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Painting story
Thor's Fight with the Giants by Mårten Eskil Winge
Thor swings Mjölnir from his goat-drawn chariot as lightning flashes and giants fall: Winge’s 1872 vision of the Norse thunder god.
Painting Stories
The meaning and history of famous paintings: what they show, where the originals hang, and how each one is recreated by hand in oil on canvas.
Painting Analysis articles
Painting story
Satan Watching the Sleep of Christ
Satan Watching the Sleep of Christ (1874) by Sir Joseph Noel Paton shows Christ asleep on the stones of the wilderness at dawn, after forty days…
Painting story
The Fairy Raid
Discover Paton’s Fairy Raid: the abducted child, Fairy Queen, armoured riders, foreground children and unsettling creatures in the 1867 painting.
Painting story
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel by Alexandre-Louis Leloir
Jacob grapples with a winged angel through the night, a red cloak flying: Leloir’s dramatic Genesis scene, painted when he was twenty-two.
Painting story
The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania
Explore Paton’s Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania: Shakespeare’s fairy rulers, sleeping lovers and the crowded woodland of his 1847 painting.
Painting story
The Cushion (Der Polster)
Explore Max Kurzweil’s The Cushion: a hidden face, spread hand, floral patterns and the colour woodcut technique behind the 1903 print.
Painting story
A Dear Visitor by Max Kurzweil
A wounded soldier reaches out to his horse, led into the room to see him: Max Kurzweil’s A Dear Visitor, in the Belvedere, Vienna.
Painting story
Spring by Abel Grimmer
Gardeners dig and plant neat beds beside a farmhouse in Abel Grimmer’s Spring (1607), after a design by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Painting story
Dying Betrothed by Agnes Slott-Møller
A young woman kisses the hand of her dying betrothed while a ship waits outside: Agnes Slott-Møller’s medieval farewell of 1906.
Painting story
Bacchante and Satyrs by Sebastiano Ricci
A smiling bacchante raises her dish as a satyr pours the wine in Sebastiano Ricci’s Bacchante and Satyrs, about 1713, in the Hermitage.
Painting story
Loki Steals Freyja’s Necklace
Explore Friedrich Wilhelm Heine’s 1882 illustration of Loki stealing Freyja’s necklace: the reaching hand, curtain, reclining figure and original…
Painting story
The Adoration of the Magi by Abraham Bloemaert
The three kings kneel before the Christ Child under a sky full of angels in Abraham Bloemaert’s huge Adoration of the Magi, now in Grenoble.
Painting story
The Red Bulldog of Simplicissimus
Discover Thomas Theodor Heine’s Simplicissimus bulldog: the broken chain, direct stare and 1896 design behind the Munich magazine’s emblem.
Painting story
The Souls of Acheron by Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl
Hermes stands unmoved as the pale souls of the dead plead around him on the bank of the Acheron: Hirémy-Hirschl’s vision of 1898.
Painting story
Symphony in White No. 1
Explore Whistler’s White Girl: Joanna Hiffernan, white-on-white fabric, a lily and the staring animal pelt in Symphony in White No. 1.
Painting story
The Transfiguration by Raphael
Christ rises in light above a scene of confusion around a possessed boy: Raphael’s last painting, unfinished at his death in 1520.
Painting story
Stone City, Iowa
Explore Grant Wood’s Stone City, Iowa: the bridge, quarry, winding road and patterned hills in his 1930 landscape at Joslyn Art Museum.
Painting story
The Circus
Explore Seurat’s The Circus: the horse and rider, tumbling acrobat, still audience and pointillist colour in his unfinished 1891 masterpiece.
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Curated collectionsOdyssey, Magic and Witchcraft, Famous Women, Landscapes and more.Artists A to ZEvery painter in the catalogue, with an archive of their works.Art movementsRenaissance to Expressionism: what defines each and who led it.Top 100 most famous paintingsThe ranked list, with the story behind every entry.
