amor vincit omnia

mostly art history inspo sideblog

[metmuseum]

Vessel with throne scene. 600–900 CE. Credit line: Gift of Charles and Valerie Diker, 1999 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/318662

[diana-andraste]

Bertran de Born and his companions in Dante's eighth circle of Hell, c. 1350-1375

[nobrashfestivity]

Wosene Worke Kosrof, Ethiopian, active in the United States, born 1950, Acrylic on linen VMFA

[ducissatenebrarum]

Joseph Heintz Younger, Witchcraft scene, 1644

[calistos-muse]

Dance of the Dryads (1532)

Hendrik Hondius I (1573-1650)

Whitworth Art Gallary Manchester, April 2026

[centuriespast]

Interior view 12th century Photo Benedictine abbey church, Mont-Saint-Michel (Manche)

[despazito]

[werewolf-transgenderism]

getting the surgery that turns you into one of those medieval prelapsarian androgynes with just nothing happening anywhere

[werewolf-transgenderism]

#mynothing

[Getty Museum, MS 14, fol. 110]

[cursecuelebre]

Etruscan statues of Apulu (Apollo) and Leto holding infant Apulu discovered in a temple in Veii in Italy made maybe around 510 BC

Photo by: Carole Raddato

[metmuseum]

Matchlock Gun of Horio Yoshiharu. late 16th–early 17th century. Credit line: Gift of Bashford Dean, 1914 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/22492

[periodinteriors]

Biedermeier style interior, c. 1840, unknown artist of the Austrian school, watercolor.

[frostedmagnolias]

Portrait d'une femme africaine (1948)

by Clement Serneels (South African, 1912-1991)

[tyger-land]

Advertisement for Kuppenheimer Clothing Company, 1923; oil on canvas by Joseph Christian Leyendecker.

[metmuseum]

Fragment of a Bowl. 12th–13th century. Credit line: The Grinnell Collection, Bequest of William Milne Grinnell, 1920 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/447203

[itscolossal]

In ‘Door to Life,’ Pacita Abad Evokes Traditional Yemeni Architecture

[metmuseum]

Fragment of a rug or hanging. late 15th–early 16th century. Credit line: Rogers Fund, 1928 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/222131

[uwmspeccoll]

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat: and The Art of Storytelling was edited by Hans Werner Holzwarth and was published in 2018 in Cologne, Germany by TASHEN. This very large, very heavy art book contains several high-quality color reproductions of Basquiat’s art and includes an essay by art historian and curator Eleanor Nairne. 

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) was born in Brooklyn, New York and died 27 years later in the same city. Basquiat is one of the most well-known contemporary artists of our time; right next to his friend, Andy Warhol (who he collaborated with on the tenth image). Despite dying young, Basquiat’s artistic career is expansive—his paintings and sketches number in the hundreds, each in the unique style that made him sought after. He was first invited to appear in New York/New Wave in 1981 by Mudd Club co-founder Diego Cortez. From there, Basquiat’s career would take off, and he began to appear in galleries throughout the country. Many publications and articles reference his time graffitiing under the name SAMO. However, Basquiat himself rejected this, stating that he was not a graffiti artist. Despite this, it has become a part of his legacy and is used to highlight his role in the “underground” art scene before breaking out into the public sphere. Today the name SAMO is synonymous with Basquiat; along with his iconic crown, his apparent fascination with bones, and the footprints he left behind on his prints.

Much of his art references his experience as a Black man in America and his Afro-Caribbean heritage. His art mixes drawn figures with fragments of phrases, speeches, and words. Some art historians have compared Basquiat’s style to being almost childlike in the way he sketches; however, I think this is a simplistic way of looking at his art especially when considering the subjugation and systematic oppression of Black Americans he often represents in his art.

Following the death of Andy Warhol, Basquiat’s drug use increased and he overdosed in 1988. We do not know how his art would have further evolved, but his approach to art continues to inspire new artists.

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--Olivia, Special Collections Art History Field Worker