Can't get to the museum? Explore the VMFA's collection with these videos and essays
Some background
videos + essays

Jean Schlumberger, Columns and Sphere
Using precious stones, metals, and enamel, jewelry designer Jean Schlumberger created these extremely exuberant artifacts.

On looking closely: Giorgio Morandi, Still Life
This extraordinarily simple painting raises fundamental issues of how we see, how we describe, and even of the history of art.

Alfred De Dreux, The Emperor’s Horse
This portrait of Napoleon III’s favorite horse tells an important story of art theft and repatriation.

Camille Pissarro, The “Royal Palace” at the Hermitage, Pontoise
In this landscape of the town Pontoise, Pissarro emphasizes the modest people that make up its rural community.

Berthe Morisot, Young Woman Watering a Shrub
Morisot's loose brushstrokes and abstracted forms transform an ordinary scene into a incredible work of Impressionist painting.

Edgar Degas, Little Dancer Age Fourteen
In subject and form, Degas breaks away from academic tradition and instead creates a sculpture that reflects modern Paris.

Tshibumba Kanda Matulu, Le 30 juin 1960, Zaïre indépendant
In a series of 100 paintings, Tshibumba Kanda Matulu tells the history of Zaïre, or present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Tshibumba Kanda Matulu, Le 30 juin 1960, Zaïre indépendant
In a series of 100 paintings, Tshibumba Kanda Matulu tells the history of Zaïre, or present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Sari Dienes, Star Circle
A plaster cast of a manhole cover from the streets of Manhattan is a testament to this artist's experimental use of materials.

Jasper Francis Cropsey, Mount Jefferson, Pinkham Notch, White Mountains
Summer, autumn, a saw mill all provide metaphors about American republicanism in this pre-Civil War landscape

Hedda Sterne, Number 3—1957
Stripes of industrial spray paint on this canvas recall the industrial city and undersides of highways