Ciphers, signs and self-portraits: How artists of the past signed their paintings
Not every masterpiece of painting contains the signature of the artist. There were reasons for this, both at the dawn of the Renaissance and in the modern era; they are…

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What is special about the landscapes that are called the most Italian: Veduta and Capriccio
History did not preserve the name of the tourist that the first one wanted to take away from Italy a picturesque "postcard" in memory of the trip and thereby laid…

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3 curious facts about famous works of art
Different people perceive works of art differently, and the viewer's point of view can radically differ from what the artist himself put into his work. And many famous paintings have…

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Incorrigible stubborn: brilliant impressionist with a heavy character

Claude Monet is known as one of the founders of impressionism. The artist could magically convey on canvas the impressions of what he saw. Considering his paintings, full of appeasement, it is difficult to imagine that the master who wrote them had a terrible character. Claude Monet was known as an incredible stubborn, ready to take extreme measures, if only to insist on his own.
1. Monet did not want to sell paintings to everyone
The 1860s and 70s were financially difficult for the artist. He barely made ends meet. When the debts grew to incredible sizes, the creditors, not knowing what to remove from the poor artist, demanded his paintings. Monet decided to take a radical step, but did not concede – he simply burned his paintings. Continue reading

Little-known facts about the dark side of the brilliant artist Caravaggio

He was one of the great masters of baroque, and his difficult life in many respects determined his creation, which today is admired throughout the world. And Caravaggio himself believed that painting is not only a matter of reflecting reality, but also turning it into something more: “You must not only look at my paintings, but also feel them.”

The artist was known to contemporaries not only for his works, but also for his controversial nature, and in his life there were many stories – both tragic and anecdotal.

1. Real name
His real name was Michelangelo Merisi, but he was better known as “El Caravaggio” (in honor of the small town in Lombardy, where his family came from). Continue reading

Creativity for the Mentally Ill: A Book That Changed History

Sometimes you can hear such a statement that in order to create a masterpiece, you must be either a genius or a madman. Tarragon – the hero of the play “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Becket, said that “we are all born crazy. And some of them remain … “Yes, and where is the line that separates genius from madness? In 1922, a German psychiatrist published a book in which he showed the work of the mentally ill, and this book made a splash among both the psychiatric society and artists.

The fact that some very talented, and even brilliant people suffered from various mental disorders is not news. So, it is known that Gogol suffered from manic-depressive psychosis, and Leo Tolstoy often had bouts of depression that alternated with numerous phobias. Maxim Gorky was prone to vagrancy and pyromania, and some experts insist that Lermontov suffered from a form of schizophrenia that he inherited from his mother. Continue reading

Aesthetics and the importance of music in the history of human formation
Musical aesthetics exists more than the culture of music as an independent art form. Musical aesthetics was similar to labor, appropriation, submission of the unknown. It carried such functions as…

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About music
It is known about music that: everyone listens to her, some compose and perform; modern music is created on the basis of theory, musical notation, knowledge of the secrets of…

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10 skillful fakes that museums took for originals
Artistic fakes are a very real threat that museums constantly have to contend with. Fake artifacts appear in many museums from time to time, which can be displayed for several…

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