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The Feast of Venus, Peter Paul Rubens

The Feast of Venus

The Feast of Venus is Peter Paul Rubens’s homage to Titian and his exuberant paintings of classical antiquity. Rubens studied antiquity, and this work may depict Ovid’s Fasti, an epic poem that includes a description of the Roman feast of Venus Verticordia, when women sacrificed their accessories to Venus, imploring the goddess to save them from uncontrollable desire. 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 January 28
Jackson Pollock, The ArtistsPortrait of Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock

Harder than it looks

1912 – 1956
Alice Neel, The ArtistsPortrait of Alice Neel

Alice Neel

The unblinking anxiety of modern life

1900 – 1984
Marguerite Gérard, The ArtistsPortrait of Marguerite Gérard

Marguerite Gérard

1761 – 1837

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