The Chauvet Cave (a.k.a Caverne du Pont d’arc) is one of the most famous prehistoric rock art sites in the world. With one exception, all of the cave art paintings have been dated between 30,000 and 33,000 years ago. Chauvet contains a total of over 300 paintings and engravings. These were grouped in specific ways. … Read more
The Terracotta Army is a part of a massive burial tomb built for Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 – 210 BC) spent much of his life searching for immortality and built himself a tomb complex that encompassed 50 km² (20 mi²). There are over 8,000 life size … Read more
Girl with a Pearl Earring is an oil painting by 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. Scholars estimate the painting was completed in 1665. The painting is an example of a type of work called a tronie. Popular in the Dutch Golden Age, tronies were paintings that focused on the face of a subject with an … Read more
Antoni Gaudi was born on 25th June 1852 in Reus, Catalonia, Spain. He attended school in Barcelona, the city that would become home to most of his great works. He studied architecture in Barcelona, Spain at the Escola Tecnica Superior d’Arquitectura but he was not a very good student. After five years, in 1878, Gaudi … Read more
The Persistence of Memory is a 1931 painting by artist Salvador Dali, and is one of his most recognizable works. The well-known surrealist piece introduced the image of the soft melting pocket watch. It epitomizes Dalí’s theory of “softness” and “hardness“, which was central to his thinking at the time. The Persistence of Memory is … Read more
Michelangelo Buonarotti was born in Caprese, Italy on March 6, 1475. He died February 18, 1564 in Rome, Italy. He was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer. Michelangelo’s father, Leonardo di Buonarrota Simoni, was briefly serving as a magistrate in the small village when he recorded the birth of his second of … Read more
The Pieta (1498–1499) is regarded as one of the greatest works of the Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. This exquisite work of art features the body of Jesus placed on the lap of the Virgin Mary after the savior’s crucifixion. Pieta is the only work Michelangelo ever signed. Michelangelo carved it from a single slab of … Read more
Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in the city of Malaga, Spain. Pablo was born extremely small. In fact, he was so tiny that the nurse thought that he was stillborn. Therefore, she left him sitting on a table while she went to take care of his mother. His uncle wound up saving him … Read more
Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert, Holland. He was named after his grandfather and his stillborn brother who died one year before Van Gogh was born. As a child, Vincent was serious, silent and thoughtful. Van Gogh was supposed to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a pastor. Vincent … Read more