Textual description of firstImageUrl

Eva Melhuish | Scandinavian Christmas cards

Eva Melhuish is an illustrator who has been published across Europe, the USA and has worked on global projects with UNICEF.
With a Swedish mother and English father, Eva is bi-lingual and has travelled extensively.
Her work reflects this diverse background and she illustrates a wide range of subjects, from natural history and horses to gardening and educational books.
Eva grew up in Sweden and her Scandinavian roots are a key influence.


Textual description of firstImageUrl

Ed Wheeler | Santa Classic

In a series of self-portraits dressed as Santa Claus, Philadelphia-based artist Ed Wheeler, photographer, incorporates himself in classical paintings from Botticelli to Caravaggio to Monet.
In so doing he transforms the masterworks of art history from the Renaissance to the Surrealists. Santa Classics, his derivative art series, is based on a digital photography process.
Wheeler’s goal is to pay homage to the original paintings while offering art lovers an additional reason to smile.

Francesco Hayez | The Kiss, 1859 | Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Textual description of firstImageUrl

Molly Brett | Writer / Children's book illustrator

Molly Brett (1902–1990) was an English illustrator and writer of children's literature, best known for her anthropomorphic artwork.
Molly (Mary Elizabeth) Brett grew up in the English county of Surrey, surrounded by animals and nature.
Her mother, Mary Gould Brett, was a respected animal painter who encouraged her daughter to paint from life, and this is reflected in Molly's gift for making her animals look thoroughly naturalistic while giving them human characteristics and activities.


Textual description of firstImageUrl

Emily Dickinson | L’erba ha così poche occupazioni / The Grass so little has to do

L’erba ha così poche occupazioni -
un mondo di semplice verde
con solo farfalle su cui meditare
e api da ospitare -
non ha da fare altro che cullarsi
tutto il giorno ai suoni melodiosi
che le brezze portano leggere -
e accogliere in grembo la luce -

Camille Pissarro | Gardeuse de vaches, Eragny | Christie's

Textual description of firstImageUrl

Bertolt Brecht | Of all the works of man / Tra tutte le opere

Of all the works of man I like best
Those which have been used.

The copper pots with their dents and flattened edges
The knives and forks whose wooden handles
Have been worn away by many hands: such forms
Seemed to me the noblest.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) | Crouching Boy, 1524 | Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Textual description of firstImageUrl

Johannes Vermeer died on this day, in 1675

Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) passed away on this day December 15th, 1675.
He was 43 years old.
Vermeer’s small oeuvre is remarkable.
It is estimated that Vermeer created around 40 to 50 paintings, which is not a big number compared to other master painters of the time.
For example, Rembrandt made around 300 paintings and Frans Hals around 200.


Textual description of firstImageUrl

Wisława Szymborska / René Magritte | A Note / Una nota

Life is the only way
to get covered in leaves,
catch your breath on the sand,
rise on wings;
to be a dog,
or stroke its warm fur;


to tell pain
from everything it's not;

to squeeze inside events,
dawdle in views,
to seek the least of all possible mistakes.

An extraordinary chance
to remember for a moment
a conversation held
with the lamp switched off;

and if only once
to stumble upon a stone,
end up soaked in one downpour or another,

mislay your keys in the grass;
and to follow a spark on the wind with your eyes;
and to keep on not knowing
something important.


René Magritte | L'Utopie, 1945 | Cleveland Museum of Art

Wisława Szymborska | Una nota

La vita - è il solo modo
per coprirsi di foglie,
prendere fiato sulla sabbia,
sollevarsi sulle ali;

essere un cane,
o carezzarlo sul suo pelo caldo;
distinguere il dolore
da tutto ciò che dolore non è;

stare dentro gli eventi,
dileguarsi nelle vedute,
cercare il più piccolo errore.


Un’occasione eccezionale
per ricordare per un attimo
di che si è parlato
a luce spenta;

e almeno per una volta
inciampare in una pietra,
bagnarsi in qualche pioggia,
perdere le chiavi tra l’erba;

e seguire con gli occhi una scintilla
nel vento;

e persistere nel non sapere
qualcosa d’importante.