Charmante église catholique à Melun, one of my fav, but recently I found out that the "Diptyque de Melun" was in this church and that is why it is so called :0 I wouldn't even think..

another oil painting by my beloved Jan van Eyck 🙏 the painting shows Mary sitting on a wooden throne under a canopy, breastfeeding baby Jesus. but here’s the thing: it’s believed that the painting actually depicts the artist’s wife, Margaret – the same woman van Eyck painted in a separate secular portrait. I really like the iconography in this one. the Virgin Mary is seated on a wooden throne topped with a canopy, and there are four small brass lion figurines. this is a reference to the throne of Solomon, which had twelve lions flanking it and standing on the steps. the first pic here is from the "Speculum Humanae Salvationis" . and this is where it gets a bit strange: in that encyclopedia it says, "The throne of the true Solomon is the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in which sat Jesus Christ, the true wisdom." the composition is very similar to an altar. judging by the carvings, it was probably part of a triptych. Mary holds Christ on her lap, and he’s shown close-up and flattened, almost like the host during Mass. the white cloth underneath him, lying on top of Mary’s brighter dress, and the niche on the right – which looks like a piscina (where the water for washing the priest’s hands was kept) only reinforce this comparison. and, of course, the same symbols of Mary's purity that were on the Ghent altar - a jug and a pelvis. there’s also an indirect reference to heaven in this painting: some fruits, maybe oranges or apples, are shown on the windowsill. perhaps these fruits are a symbol of original sin. you have probably noticed that the sinful fruit is in one part of the altar, and the sinlessness of Mary is in the other. ohh how I love it.. van Eyck, u re a genius of religious symbolism🙏 I will never cease to admire the work of Jan van Eyck, it attracts me incredibly😔 I would never have thought that I would like the paintings of the Northern Renaissance.

I love Vivienne Westwood ahh thanks for this masterpiece🙏

I don't know how to convey all my delight from this woman and everything that can be associated with her just read what she writes about chavela vargas, she's so cute omd😭 "today i met chavela vargas, extraordinary, a lesbian, and what's more, i found her erotically appealing. i don't know if she felt the same way, but loose think she's a very liberal woman who, if she asked me, i wouldn't hesitate for a second to undress in front of her… she, i repeat, is erotic. is she perhaps a gift sent to me by heaven?" and also!!! "lo que el agua me dio" ("what the water gave me?") I love this picture with all my heart. it has a Bosch vibe, I think. there's a lot of symbolism in this. the right leg with an open wound symbolizes the accident that Frida had at the age of 18, which caused her to undergo 30 surgeries, most of which were on her right leg and foot. and the perforated seashell through which the water flows is most likely symbolic of Frida's failed attempts to become a mother ): and here is also the symbol of self-discovery. the volcano is the cornerstone of the composition of the painting, it serves as a symbol that she's no longer suppresses her feelings for her body, her attitude towards her husband. here is also an opinion that the painting is a mirror into which Frida herself looks and sees all her life experience in the smallest detail. adore it smmm Frida Kahlo hear me out🙏

I'm so in my sad "blue picasso period" era but Pablo's friend shot himself in the café hippodrome because of unrequited love. and I'm just sad and I also have unrequited love. but I haven't shot myself yet.

things why I'm so in love with Thailand 🇹🇭 0. wat samfran 1. sanctuary of truth - a temple built entirely of wood without a metal nails 2. nong nooch tropical garden 3. wat rong khun - a buddhist temple, the complex of which includes the main temple with wall paintings, an art gallery, additional buildings and pavilions, a well-groomed area for walking. the white color of the temple symbolizes purity and enlightenment, and the mirror elements symbolize the wisdom of the Buddha. after crossing the bridge, the visitor finds himself at the "gate of heaven", guarded by two beings - personifying Death and Rahu (a supernatural being from the Tibetan buddhist tradition). 4. nana plaza 5. Buddhism and Buddhists 6. a traditional thai spirit house, or san phra phum, is designed to provide a home for guardian spirits and is often decorated with garlands to bring good fortune. these shrines are built to appease spirits displaced by construction and to protect the residents of a home or business. locals frequently leave offerings such as flowers, incense, candles, food, and drinks at these shrines to ensure good luck and appease the spirits. this is a common sight in thailand, found outside nearly every building, restaurant, and hotel to protect the land.

1. reclining Buddha and his heels 2. sleep candy 3. chatuchak market 4. national museum of Bangkok 5. wat plai laem 6. magical Buddha garden

