How Russian artist Makovsky painted a portrait of the US president and opened the “Russian style” to Americans
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Western world discovered the Russian style. Sundresses, kokoshniks, furs and precious fabrics, boyars and feasts - this is exactly such Russia that…

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How Pavel Tretyakov competed with the emperor
Before the revolution, patronage of the arts was considered not only charitable, but also beneficial for the donor himself, and the point here was not taxes at all. According to…

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Musical hoax: Who actually wrote "Adagio" Albinoni
Adagio Albinoni is a truly enchanting piece of music. The melody as if touches the hidden strings of the human soul, is remembered for a long time and then, it…

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5 masterpieces of painting, which depict much more than the audience sees

Considering the masterpieces of world painting, few people think that behind an idyllic landscape a portrait of a person can be hidden, and behind a drawn wave – a huge whale. Modern technologies and research methods allow us to find out what the artists portrayed initially. This review presents famous paintings that hide much more than the audience sees.
The Black Square K. Malevich

A sensational discovery was made a couple of years ago. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the famous “Black Square” by Kazimir Malevich, a series of manipulations were carried out on the painting, among which was the use of X-rays. The result of screening the canvas with UV rays surprised the researchers very much. It turns out that behind the black square hid two color images. One of them is a cubofuturistic composition, and the other is supermatic. Continue reading

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 interesting stories that allow you to look at a picture or sculpture from a completely new perspective.

1. Manneken Pis
Those who have ever been to Brussels must have seen one of Belgium’s most notable attractions – the Manneken Pis sculpture. As the name suggests, she portrays a little boy pissing in a fountain. Archival records show that the original sculpture was installed in 1388. Then it was a stone statue that served as a public fountain, but it was either destroyed or stolen at some point. The “Manneken Pis” in its current form was designed and installed by the Flemish sculptor Jerome Duchenoy in 1619. Continue reading

Secrets of the Four Seasons

This year marks almost 430 years since the death of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, an Italian artist known for his original portraits of fruits, vegetables, flowers and fish. Giuseppe so skillfully portrayed these objects on canvas, that their entire combination forms a recognizable similarity of portrait subjects. The art of Arcimboldo, as the most radical and extravagant representative of the mannerism style, is also noteworthy in that he pushed the theme of the parallel between humanity and the natural world beyond new boundaries.

The genre of portraiture has been one of the dominant for many centuries. However, in the 16th century, Giuseppe Archimboldo provided his own vision of this genre, combining it with a still life and surprising his contemporaries with his extraordinary compositional solutions. Continue reading

What is the significance of music when considering various areas of our lives
Music is a significant part of the cultures of different countries and peoples. The tremendous importance of musical culture is obvious. Without even thinking about the degree of this significance…

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What secret is hidden by the canvas "Cornflowers" by Igor Grabar
Igor Grabar is known not only as an art critic and restorer, but also as a talented impressionist artist. Under his leadership, the Tretyakov Gallery turned into a world-famous museum…

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STYLES AND TRENDS IN THE VISUAL ARTS
Abstractionism (from lat. abstractio-removal, distraction) - art direction, refused to approximate the reality of the image of forms in painting and sculpture. One of the goals of abstractionism is to…

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