The power of a hidden detail in Vermeer’s Girl Reading a Letter — An affluent-looking woman stands before an open window and reads a letter. The room around her is typical for Johannes Vermeer: a window, a chair, and a curtain that has been deliberately drawn aside, suggesting a private chamber into which we have been given surreptitious access. It’s as if we’ve…

When old paintings challenge our modern day expectations — Take a moment to enjoy the intriguing painting shown above. It was made by the Italian artist Giovanni di Paolo in about 1453…

A compelling artwork destroyed by the Nazis — When Gustav Klimt completed this compelling double portrait in 1917, the Viennese painter had reached the height of his artistic development. His painting style had become looser, more direct, marked by densely applied, almost buttery textures. Gone was his use of shimmering gold and silver leaf; in their place a…

Where artistic possibility and technical excellence meet — The paintings of the Swiss-German artist Paul Klee have the beguiling quality of old European folklore. For me, their meaning is so often ambiguous, seeming to fall into a chasm of possibilities without ever meeting the firm ground below. The Seafarer is everything a work of art should be: There…

How artists shaped Western views of the Middle East — French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme painted this meticulously detailed image, titled The Snake Charmer, in about 1879. A naked boy stands on a threadbare rug, holding aloft a stupendous python that winds silkily around his shoulder and waist. Beside him a man sits playing a flute, his aged body evidently in…

An intimate portrait of hair combing — Perhaps the first thing that strikes viewers about this painting is its colour. Tangerine orange, deepening to marmalade, copper red and autumn browns, framed and softened by areas of chalky white. This swathe of blended colour blankets the entire canvas, merging background and foreground into one glowing, almost humming interplay…

Insights that alter perspectives — One of my favourite things about art history is when something or someone comes along that completely alters my perspective. Old habits of looking are upturned and the values I took for granted are reappraised. Feminist art history does that. It reveals that what an artist might represent is not…

The exhilarating and poignant art of Franz Marc — The artist Franz Marc was just 36 years old when a piece of loose shrapnel struck him on the head and killed him instantly during the Battle of Verdun in 1916. What makes the incident more tragic is that just a few weeks before he’d been identified by the German…

The risks of Édouard Manet’s Olympia — Some works of art demand our attention because they overturn centuries of tradition. Édouard Manet’s Olympia is one such painting. When the image was first shown in the Paris Salon in 1865, it caused a storm among the critics and viewers alike. Gallery visitors are said to have attacked it…