Wasn’t that one oligarch in London poisoned at a 5 star hotel? This feels even more apt knowing that.

Russian ‘murders of state’ is such an interesting slice of history. I always think the murder of Rasputin is up there as well, given that those involved had to try three different methods in one night to get the job done.

Thought No.1 1: Pussy Riot is full of some seriously brave people.

Hahahha oh for sure. And because it’s him and no one gives a shit if it goes terribly wrong, no one tried to stop him at the last minute either.

I feel like this is one of those ‘the locals know tf better but hey, let’s see how big of a dumbass the non-native is’ kind of a bet. 

Hozier’s new EP is out and it’s my current religious affiliation.

There’s a documentary on the beginnings of NYFW and it’s fascinating to see how it began, how it’s grown, and how it appears to be getting smaller again. Unfortunately I can’t remember the name of it, but it’s well worth a watch, as many of the CFDA members who helped institute it are featured, and the first shows…

A bit more along the lines of ‘he’s a pedophile and we should all remember what a misogynist blowhard he was and these facts are not separate from his art’ but yeah, definitely the same spirit.

Frida, thank you for this piece. I’d never heard of Maynard or her work before, but after reading this I will probably seek some of it out—she’s a very interesting and complicated person, it would seem, with a lot of nuance to her life as it wafts between extremes, both good (I appreciate her gumption in writing about…

Thank you! 

The Potato Eaters is highly influenced by the Realists (Courbet, Millet, very specifically Honoré Daumier’s The Third Class) in both style and content, which was conceived of mid-19th century, and stretched into the early 20th century, though it was arguably at its height during the 1850's and 1860's. The Hague…

He spent a good amount of time in treatment facilities, including one asylum that’s still open and treating patients in France today; many of his most famous pieces were painted while he was being treated in an asylum, including The Starry Night. Several of his portraits are of psychiatrists who were treating him, one…

YES! I once had an Australian professor who spent ten minutes teaching us all how to say it correctly, and then had us all go over it for the one native Dutch lecturer on staff to make sure we all had it right, haha. One of the most entertaining classes I’d ever had, and he did so in part just to piss off his Scottish…

Van Gogh is, in my opinion, partly so fascinating an artist due to the amount of public misconception that surrounds him, both in regards to his contemporaries’ treatment of him, and the fact that his elevated status in today’s world practically has created its own context for his work. Gadsby does a lot of good just…

Yes, Theo was in many ways Vincent’s tether to reality, as well as his practical caretaker. Without Theo, it’s very likely Vincent would have died much younger, and in much more desperate conditions.

uuuugh I can see how people will love this, but as an art historian I am fully prepared to shit all over this. To paraphrase the great Hannah Gadsby: Vincent was a post-impressionist painting at the HEIGHT of post-impressionism, who spent years attempting to treat his mental illnesses successfully, and did so with…

Trump. Although it does indeed apply to most of them.

God his face is so fucking smarmy whenever he smiles.

I can’t get over how everyone in that room managed to not make a single face or sound until the very end when he finished—that’s a level of ‘I’ve seen so much shit, nothing phases me any more’ that I didn’t realize was possible.

Having this explained as a cost-cutting move makes it make so much more sense.