or Worship of the Mystic Lamb (Het altaarstuk De aanbidding van het Lam Gods) - a fifteenth-century polyptych in the Catholic Cathedral of St. Bavo in Ghent, Belgium. the authors of the work are considered to be the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck, artists of the Dutch school of the Northern Renaissance. the height of the altar in the central part is 3.7 meters, the width when opened is 5 meters. the altar was commissioned by Jos Veidt, a wealthy donor to the Church of St. John the Evangelist, which later became the Cathedral of St. Bavo (1561), for his wife's private chapel. I will not say much about the composition and what is depicted on the altar, I would like to say about those technical moments in drawing that fascinate me so much in this work and why I love it so muchh. the first thing I want to note is the scene of the Annunciation. It is depicted on the outside when the altar leaves are closed. the Archangel Gabriel tells Mary that she will be the mother of Christ. the figures of the angel and Mary are on the outer edges of the panels. the Holy Spirit (dove) hovers over Mary. two adjacent scenes in the center are exclusively genre scenes from everyday life. next to the Virgin Mary, in a recessed niche, there is a silver tray, a small hanging jug and a linen towel hanging from the counter. these items in iconography (of those centuries) mean the purity of the Mother of God. i absolutely adore the way the fabric is draped in this piece. and the colors chosen for the Archangel Gabriel's wings are stunning: I'm particularly fond of the green on the outside and the pink on the inside. it creates such a beautiful contrast. and also, the relatively large size of the panels allowed Jan van Eyck to demonstrate his talent as a master of light: directional light, saturation, the softest scale of illumination in shadow gradation, the construction of space through light and shadow, symphonies of reflection and refraction, vibrant surface textures, I think that all of this is a reflection of real and divine light, a perfect blend of divine enlightenment with the created world and all of it is described in paint. Van Eyck creates a world within the painting as substantial and real as the world outside this painting. and this is for a reason!! because, yk, Jan van Eyck was the first to paint with oil paints, and not with tempera. it was after his work that oil technology spread throughout Europe. I love it sm😭

Joseph Brodsky’s poem "still life" (1971) is a profound philosophical work in which, through the lens of the subject world, themes of death, time, solitude and finality of being are revealed. the name of the work refers to a genre of painting, where behind the external static is hidden symbolism, and the very word "still life" has a primary meaning nature mort like dead nature. I can't describe how much I'm in love with it. especially in the original text in Russian🙏 I wanted to tell u which quatrains I like in this poem, but when I thought about it, I realized that I had nothing to highlight and I adore this work completely. and as you understood, this isn't the last poem by Brodsky, which I'm going to capture here

I'm an art historian and I have many examples of the work of painters and sculptors, which I love very much. I thought that if I analyzed each painting in detail in each individual post, it would take too much time. but I would just like to show my fav works :p 0. the cover illustration is taken from the children's book "Rabbit Dreams" by author and illustrator Peter McCarthy.  1. deer in the forest (1956) by the prominent Croatian naïve artist Ivan Generalić. Naïve Art (also known as Primitivism), characterized by simple, unrefined techniques and rich, folk-inspired narratives. 2. Ode to Sleep (2025) by japanese artist Tokuhiro Kawai. Tokuhiro Kawai specializes in surreal tableaux that fuse classical European painting techniques, such as oil tempera and gold leaf, with Japanese iconography and fantasy themes. the painting features a figure surrounded by a "clowder of cats", many of which are adorned with golden halos reminiscent of religious art. this artwork is part of a series titled "Altarpiece of Cat Adoration". It portrays cats not merely as pets but elevates them to "guardian spirits," "sacred miracles," and "mediators". 3. Sketch of "Seraphim" (1885-1888) by Viktor Vasnetsov for the right part of the altar apse painting of St. Vladimir's Cathedral in Kiev 4. annunciation altarpiece by Andrea della Robbia (Archangel Gabriel kneeling in prayer 5. The Hallucinogenic Toréador (1968-1970) in the bottom right, dalí himself is depicted at the age of six, with flies flying toward him. above, as if dominating the painting, is the head of gala dalí. multiple images of the venus de milo gradually turn, changing sex. the face of the bullfighter himself can be found in the figure of the second venus from the right: her breast forms his nose, and her head forms his eye. the shadow on venus’s abdomen creates the image of the bullfighter’s mouth. below, a green shadow represents his tie, while venus’s robe becomes his shirt. to the left, one can make out the bullfighter’s jacket against a backdrop of rocks, in which the head of a dying bull is hidden. in the lower right corner, watching all this spectacle, is a little boy dressed in a sailor suit, who is said to represent a young dalí. 6. le repas du lion (1907) by Henri Rousseau. Rousseau drew inspiration for his detailed foliage from studies he made at the botanical gardens (jardin des plantes) in Paris, but he invented the composition and ignored actual scales, creating a dreamlike environment.

