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Painting story
The Prophet Isaiah by Michelangelo Buonarroti
Isaiah turns as if suddenly called, a finger in his closed book: one of Michelangelo’s prophets on the Sistine ceiling.
Famous Paintings, Explained
The stories behind famous paintings, the painters who made them, and the movements that shaped them. Every work here can be recreated by hand in oil on canvas.
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Painting story
The Separation of Light from Darkness by Michelangelo Buonarroti
God twists through space dividing light from darkness, framed by four nude youths: the first scene of Genesis on the Sistine ceiling.
Painting story
The Deluge
Explore Michelangelo’s Deluge on the Sistine Chapel ceiling: families fleeing, fragile shelter, a carried body and Noah’s distant ark.
Painting story
The Sistine Chapel Ceiling by Michelangelo Buonarroti
Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted for Pope Julius II from 1508 to 1512, seen through its scene of the Creation of the Sun, Moon and…
Painting story
The Last Judgment
Explore Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel: Christ, the flayed skin, rising souls, Dante’s Hell and the controversy over its nudes.
Painting story
The Creation of Adam
Look beyond Michelangelo’s famous hands to the reclining Adam, approaching Creator and suspended moment on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Painting story
Monet’s Haystacks, End of Summer
Explore Monet’s 1891 Haystacks, End of Summer at the Musée d’Orsay: grainstacks, coloured shadows and the changing light of his series.
Painting story
Rouen Cathedral, Full Sunlight by Claude Monet
The west front of Rouen Cathedral dissolved into thick layers of sunlit paint: one of Monet’s more than thirty views of the same façade.
Painting story
Monet’s Japanese Footbridge
Explore Princeton’s 1899 Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge with detail crops, Giverny context and a guide to the pond’s shifting reflections.
Painting story
Women in the Garden by Claude Monet
Monet’s life-size attempt to paint figures outdoors in real sunlight, at Ville-d’Avray in 1866, refused by the Salon of 1867.
Painting story
La Grenouillere by Claude Monet
A bathing place on the Seine, its little island and floating café, painted by Monet beside Renoir in 1869 as Impressionism took shape.
Painting story
Poplars on the Epte by Claude Monet
Tall poplars and their reflections on the river Epte, from a series Monet painted from a boat in 1891, paying to keep the trees standing.
Painting story
The Seine at Argenteuil by Claude Monet
Autumn poplars lead along the Seine to the white houses of Argenteuil, where Monet lived from 1871 to 1878.
Painting story
The Magpie by Claude Monet
Monet’s winter scene near Étretat: one small magpie on a gate, long blue shadows and snow built from many different whites.
Painting story
Water Lilies by Monet
A close reading of Monet’s 1906 Water Lilies in Chicago, with detail crops of its flowers, reflections, brushwork and signature.
Painting story
The Death of the Virgin by Caravaggio
Mary lies on a bier in red, mourned by apostles and Mary Magdalene, under a vast red curtain: Caravaggio’s rejected altarpiece.
Painting story
The Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio
Nicodemus and John lower Christ’s heavy body towards us on a jutting stone slab, while three Marys grieve: Caravaggio’s Vatican altarpiece.
Painting story
The Lute Player
Explore Caravaggio’s Hermitage Lute Player: the singing face, both hands, Arcadelt score, violin, flowers and differences between versions.
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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.
