art history

The Bedroom by Pieter de Hooch

May 17, 2025May 17, 2025
2 Comments

Well, here we are my friends, the 100th and final episode! We go back to where it all started, the National Gallery of Art, for… Read More »The Bedroom by Pieter de Hooch

A watercolor of a brilliantly-colored, sunny beach filled with women wearing long gowns and bonnets and men in tunics and pants. Beyond them is a cluster of cabanas and buildings. A dark blue sea dotted with sailboats fills the right side with a line of purple hills beyond and puffy clouds overhead. The scene is loosely painted and the people and boats are indistinct and featureless.

Beach at Saint-Malo by Maurice Prendergast

April 25, 2025April 25, 2025

When critics hinted Maurice Prendergast was getting a little repetitive as he approached 50, he could’ve hung up his brushes. After all, he’d been pretty… Read More »Beach at Saint-Malo by Maurice Prendergast

Fourteen men and women gather on a terrace shaded by a striped awning overlooking a river. The terrace is surrounded by leafy trees and they wear 19th-century clothing as they seem to converse.

The Luncheon of the Boating Party by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

March 22, 2025March 22, 2025

So much better than Instagram! Pierre-Auguste Renoir invited 14 friends to lunch one summer–several lunches actually–and ended up creating this spectacular work of art. In… Read More »The Luncheon of the Boating Party by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

A peacock and two brown birds perch on a stable roof with men grooming horses inside. A dense colorfully dressed crowd surrounds the stable and two heads with halos are visible in lower right.

The Adoration of the Magi: Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi

December 14, 2024December 28, 2024

And you thought YOU were gonna have a lot of holiday company! Poor Mary, who’s only given birth a week or so ago, now faces… Read More »The Adoration of the Magi: Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi

Hazy silver sunlight breaks through a cloud-filled blue-grey sky to illuminate green-grey waves breaking onto a wet beach that fills the lower half of this oil painting. Three white seagulls wheel overhead and a distant ship on the horizon sails from left to right.

On the Coast of New Jersey by William Trost Richards

November 22, 2024November 22, 2024

Today’s episode is all about relaxing, taking a little break after a long year and before the holidays hit. So I offer you a quiet… Read More »On the Coast of New Jersey by William Trost Richards

A man on an ivory white horse rides away from us on a rugged mountain path heading toward a forest of green trees. He wears a dark blue tunic and pointed brown hat and the scene is strongly lit from the left.

What’s Ahead for A Long Look?

October 10, 2024February 7, 2025

“A Long Look” returns with new episodes soon! Meanwhile, I’ve been looking down the road trying to figure out the future of the show and… Read More »What’s Ahead for A Long Look?

Looking down the length of a three-story atrium viewed from the second floor. It is lit by skylights and large hanging lights and the floor is patterned with a geometric white and black pattern. The mezzanines on either side and above us are filled with display cases bathed in amber light.

American Art Museum Finale

July 20, 2024July 20, 2024

Well, we’ve reached the end of our brief tour of the Smithsonian American Art Museum! I hope you’ve enjoyed it. It was a lot of… Read More »American Art Museum Finale

Three paintings are cropped into horizontal bars with the word 150 in white text superimposed over the middle image.

Happy Anniversary, Impressionism!

May 18, 2024May 19, 2025

Just in time for your Memorial Day travels, here’s an extended episode celebrating the anniversary of Impressionism! We take another look at three of the… Read More »Happy Anniversary, Impressionism!

A young woman in a white dress belted with a pale pink sash sits on craggy white boulders overlooking a shimmering blue-green sea on a bright sunny day. Her back is to us and she raises her gloved right hand to touch the brim of her ivory white hat.

The South Ledges, Appledore by Childe Hassam

April 20, 2024April 20, 2024

It’s starting to get warm out so the seaside’s on my mind! In the latest episode we visit Appledore on the Isles of Shoals with… Read More »The South Ledges, Appledore by Childe Hassam

Two young teenage girls with pale skin and dark hair stand among tall poles draped with fluttering pink and green ribbons in a desolate landscape. Beyond them is a crumbling brick wall with a narrow body of water and distant hills visible behind it and a hazy blue sky overhead.

Confrontation by Hughie Lee-Smith

February 17, 2024March 2, 2024

Putting ordinary people in odd, unsettling surroundings was the specialty of Hughie Lee-Smith. In today’s episode we look at his “Confrontation” from the Smithsonian American… Read More »Confrontation by Hughie Lee-Smith