-
Juliet (1898)
John William Waterhouse’s 1898 painting “Juliet” portrays the innocence and melancholy of Shakespeare’s heroine.
-
The Soul of the Rose (1908)
“The Soul of the Rose” is an oil painting created by John William Waterhouse in 1908. It portrays a red-haired woman deeply inhaling the scent of a rose in a garden. The inspiration for the painting comes from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “Maud,” specifically the line “And the soul of the rose went into my […]
-
Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son: A Whisper of Wind in Oil
Monet’s Woman with a Parasol immortalizes his wife Camille and son in a sunlit embrace, where swirling brushstrokes blend maternal warmth with the whisper of fleeting time
-
Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May: Waterhouse’s Vanitas for the Edwardian Age
John William Waterhouse’s 1908 masterpiece Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May (118x157cm, oil on canvas) reimagines Robert Herrick’s 17th-century poem To the Virgins through an Edwardian lens.
-
Self-Portrait at the Dressing Table: Zinaida Serebriakova’s Timeless Ode to Feminine Grace
At the dressing table, Serebriakova reflects not beauty alone, but a self defined with clarity.
-
Claude Monet Water Lilies.
Monet’s radical “broken color” approach—applying pure pigments in rapid, unblended strokes—achieved unprecedented luminosity.
-
Irises (1889): Van Gogh’s Dance with Chaos and Grace
Painted during Vincent van Gogh’s voluntary stay at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in 1889, this canvas pulses with raw energy, yet whispers of fragile control.
-
Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau) (1884)
How a Little Black Dress Scandalized Paris?Dubbed the “American Mona Lisa,” the painting’s stark contrast of pale skin against dark velvet symbolizes both aristocratic allure and societal rebellion.
-
Garden for Solitary Enjoyment, the spiritual home of scholars
Garden of Solitary Enjoyment refers to a site built in 1073 by the statesman Sima Guang (1019–1086) after he had retired to Luoyang, Henan province. Every spring, visitors would flock to his garden.
-
Appreciation of Vimalakirti Scroll. Song Dynasty
Ming dynasty Buddhist scroll depicting Vimalakirti’s debate, blending ink precision with mineral pigments, housed in Taipei Palace Museum.
-
Snow Mountain and Red Trees Scroll, Six Dynasties
A scholar contemplates the vista from a pavilion, while a visitor on a donkey crosses a frost-laden bridge, their postures subtly conveying winter’s bite and literati resilience
-
Snow Scenery Scroll. Song Dynasty. Ma Yuan
This work bridges Southern Song lyrical minimalism and Ming reinterpretations, offering insights into Ma Yuan’s enduring influence and the evolution of “academy-style” landscape painting.
-
Spring Festival Auspicious Scroll：Frozen Festivities in Ink
scholars in sable cluster around wine warmers while linen-clad servants stand frozen, unlit firecrackers dangling like Damocles’ sword. Hailed as “a pathological specimen of Ming genre painting.”
-
Spring Mountains and Auspicious Pines Scroll
Mi Fu’s “Cloudy Peaks and Pines” scroll whispers ancient burnout remedies through ink-wash poetry. The lone pavilion stands like a medieval mindfulness app icon, while mist-shrouded pines encode Song-era work-life balance wisdom.
-
A Silent Love Tragedy in Ming Art: Why Did Lü Ji Separate the Ducks?
Artwork captures emotional tension through minimalism: ducks turn away on a cold stone, duckweeds hover mid-fall. This Ming court masterpiece is hailed as “the spiritual breakthrough in bird-and-flower painting.”