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Articles on Art history

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Paul Gauguin Three Tahitians (Trois tahitiens) 1899 oil on canvas 73 × 94 cm National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh. Presented by Sir Alexander Maitland in memory of his wife Rosalind 1960, NG 222.

Paul Gauguin was a violent paedophile. Should the National Gallery of Australia be staging a major exhibition of his work?

Should a public art gallery exhibit his work, highlighting the fact he was a seriously flawed human being? Or is this to quietly condone domestic violence and paedophilia? I do not know the answer.
(L-R) The Princess of Wales on the cover of Tatler, Queen Victoria by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, and a detail of Vices Overlook’d in the New Proclamation by James Gillray. Hannah Uzor/Tatler, Royal Collection Trust / National Portrait Gallery. Montage created with Canva

Five controversial historical royal portraits – from drunken kings to sexy mermaids

British monarchs have grappled with issues of representation, accuracy and flattery in portraits since the Middle Ages.
A Mona Lisa painting from the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci, held in the collection of the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain. Collection of the Museo del Prado

Who really was Mona Lisa? More than 500 years on, there’s good reason to think we got it wrong

The Mona Lisa has traditionally been associated with Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florentine silk merchant. But there’s plenty of evidence pointing to a different identity.
Henry Darger worked as a hospital custodian. After his death in 1973, hundreds of his illustrations were discovered. Brooklyn Taxidermy/flickr

What is vernacular art? A visual artist explains

The genre – also known as ‘folk art’ or ‘outsider art’ – serves as a reminder that art is a universal human pursuit.

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