Betwixt vibrant red and calm blue sits ‘royal’ purple. You may call it mauve or violet, and it may not always be accompanied by a catchy preliminary adjective, but the colour purple was the most sought after in history, and has roots in mythology, piety, art and royalty. The most refracted colour when light passes through a prism, purple is at the far end of the visible colour spectrum, and is the hardest colour for...
As quickly as it was rediscovered, a painting believed to be a lost work of Renaissance master Michelangelo has disappeared, a matter of days before experts were due to examine it. The 16th-century artwork depicts Mary, Joseph and a sleeping baby Jesus and had been undisturbed in a dark corner of the Sin Ludgerus church in the small Flemish town of Zele. Upon his discovery, pastor Jan Van Raemdonck, 61, noted the startling similarities between...
Unseen by the public for two centuries, Marie Antoinette’s diamonds and pearls went under Sotheby’s hammer as part of one of the most important royal jewellery collections ever to come to auction. The auction took place in the Swiss city of Geneva on Thursday 15 November and, out of more than 100 lots, included 10 breathtaking treasures that belonged to the ill-fated Queen of France. The major collection—held by the Italian royal House of Bourbon-Parma...
Travelling to the Big Apple? Read through Arts & Collections’ essential list of the best museums in New York City. The museums of New York are some of the most iconic in the world and feature some of the finest collections of art, science and history. With such grandeur and the sheer number of them that are spread around NYC, choosing the right museum can be overwhelming. This list compiles the city’s finest, covering facts,...
When you think of orange, what springs to mind? For many eastern cultures, it is perceived as a sacred hue. In the western world, it is a polarising colour—you either love it or you hate it. Like red, orange is bold and striking. For some, it makes a statement; others think it garish. From ancient Egyptian art to 12th century icons, paintings with orange pigment have permeated world culture for hundreds of years. Arts &...
Her artwork is avidly collected by Madonna, she appeared on a bracelet worn by Theresa May and her iconic style has influenced the aesthetic of Gucci’s autumn/winter 2017 collection. Even today, her face remains a symbol of hope, resilience and empowerment. Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón—commonly known as Frida Kahlo—was born 6 July 1907 in Mexico. Her artwork is often praised for its progressive outlook and stirring visual concepts. Kahlo’s influence on art, fashion...
The colour green is the most common we see on earth. If you take a step back, you’ll see that our planet is a swirl of green and blue. Take a closer look and you’ll even find little green plants growing between the cracks in the pavement. Thanks to the green chemical chlorophyll, most plants on earth are green in some aspect. The bounty of green evolution has to offer means that even animals take...
Yellow has been one of the major colour trends of 2017—Emma Stone’s sunshine yellow dress in the Oscar-winning La La Land led to yellow dresses popping up everywhere, from high street shops to the red carpet. While the popularity of the colour has somewhat been revived in recent times, the hue itself isn’t new. Alongside red, yellow is one of the oldest colours in art history. Yellow is present in some of the oldest paintings dating...
Throughout history, the colour red has had two opposing connotations; good and bad, love and anger. Either way it is certainly the colour of passion and strong emotion, and is one of the oldest colours used in art. Unlike the colour blue, red pigment exists in abundance in nature—from human and animal blood to red dirt and metals. Ochre, a clay coloured red by iron oxide, was ground up and used as body paint and...
What does the colour blue remind you of? The hue has been an important part of art and paintings for centuries; Arts & Collections takes a look at its history. Go back far enough into art history and you will find that the colour blue—as we know it today—simply did not exist. The ancient Greeks didn’t seem to have a word for it, combining it instead with what we would think of as several different...
