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Artists and art history

A painting of a man and woman holding hands indoors with a small dog at their feet. The room is richly decorated.

Philosophy of art

idea

To master the art of close looking, learn to hold time still

Visual literacy is a skillset that’s rarely taught, but it begins with learning how to look – and how to hold time still

by Grace Linden

Abstract painting with bold red, blue and yellow shapes on a textured dark background.

Artists and art history

idea

Is the attunement of abstract art and music more than a metaphor?

How does the abstract art of Kandinsky and Klee imitate the meaning and emotion in the music of Shostakovich and Bach?

by Michelle Liu

Photo of a large spider sculpture silhouetted against a city skyline with cranes and a historic building in the background.

Poetry

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A conversation with my spider Maman and Louise Bourgeois

Woman made of braided steel, monster I call Maman: why am I so scared of you? An imagined conversation with Louise Bourgeois

by Pascale Petit

Two people view a famous painting in a gallery; it’s the Mona Lisa in an ornate frame.

Beauty and aesthetics

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What happens if we make the Mona Lisa more symmetrical?

The Golden Ratio and symmetry are two universal rules of beauty. The problem is they conflict with one another

by Manil Suri

Rock art painting with red pigments on a weathered stone surface showing abstract shapes and natural cracks.

Artists and art history

idea

The art of Ice Age children offers a tactile sense of the past

Small hands in dark caves: Ice Age art reveals the role of artistic expression and child’s play in ancient societies

by Izzy Wisher

Indian miniature painting of three figures with flowers and a fan on a terrace, bordered with gold leaf.

Artists and art history

idea

The art of Mughal India is best appreciated with all the senses

Experience the multiple layers of sensory pleasure and meaning conveyed through scented flowers in the art of Mughal India

by Bharti Lalwani & Nicolas Roth

Painting of three nude women indoors with a park scene outside the window. Pointillist style with muted pastel colours.

Artists and art history

idea

The vibrating beingness of Seurat’s pointillist paintings

The pointillist paintings of Georges Seurat have a blurred, vibrating beingness that is a visual manifestation of emotion

by Summer Brennan

Scene from a film with a pale man in black leather and a woman in glasses standing by a blue door in a home setting.

Artists and art history

idea

Love the art, disgusted by the artist? Maybe philosophy can help

Rather than trying to leave behind beloved art by immoral artists, let philosophy offer you a model for engaging with it

by Erich Hatala Matthes

Painting of a serene rural landscape with cows grazing at sunset, a church spire, trees and fields in the background.

Human evolution

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Why it took us thousands of years to see the colour violet

The colour violet was largely missing from art before the Impressionists, and is seen differently by different cultures. Why?

by Allen Tager

Expressionist painting of a figure kneeling inside vibrant layered shapes in green and purple tones.

Psychiatry

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This isn’t just art, but a supercharged act of meaning-making

Psychiatric art is crammed with meaning yet it actively resists interpretation. This paradox lies at the heart of its appeal

by Shruti Ravindran

A painting of a distressed woman at a bath with two men observing her from behind a wall, appearing to whisper.

Artists and art history

idea

What art history reveals about the rise of anti-feminist women

How can anyone favour a patriarchal system that routinely harms them? On Susanna and the Elders and anti-feminist women

by Paula Keller

Etching of a man sitting on a milestone marked “Paris” with a broom, barren trees and distant houses in the background.

Painting and sculpture

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Looking at portraits with an eye to evolutionary psychology

Why our understanding of Jean-François Raffaëlli’s ‘Roadman’ portrait can use a little help from evolutionary psychology

by Dan Sperber