was a rise in landscapes during the Renaissance, but not to this... Continue Reading →

Impressionists were among the first artists to treat crowds as subjects worthy of serious attention. Their cities are filled with people, walking boulevards, sitting in cafés, attending theaters, waiting at... Continue Reading →

Greek sculptors accomplished something that still feels uncanny today to the modern scholars. They made stone appear alive. Marble, a hard and resistant material, was carved into bodies that seem... Continue Reading →

Medieval art is often misunderstood as detached from everyday life, focused only on heaven, saints, and abstract spirituality. In reality, medieval visual culture pays remarkable attention to work, especially the... Continue Reading →