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Art

Essays and videos on the arts, literature, travel, rituals and celebrations

Architecture Art Biography and memoir Dance and theatre Design and fashion Film and visual culture Food and drink Home Music Nature and landscape Rituals and celebrations Sports and games Stories and literature Subcultures Travel

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Painting of a group gathered around an orrery, with expressions of curiosity and wonder illuminated by its light.

essayArt

In the glow of the candle

Joseph Wright of Derby put science at the centre of his art. Eclipsed in his lifetime, his work still burns with radical ideas

Charlotte Mullins

Abstract sketch of a cityscape with buildings, cars and patterns in pencil and ink.

essayArt

Witty wotty dashes

Doodles are the emanations of our pixillated minds, freewheeling into dissociation, graphology, and radical openness

James Reath

Illustration of a blue dragonfly, a green leaf insect and a brown butterfly wing on a light background.

videoHistory of science

Insect aesthetics – long viewed as pests, in the 16th century bugs became beautiful

8 minutes

Painting of a vast landscape featuring rocky hills, a woman with a child and distant snow-capped mountains under a cloudy sky.

videoNature and landscape

After independence, Mexico was in search of identity. These paintings offered a blueprint

15 minutes

Vintage photo of people erecting tall structures in a tropical setting with palm trees and a thatched building.

videoArt

A young Rockefeller collects art on a fateful journey to New Guinea

7 minutes

Abstract painting of textured forms resembling fibres and foliage overlaid on an antique map background.

videoArt

Defying classification, fantastical artworks reframe the racism of Carl Linnaeus

8 minutes

videoFilm and visual culture

Space and time expand, contract and combust in this propulsive animation

5 minutes

Painting of a man on a rocky cliff overlooking a foggy mountainous landscape, with a walking stick in hand.

essayArt

Out of the fog

It’s a ‘failed painting’ that obscures the profound power of German Romanticism. Why do we love the ‘Wanderer’ so much?

Gianluca Didino

Painting of a girl with a pearl earring in an ornate frame, viewed by three people in a gallery setting.

essayArt

The ecstatic swoon

As Stendhal knew, the reason for art is to make you feel. Do not try to grasp the artwork: allow it to grasp you instead

Robert D Zaretsky

Black and white photo of a person in glasses and military attire standing in front of the Hollywood sign.

videoArt

When East met West in the images of an overlooked, original photographer

9 minutes

Abstract blue and white painting of a plant silhouette on a dark background.

videoEarth science and climate

Images carved into film form a haunting elegy for a disappearing slice of Earth

3 minutes

Painting of a vibrant green hillside with trees and a winding river, showing detailed textures and overlapping colours.

videoNature and landscape

California’s landscapes provide endless inspiration for a woodcut printmaker

10 minutes

Traditional Indian painting of a deity reclining on a serpent on water with another figure on a lotus against a red background.

videoStories and literature

Two variants of a Hindu myth come alive in an animated ode to Indian storytelling

14 minutes

Black and white photo of a man with glasses and a beard, resting his chin on his hand, wearing a suit.

videoArt

Background music was the radical invention of a trailblazing composer

17 minutes

Photo of a study with a wooden desk, red curtains, bust sculptures and a leather chair in a well-lit room.

essayPsychiatry and psychotherapy

The art in the analyst’s room

The consulting office reflects the personality of the therapist, while also subtly shaping the experience of their patients

Anna Parker

A young woman and an older woman in a living room face the camera, one of them pointing towards it. The image has a webcam recording interface.

videoGender

A filmmaker responds to Lars von Trier’s call for a new muse with a unique application

16 minutes

Ceramic vase with yellow snake handles blue clouds and text detail in a workshop setting.

videoDesign and fashion

A ceramicist puts her own bawdy spin on the folk language of pottery

14 minutes

Surreal abstract painting with eyes, lips and leaf shapes in soft colours on paper.

videoArt

Radical doodles – how ‘exquisite corpse’ games embodied the Surrealist movement

15 minutes

Painting of a stormy sea with two sailing ships in distress and people struggling on the rocky shore.

videoBeauty and aesthetics

In art, the sublime is a feedback loop, evolving with whatever’s next to threaten us

9 minutes

Colourful painting depicting a range of people eating, drinking and engaging in other activities, with floral patterns.

essayArt

Threads of resistance

Knitting and embroidery are laden with stereotypes of domestic femininity – and the subversive potential for protest

Gemma McKenzie

Abstract painting with geometric shapes, lines and circles in various colours on a beige background.

videoBeauty and aesthetics

Can you see music in this painting? How synaesthesia fuelled Kandinsky’s art

10 minutes

A painting depicting a group of people in a room, with a man painting and a young girl in the centre, dressed in ornate clothes.

videoArt

Why Diego Velázquez needed a lifetime to paint his enigmatic masterpiece

31 minutes

Close-up of a man smiling and interacting closely with a puppet of an old man wearing a black beret, both faces nearly touching.

videoArt

A puppeteer makes sense of an overwhelming world by shrinking it down to size

5 minutes

A colourful mural depicting a Mexican American family, a Mexican American woman being tackled by a white policeman, and a stadium resembling a U F O descending from the sky.

videoArt

The sprawling mural that depicts an unflinching people’s history of Los Angeles

7 minutes