@EUCommission leave X now!

Anon. German. Danse Macabre, 16th c.

Jaunty line dances with skeletons became a common motif in the Plague years. I like them as counterpoints to images of Resurrection Day, which seems less sure.

I share it today to remind us that we're still almost all privileged, comfortable and alive. The stresses for now remain theoretical and cerebral for most of us. That will surely change soon, but we're not the first people to suffer. Death comes to all. We can even choose to find humor it.

#Painting

@lionelb I'm on green and I don't know the technical numbers for tracking but in my experience it has plummeted in the last six months. I see less alt text than ever and because I'm stubborn enough not to interact with posts which lack it it really hobbles my style. I don't think it's ignorance at all at this point by the way.

If you're not getting boosts on a visual post, try adding Alt-Text.

#AltText

Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz. Creating the World, 1921-2.

It ain't over yet. It's never over.

#Painting

@LittleRedhead gorgeous image. Thanks for sharing.

@lionelb I love this interpretation, and it's very true that, if you're going to have handwriting on the wall and that's your whole message, why would you do it in a barely distinguishable monochrome?

Anon. Allegorical Painting of Two Ladies, English School, ~1650.

Thought to be a moralizing jibe about the evils of beauty spots which were fashionable at the time, this folksy but also shocking painting has eventually had an even much wilder ride, evolving in meaning, sowing mystery, and breaking records. It has its own Wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegorical_Painting_of_Two_Ladies%2C_English_School

#Painting

Käthe Kollwitz. Peasant War print 3: Whetting the Scythe, 1905.

Even without the title or knowing the whole radical revolutionary series this comes from, I think anyone can see instantly and exactly what she meant here.

#Etching #Painting

Ilya Repin. What Freedom!, 1903.

Mastery of realism aside, I took this painting very differently and more cynically than he apparently meant it, which was as a legitimate celebration at the end of graduation exams. Anyway considering the coming Revolution, I like my interpretation even better.

#Painting

Tamara de Lempicka. La Belle Rafaëla, 1927.

"The painting that defined Art-Deco." I don't actually believe that but she had excellent marketing. What it is, is a modern reclamation of the odalisque from the male gaze. Supposedly this was her lover. But then... She had excellent marketing.

#Painting