Art history

A separated pair: the story behind Van Gogh’s famed empty chairs

An insight into what the two paintings reveal about Vincent's life with Gauguin in the Yellow House

a blog by Martin Bailey
Booksnews

Prize-winning Gainsborough publication shines light on lives of painter's female sitters

New book, which reveals how the Old Masters influenced the 18th-century British artist, has won the William MB Berger Prize for British Art History

The most famous bedroom in art history: secrets of Van Gogh’s nocturnal life

A story of changing wall colours, a pair of pillows, wartime bombs and the hunt for a lost bed

a blog by Martin Bailey

The story behind a student who discovered Edward Hopper's earliest paintings were copies

New research finds teenage artist's landscapes were based on a magazine for amateurs learning how to paint

Art historian Aby Warburg’s groundbreaking image atlas reunited in Berlin after nearly a century

The Bilderatlas Mnemosyne—once derided by Ernst Gombrich—will appear in its fullest form since Warburg's final presentation

Hannah Gadsby: taking down art history's misogyny through comedy

From the High Renaissance to Picasso’s questionable moral compass, the Tasmanian comedian is bringing an exploration of art's patriarchy to a new audience

Booksreview

New Orientalists: a thoughtful book on the rise and decline of Western artists in the Middle East

There is plenty to enjoy in this account of a group of travelling painters who were not only accomplished but also determined, brave and hardy

Van Gogh detective discovers exact spot of artist's last work, painted just hours before his suicide

The spot—in a village north of Paris—now has a plaque linking it to Vincent's death

Pope Francis, his crucifix and the Virgin Mary: miraculous or merely traditional?

Art history removes the numinous from art. At the Vatican’s Covid-19 blessing we saw it invoked again

Is art history becoming too woke?

Discussion around Yale's decision to pull its introductory survey course reveals unnerving trend for "morally appropriate" studies

Booksreview

The case is made for connoisseurs and their role in art history

The practice of connoisseurship, which, the author Frédéric Elsig argues, is a skill that can be learned, is examined in relation to 15th-and 16th-century painting

What can mysterious markings in stone teach us about British art?

Research for a new book begins with a pilgrimage to find prehistoric rock art in northern England

Educationcomment

‘Art history is a global discipline’

The head of Yale’s art history department explains the university’s decision to change its introductory survey courses

So you think you know your art? Brain teasers to test your knowledge of famous works

This puzzle book includes 36 of art history's best known pieces, from Botticelli’s Primavera to Van Gogh’s Starry Night

Is art history under threat? UK universities see 28.5% drop in the subject in past decade

Latest figures show decline in first year students choosing humanities degrees in favour of business, agriculture and medicine

Booksreview

A neuroscientist's view: how Bacon's paintings shake up the nervous system

Publication focuses on what neuroscience and psychology bring to the table with the late artist's works

Booksreview

Demanding artists and receptive architects in book about design and function of the studio

This book shows how, from the end of the 19th century to the Second World War, artists collaborated with architects to craft an image of themselves

Did the buyer of the Salvator Mundi get played—or did we?

What better way to boost its star power than by making it "disappear" for a few months?

From Rivera and Kahlo to Ulay and Abramović—this story book tells the tales of art world couples

Famous and not-so-famous pairs of artists from Picasso and Gilot to Idris Khan and Annie Morris are quoted about how relationships work

A collection of 50 contemporary artists’ favourite works of art

Book looks at what they like and how they think it helps their own work

Architectureanalysis

Notre Dame is unstable: a strong wind could make the walls collapse, independent report says

The current approach to its restoration fails to take account of the interconnected structural “engineering” of Gothic architecture

Dead kings and queens and where to find them

A dictionary of the burial places of the English and Scottish kings and queens (and their relations)

Podcastspodcast

Ruskin and Gombrich: revisiting two art historical heavyweights

Amid a wealth of events celebrating the bicentenary of John Ruskin’s birth we reconsider the breadth of his achievements. Plus, we talk to two experts in E.H. Gombrich. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Aimee Dawson

Tate partners with Hyundai to promote non-Western art

New research centre project means South Korean motor company is now probably the largest corporate sponsor of visual arts for UK museums

Experts pour cold water on Klimt discovery in Hungary

Designer who unearthed the plaster relief attributes it to the Austrian artist

Cataloguing Egon Schiele: a digital work in progress

Online database allows scholars to make rapid connections between works

The public deserves to see restorations laid bare

London's National Gallery and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam are both documenting repairs of major works—plus a personal conservation confession

In a Met protest, an artist posts her own labels next to a Picasso and Gauguin

She calls on museum to incorporate misogyny into the art historical narrative

Collectingpreview

Giampietro Campana assembled the greatest private collection of his age—then lost the lot

A new show at the Musée du Louvre reunites 500 of the collector's artefacts, showing his admiration for Italian art across the ages