Explore the past, understand the present, and inspire the future.

Image title: The Adoration of the Magi Medium: Distemper on canvas Date: 1472–74 Source: The Met Collection   “ Love is the attempt to form a friendship inspired by beauty. ” — Cicero ‘Third Eye’ Draftsmanship: Drawing Practices Inspired by Mysticism   Introduction: Drawing as a Portal Throughout history, artists have not only recorded the visible world but also attempted to capture the invisible—visions, energies, and revelations that point beyond the veil of everyday perception. Read more…

Image title: The Forest in Winter at Sunset Medium: Oil on canvas Date: ca. 1846–67 Source: The Met Collection   “ To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to do. ” — Kahlil Gibran ‘What If He Lived?’: Basquiat at 63 in an Alternate Art History   Introduction: A Life Interrupted Jean-Michel Basquiat’s meteoric rise and tragic fall at age Read more…

Image title: Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary) Medium: Oil on canvas Date: 1891 Source: The Met Collection   “ We lost because we told ourselves we lost. ” — Leo Tolstoy Velvet Brushstrokes and Silicon Dreams: How AI Revives Lost Painting Techniques   Introduction: The Intersection of Code and Canvas From the textured depth of impasto to the whisper-like elegance of sfumato, the history of painting techniques is rich with invention, experimentation, and, sadly, forgotten Read more…

Image title: Hermann von Wedigh III (died 1560) Medium: Oil and gold on oak Date: 1532 Source: The Met Collection   “ Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world. ” — Arthur Schopenhauer The Marble Algorithm: What Sculpture Teaches Us About the Limits of Machine Intelligence   Introduction: The Chisel and the Circuit From the ancient Greeks carving marble statues of gods to contemporary artists Read more…

Image title: Hermann von Wedigh III (died 1560) Medium: Oil and gold on oak Date: 1532 Source: The Met Collection   “ I’m not interested in age. People who tell me their age are silly. You’re as old as you feel. ” — Elizabeth Arden Who Owns Your Face?: Portraiture in the Age of Facial Recognition   Introduction: A Face in the Crowd—or the Cloud? In the Renaissance, a portrait was a declaration: of status, Read more…

Image title: Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque) Medium: Oil on canvas Date: 1887–88 Source: The Met Collection   “ The art challenges the technology, and the technology inspires the art. ” — John Lasseter Post-Soviet Pixels: How Digital Art Reimagined Eastern Europe’s Visual Identity   Introduction: Art After the Empire Falls When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, it didn’t just mark the end of a political hegemony—it spurred the collapse of one of the Read more…

Image title: Bacchanal: A Faun Teased by Children Medium: Marble Date: ca. 1616–17 Source: The Met Collection   “ ” — ‘We Are All Curators Now’: How TikTok Is Redefining What Makes Art ‘Important’   Introduction: The Digital Renaissance In the hushed halls of traditional museums, curators have long held the authority to decide which artworks are worthy of admiration, scholarship, and preservation. These decisions shaped canons, guided scholarship, and framed public understanding of art Read more…

Image title: Miniature tabard Medium: Cotton, camelid hair, silk, metal Date: 1600–1700 Source: The Met Collection   “ Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them. ” — Albert Einstein Beyond Pigment: The Radical Alchemy of Natural Dyes in African Textile Arts   Introduction: Color as Code Across the vast and diverse landscapes of Africa, textile art is far more than a matter of ornament or function—it is a living language. Long before contemporary Read more…

Image title: Hermann von Wedigh III (died 1560) Medium: Oil and gold on oak Date: 1532 Source: The Met Collection   “ With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. ” — Eleanor Roosevelt Posthuman Portraits: AI-Generated Art as the New Self-Portraiture   Introduction: Identity in the Age of Algorithms For centuries, portraiture has been the artistic domain where humans construct, interrogate, and project their identity. From the realism of Renaissance oil paintings Read more…