From Conté crayons to oil pastels, stick media have many advantages and are rightly popular today. Here are examples by Millet, Seurat, Redon, Schiele, Bonnard, and others.
Redon
Developed in the mid 1600s, pastels are often considered to be the ‘purest’ form of painting, in which pure pigment is applied to the ground.
Popular in the early Renaissance, it was revived by William Blake, the Nabis, and a few others. Despite its disadvantages, these are wonderful paintings.
The depiction of Pandora opening her box and unleashing all its ills on the world remained popular, with paintings by Alma-Tadema, Bouguereau, Waterhouse, Rackham, Redon, and others.
A mainstay for the Impressionists, their use in domestic products like wallpaper and even clothing killed people in the 19th century. Probably not Napoleon, though.
A story of murder by a would-be lover, or perhaps of voyeuristics obsession. How Polyphemus murdered Acis, as shown by Claude, Tischbein, Moreau, Redon, and others.
More superb pastel paintings from Vigée Le Brun, Eva Gonzalès, Manet, Helleu, and Odilon Redon bring us to the 20th century.
Friend and biographer of Gustave Moreau, his story and works have now all but vanished. Here are some enigmatic Symbolist paintings.
She has been a symbol of French nationalism, of the revanchism following the Franco-Prussian War, and then of early feminism: some wonderful paintings of Joan’s divine visions.
When did spiders and their webs first start appearing as motifs in paintings and prints? Who was the inspiration for Spider-Man?