salut everyone, it's me again !! your art historian and artist friend, showing you my favorite paintings :з hope you like them. 0. on the cover - a piece by renée french, a famous american comic artist, illustrator, painter, and animator. super interesting and cute work, honnêtement. 1. "eat, sleep, play". this painting is part of the series "altar piece for cat worship" (2025) by contemporary japanese surrealist tokuhiro kawai, who i've mentioned before. i'm obsessed with his renaissance technique. kawai creates these super detailed surrealist pieces using classical western techniques - yk, oil tempera and gold leaf on wood panels. 2. "after you" by colete martin. the scene is described as exploring themes of divinity, illusion, and primal action. juste un chef-d'œuvre. i'm in love, guys. 🦄 3. an illustration by tokyo-based artist kosuke ajiro. this postcard was released as a new year's greeting for 2018. what makes me melt is that under the creature's many paws, there are symbols that look like runes. trop mignon. 4. "circe" by british artist wright barker (around 1889). i won't stop saying how much i love greek mythology. and especially this particular heroine - she just does something to me. next post i'll break down the symbolism in this painting, i adore it 💋 5. an image of a rare russian orthodox icon called "the all-seeing eye of god". in the center (the pupil), you see christ emmanuel as a teenager, blessing with his right hand and holding a scroll in his left. christ is surrounded by a big golden circular face, where you can clearly see a nose, lips, and a pair of eyes staring right at you. at the top of the icon, in church slavonic, it says "all-seeing eye of god". this isn't a literal picture of god - c'est une métaphore complexe. it's about divine omniscience and omnipresence. a reminder that god sees everything in the universe. this icon became super popular in russia during the 18th–19th centuries. 6. this painting is "the wounded angel" (haavoittunut enkeli), painted in 1903 by famous finnish symbolist hugo simberg. in the background, there's an actual place - eläintarha park and töölönlahti bay in helsinki. back in simberg's day, this park was a popular spot for the working class to hang out. the path the boys are walking on led to charities and medical institutions. basically, they're carrying the wounded angel toward either a school for blind girls or a home for cripples. simberg painted this right after surviving a serious case of meningitis that almost killed him. a lot of historians see the angel's fragile figure as a reflection of the artist's own vulnerability during his long recovery. following the rules of symbolism, simberg refused to explain the painting's meaning. at its first exhibition, he even left the title line blank so everyone could feel the scene for themselves. here's how i read it: the angel's white robe, bloody wings, and blindfold symbolize lost innocence, absolute vulnerability, or a broken earthly spirit. in its right hand, the angel holds a small bouquet of snowdrops. since these flowers are the first to push through the snow, they've always been a symbol of hope and healing. the two teenagers are dressed in dark working-class clothes and seem weighed down by their burden. the boy on the left trudges forward, doing his duty. the boy on the right sharply turns around and stares right at you - his gaze full of reproach, pain, and defiance. it forces us to face human suffering. voilà.

promis, juré, craché ! 💋 circe stands at the top of a marble staircase, surrounded by tamed predators : lions, lionesses, and wolves. according to greek mythology, these animals are actually sailors and travelers who ended up on her island - she enchanted them and turned them into beasts using magic and potions. circe poses confidently, half-naked, holding a lyre. at her feet lies a tiger skin, and the steps are covered in red poppy petals. this image reflects the femme fatale archetype that was super popular in late 19th century victorian art. shall we break down the symbolism of this piece ? bien sûr que oui )) every predator here acts as a psychological and allegorical mirror. wright barker masterfully uses animal poses and types to show different stages of a man's submission to the femme fatale. the sleeping lion on the left represents pride completely tamed. the lion - traditionally the king of beasts, the ultimate symbol of male strength, power, and warrior spirit. the fact that he's sleeping at the sorceress's feet shows that even the most powerful rulers or warriors have fallen to her magic. the wolf and she-wolf in the left corner. in mythology, the wolf symbolizes wild freedom, independence, and loyalty to the pack (brotherhood). but here, the wolves have been turned into something like loyal house dogs. c'est une allégorie de la perte de liberté - losing your freedom, submitting to the herd instinct. it shows how strong, independent men lose their individuality, clustering into an obedient "pack" around one woman. the lioness in the center, staring at the viewer. her gaze is the key element of the composition. she represents a captive soul that still understands everything. in victorian painting, this technique was used to create compassion - the animal is aware of its humiliating situation but physically can't fight the magic. the growling wolf on the right is a symbol of fading ego and powerless rebellion. this one's a "newbie" in the menagerie, or someone whose last scraps of human rage and pride are still alive. the lion and animals in the back on the right - these are ghosts of the past, symbols of accepting your fate. they represent those who have long accepted their animal status and just become part of her luxurious palace's interior. the tiger skin under circe's feet is a direct symbol of victory and crushed danger. circe literally tramples one of the most fierce symbols of male passion and aggression, turning it into a rug for her bare feet. the red poppy petals - one of the most interesting symbols. c'est une référence directe au mythe. in mythology, the poppy represents sleep, hypnosis, and death. circe would drug travelers with wine mixed with poppy juice and magical herbs to strip them of their will, their memories of home, and their human form. at the end of the 19th century when this painting was made, opium dens were thriving in europe (especially in england). the poppy was directly associated with narcotic trance, illusions, and destructive addiction. the artist is hinting that a femme fatale's charms act on men like a strong drug - they bring pleasure, but completely destroy the person. those bright red petals on white marble look like drops of blood. c'est le symbole que pour le plaisir et la passion dans les bras de circe, her victims pay with their human lives. the lyre in the sorceress's hand - i think this is also a reference to the odyssey. in the odyssey, circe attracted sailors with her incredible, divine voice when they first heard her singing at her loom. the lyre in the painting visualizes that hypnotic, mesmerizing, sweet song that's impossible to resist. but also, normally the lyre is the noble instrument of the god apollo, a symbol of harmony, order, and pure reason. but in circe's hands, the lyre becomes a tool of deception. elle utilise la musique non pas pour élever l'âme, but to lull men's vigilance and trap them.