Abstract expressionism invites us in
Location: Art Institute of Chicago
Must art be beautiful?
The Old Guitarist, and the question of ...
This jug is one of the earliest known alkaline-glazed stoneware face vessels made by slaves or their descendants in the Edgefield District of South Carolina.
Cultures and slavery in the American south: ...
Picasso’s portrait of Kahnweiler presents the essential innovations of Analytic Cubism.
Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler
The convention of elongating the figure can be seen in many of Olowe’s carvings, to visually highlight the importance of the head that holds the inner spiritual power, dignity and strength, and sacredness of one’s destiny.
Olowe of Ise, Veranda Post of Enthroned ...
Geller captures the tensions of the Jewish immigrant experience in the early 20th-century United States.
Todros Geller, Strange Worlds
The idea of sculpture was the subject of Antin’s work, which interrogates beauty, gender, and “traditional” art.
Eleanor Antin, Carving: A Traditional Sculpture
Gordon Parks and the writer Ralph Ellison collaborated to show that Harlem is everywhere.
Gordon Parks, Off on My Own (Harlem, ...
Does the figure emerge from the stripes of the flag, or do they imprison him?
Benny Andrews, Flag Day
A new, modern culture of shopping and ready-made clothes were part of women’s new urban mobility.
When the department store was new: Elizabeth ...
Though called “an Impressionist in name only,” Caillebotte is all about light and movement–just like his peers.
Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street; Rainy Day
Poussin’s ideal landscapes inspired generations of followers. Here, our eye finds a place to rest amidst the ruins.
Nicolas Poussin, Landscape with Saint John on ...
Seurat sought to bring science to the methods of Impressionism with new, methodical approaches to color.
Georges Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte ...
The artist completed this sculpture during World War I, shortly before he died.
Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Horse
Monet’s painting technique is perfectly suited for depicting this windy seaside day on the English Channel.
Claude Monet, Cliff Walk at Pourville
Toulouse-Lautrec invites us into the nocturnal world of the nightclub, where classes mix under the electric lights.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge
Though often thought of as a simple image of American values, this painting resists easy interpretation.
Grant Wood, American Gothic
Cassatt’s unusual angle in this intimate moment between mother and daughter shows the pair as we might see them.
Mary Cassatt, The Child’s Bath
Van Gogh’s refuge for artists in the south of France is depicted with expressive color and sophisticated innocence.
Vincent van Gogh, The Bedroom
Hopper gives us a window into the urban isolation and anxiety of WWII-era New York.
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