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The Four Continents, Peter Paul Rubens

The Four Continents

Peter Paul Rubens’s The Four Continents personifies the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and America as beautiful women, lounging nude with the male personifications of their major rivers: the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile and the Río de la Plata. It’s a lush, sexy scene heightened by the surreal presence of wild beasts, upended decor, and putti playing on the edge of danger. read more
The Etruscans, 400BCE
Chimera of Arezzo
This is an undeniably modern interpretation. The chimera, like most beasts of antiquity, was the bad guy. Child of the giant serpent Typhon and the half woman half snake Echidna (you know her from the Starbucks logo) the Chimera was an abominable thing, unnatural combination of lion and goat, with the head of a snake for a tail. Her brothers and sisters live in legend. read more
Chimera of Arezzo, The Etruscans
Toyen
What's in a name?
Names are assigned to us before we are aware of their meaning, and we grow into them as much as they come to reflect us. In Japan artists often changed names after milestones in their lives, but in the west, once you've been given a name, you're usually stuck with it—a rigidity that makes claiming a new name even more powerful magic. read more
Toyen, The Artists
Sascha Schneider, 1904
Hypnosis
To Sascha Schneider the male body was perfection, and the world its antagonist. Schneider worked in Germany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, during the development of Freikörperkultur, free body culture, also called the Health and Hygiene movement. Freikörperkultur aimed to counteract the restraint and stress of industrialization with a restorative mix of open air nudity, exercise, and healthy diet. read more
Hypnosis, Sascha Schneider
Born on August 5
Ilya Repin, The ArtistsPortrait of Ilya Repin

Ilya Repin

Realism is not always nice

1844 – 1930
Naum Gabo, The ArtistsPortrait of Naum Gabo

Naum Gabo

Finding the calm center in the storm

1890 – 1977
Louis Wain, The ArtistsPortrait of Louis Wain

Louis Wain

1860 – 1939

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