Victoria Charles

Vincent van Gogh's life and work are so intertwined that it is hardly possible to observe one without thinking of the other. Van Gogh has indeed become the incarnation of the suffering, misunderstood martyr of modern art, the emblem of the artist as an outsider. An article, published in 1890, gave details about van Gogh's illness. The author of the article saw the painter as "a terrible and demented genius, often sublime, sometimes grotesque, always...

Gothic art finds its roots in the powerful architecture of the cathedrals of northern France. It is a medieval art movement that evolved throughout Europe over more than 200 years. Leaving curved Roman forms behind, the architects started using flying buttresses and pointed arches to open up cathedrals to daylight. A period of great economic and social change, the Gothic era also saw the development of a new iconography celebrating the Holy Mary –...

Développé à travers l'Europe pendant plus de 200 ans, l'art gothique est un mouvement qui trouve ses racines dans la puissante architecture des cathédrales du nord de la France. Délaissant la rondeur romane, les architectes commencèrent à utiliser les arcs-boutants et les voûtes en berceau brisé pour ouvrir les cathédrales à la lumière. Période de bouleversements économiques et sociaux, la période gothique vit aussi le développement...

In art history, the term 'Romanesque art' distinguishes the period between the beginning of the 11th and the end of the 12th century. This era showed a great diversity of regional schools each with their own unique style. In architecture as well as in sculpture, Romanesque art is marked by raw forms. Through its rich iconography and captivating text, this work reclaims the importance of this art which is today often overshadowed by the later Gothic...

Vincent van Gogh (Groot-Zundert, Brabant, 1853 – Auvers-sur-Oise, 1890) La vie et l'oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh sont si étroitement liées qu'il est quasiment impossible de voir ses toiles sans y lire le récit de sa vie : van Gogh est en effet devenu l'incarnation du martyr souffrant et incompris de l'art moderne, l'emblème de l'artiste marginal. Le premier article, publié en 1890, donnait des détails sur la maladie de van Gogh. L'auteur de...

Picasso was born a Spaniard and, so they say, began to draw before he could speak. As an infant he was instinctively attracted to artist's tools. In early childhood he could spend hours in happy concentration drawing spirals with a sense and meaning known only to himself. At other times, shunning children's games, he traced his first pictures in the sand. This early self-expression held out promise of a rare gift. Málaga must be mentioned, for it...

Picasso era español y por eso, según dicen, comenzó a dibujar antes que a hablar. Cuando niño, se sintió atraído de manera instintiva hacia las herramientas del artista. En sus primeros años pasaba horas en feliz concentración dibujando espirales con un sentido y un significado que sólo él conocía. Otras veces dejaba de lado sus juegos infantiles para trazar sus primeras imágenes en la arena. Tan temprana expresión artística encerraba...

John Constable was the first English landscape painter to take no lessons from the Dutch. He is rather indebted to the landscapes of Rubens, but his real model was Gainsborough, whose landscapes, with great trees planted in well-balanced masses on land sloping upwards towards the frame, have a rhythm often found in Rubens. Constable's originality does not lie in his choice of subjects, which frequently repeated themes beloved by Gainsborough. Nevertheless,...

El arquitecto y diseñador español Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) es una importante e influyente figura en la historia del arte contemporáneo de España. El uso del color, la utilización de diferentes materiales y la introducción de movimiento en sus construcciones fueron toda una innovación en el terreno de la arquitectura. En su diario, Gaudí expresó sus propios sentimientos sobre el arte: "los colores usados en arquitectura tienen que ser intensos,...

William Morris (1834-1896), par son éclectisme, fut l'une des personnalités emblématiques du XIXe siècle. Peintre, architecte, poète et ingénieur, maniant avec autant de talent la plume que le pinceau, il bouleversa la société victorienne en refusant les standards instaurés par l'industrie conquérante. Son engagement dans la rédaction du manifeste socialiste fut la suite naturelle de cette révolution qu'il incarna dans l'habitat, les formes...