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Painting

The new technique can distinguish artists based on small samples of their brushwork.

Art Meets Science

New Tech Can Distinguish Brush Strokes of Different Artists

Researchers used 3-D scanning and A.I. to identify artists from tiny samples of their paintings

Blue Madonna, oil on canvas, 1961. Many of the artist’s works feature religious themes and are painted in the bold colors of the Fauvists and German Expressionists.

American Artist Bob Thompson Riffed on the Old Masters of Europe

A new view of an original genius who died before he could realize his full potential

A Louis Wain illustration of cats singing carols

See Louis Wain’s Exuberant Cat Art at the Hospital Where He Spent His Later Years

The Victorian artist’s famous feline portraits are on view at England’s Bethlem Museum of the Mind

The center aims to establish a "dialogue between modern and contemporary art," one curator says.

Why Baltimore Is Poised to Become a Major Hub for Henri Matisse Fans

The Baltimore Museum of Art recently opened a research center dedicated to the French artist

Sarah Biffin, Sarah Biffin, watercolor

Miniature by Sarah Biffin, 19th-Century Artist Born With No Arms or Legs, Exceeds Estimates at Auction

The painter forged a remarkable career as a disabled woman artist in 19th-century London

Scientists studied the lead isotopic values of the white paint used in 77 Dutch works, including this one by Rembrandt. Rembrandt van Rijn, Tobit and Anna with the Kid, 1626 

Art Meets Science

Scientists Can Determine When and Where Dutch Masters Worked by the White Paint They Used

Using a new technology, researchers say they’ve discovered a link between the chemical composition of pigments in Dutch paintings and historic conflicts

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Night Watch, 1642

A Hidden Sketch Is Discovered in Rembrandt’s ‘Night Watch’

Researchers in the Netherlands used new scanning technologies to discover how the Baroque artist painted his most famous masterpiece

Sandro Botticelli's La nascita di Venere, or Venus' Birth was painted on canvas with tempera paints.

Art Meets Science

Egg Yolk Gives Tempera Paint Its Enhanced Coverage and Spreadable Properties

The paint has been used throughout human history and is featured in iconic art pieces, like Michelangelo’s ‘Manchester Madonna’

David Allan, Edinburgh Milkmaid With Butter Churn, circa 1780–90

See a Rare Watercolor of a Black Woman Living in Edinburgh in the Late 18th Century

Staff at the National Galleries of Scotland, which recently acquired the David Allan painting, hope to uncover more information about the sitter’s identity

Frida Kahlo's Diego y yo (1949) sold at auction for $34.9 million on Tuesday night. 

Intimate Frida Kahlo Self-Portrait Sells for $34.9 Million, Smashing Auction Records

The stunning work became the most expensive Latin American artwork ever sold, breaking a benchmark set by the Mexican painter’s husband, Diego Rivera

Birds with teeth, little men in triangular hats and other fanciful figures appear in the Tudor wall paintings.

Cool Finds

Well-Preserved Tudor Wall Paintings Discovered Beneath Plaster at Medieval Manor

Carbon dating of the artworks’ timber frame suggests they date to between the 1540s and 1580s

New research suggests this portrait of an old man was painted by Rembrandt himself.

A Painting Stolen in East Germany’s Biggest Art Heist May Be a Rembrandt

An exhibition at Schloss Friedenstein addresses two art history mysteries: one about the 16th-century Dutch portrait and another about the 1979 theft

Conservators discovered this painting, Untitled (Virginia Summer), beneath another work by Gorky, The Limit (1947). The artist's relatives had previously noticed sections of The Limit peeling up at the corners, revealing bright blue paint below.

Cool Finds

This Arshile Gorky Painting Spent 70 Years Hidden in Plain Sight

Experts discovered a sea-blue canvas by the Armenian American artist concealed beneath another one of his works on paper

Hans Holbein the Younger, Portrait of Simon George of Cornwall (detail), circa 1535–40

Hans Holbein’s Portraits Defined—and Immortalized—Tudor England’s Elite

An exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum features some of the painter’s most famous portraits of power players in Henry VIII’s court

Yale's namesake sits at the center of this group portrait, Elihu Yale With Members of His Family and an Enslaved Child (circa 1719, attributed to John Verelst).

Who Is the Enslaved Child in This Portrait of Yale University’s Namesake?

Scholars have yet to identify the young boy, but new research offers insights on his age and likely background

Two of the newly colorized paintings: Jurisprudence (left) and Medicine (right)

Art Meets Science

A.I. Digitally Resurrects Trio of Lost Gustav Klimt Paintings

Viewers can explore the works, newly restored to lush greens, blues, pinks and golds, through a Google Arts and Culture hub

Vincent van Gogh, The Potato Eaters, April–May 1885

The Untold Story of van Gogh’s Once-Maligned Masterpiece, ‘The Potato Eaters’

An exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum spotlights the artist’s dynamic depiction of peasant life—a painting that critics hated and he loved

Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982

Why Andy Warhol Peed on This Portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat

One of the iconic Pop Artist’s “oxidation” paintings, the work will go up for auction at Christie’s next month

Researchers studying Edvard Munch's Madonna (left) discovered hidden underdrawings (right) that reveal how the artist tinkered with his composition over time.

Art Meets Science

Hidden Sketch Reveals a More Traditional Version of Edvard Munch’s Sensual ‘Madonna’

A chance discovery suggests the woman’s provocative pose was originally somewhat subdued

The National Gallery's Samson and Delilah (1609-10) is attributed to Peter Paul Rubens, but some scholars have raised doubts regarding its authenticity in recent decades.

Art Meets Science

Did Peter Paul Rubens Really Paint ‘Samson and Delilah’?

A.I. analysis renews doubts over the authenticity of a star painting in the London National Gallery’s collection

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