phoenixmcarthur

In this portrait, the recently widowed Catherine-Thérèse, Marquise de Seignelay (1662–1699) and two of her five sons are shown as characters from Greek and Roman mythology. The Marquise is probably meant to be the sea goddess Thetis, but could also be interpreted as Venus, the goddess of love, with her attributes: a scallop shell and strings of pearls. Her sons are painted as Cupid, god of love, and Achilles, a Greek hero of the Trojan War. The children gaze towards a small portrait cameo, which could be of their father, alluding to his death. For Catherine-Thérèse’s sumptuous robe, Mignard used an expensive, high-quality ultramarine blue pigment as a show of her wealth and power. The figures are surrounded by sea and different kinds of shells, references to her husband’s profession in the French royal navy. A volcano smokes in the background.

Pierre Mignard :
The Marquise de Seignelay
and Two of her Sons, 1691

oil on canvas | 194.5 × 154.4 cm

I've heard some people say "taste can be taught." 🤔 Umm, no. Taste cannot be taught. The basics of aesthetics can be taught, but definitely not taste.

Clay figure of the Goddess dated c.5000-4500 BC

Found in Gradeshnitsa, Vratsa, Bulgaria.
Depicted on her body are geometric symbols associated with femininity and fertility, cosmic balance, natural cycles and the cycle of life, death and rebirth.

Vratsa History Museum, Bulgaria
📸 : Nikolai Genov

YouTube video by RemasterKingdom4K The Killers | Lawyers, Guns And Money | Full Performance | Live @ The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame 2025

Thank you, Warren. 💔

At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, David Letterman showed off the guitar that Warren Zevon gifted during his final appearance on Letterman's The Late Show.

"He told me, 'Take care of this for me,'" Letterman recalled. "I started to sob uncontrollably."

They were all spectacularly gifted.

Alexandra Dillon : Kitty Cats, 2025

Hegemann was prominent in Cologne during the 1920s where she practiced her own unique blend of magic realism. A selection of her work is on display at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne. Cologne art friends Angelika and Heinrich Hoerle, Carlo Mense, FW Seivert, and Wilhelm Fick met in Hegemann's studio and briefly formed the Dadaist-inspired artists' group "stupid" where Max Ernst introduced them to the magazine "Valori plastici." They drew inspiration from "pittura metaphysica," and surrealist imagery which also found its way into Hegemann's work. She developed an individual visual language whose signs and symbols, surrounding her predominantly female figures, still pose enigmas. Externally, her female figures resemble the image of the “New Woman” from the 1920s, oscillating between mass media clichés and the emancipatory self-image of women appearing in public for the first time. Hegemann, in the course of her work, invents increasingly contrived designs for self-liberation. Thsee objects appear repeatedly in hrr work - book, lamp, umbrella, coffee pot, church tower, sailboat, cats, and flying creatures, defining the woman's environment, her confinement, and her attempts to escape and grow. She repeatedly uses these symbols to problematize her role as a housewife and mother, demanding the equal rights denied to her in her traditional role. From mid-1925 she became a well-known artist in the Rhineland. After the National Socialists seized power in 1933, Hegemann attempted to find a new life in Italy, Switzerland, and France. In 1937, her photographs, which were in the museum, were removed and destroyed for being "degenerate." Marta Hegemann survived the financial difficulties and constant changes of residence, but lost most of her work, also due to the bombings. After 1946 she returned to artistic work, was able to survive through crafts, and in 1958 settled again in Cologne, where she remained until her death in 1970.

Marta Hegemann (German, 1894-1970) :
The witch (Mea maxima culpa), 1928-30

Aquarell (watercolor)

Bio in the alt text 👇

Lydia Blakeley (UK, b.1980) :
I Hope This Email Finds You Well, 2021

Oil on Linen | 183 × 122 cm

I hope you didn't mind my suggestions, but it's good to understand your process. 😊

Young Woman with a Water Pitcher belongs to a group of closely related works from the early to mid-1660s, during a period when Vermeer moved away from strict linear perspective and geometric structure, instead using light as the primary compositional force. The painting demonstrates Vermeer’s sensitivity to the interplay of light and color.

Johannes Vermeer :
Woman with a Water Jug,
(aka: Young Woman with a Water Pitcher), 1660-62

oil on canvas | 45.7 × 40.6 cm

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Ahhh, I'm familiar-suggestions if I may?

Check anti-aliasing: ensure it is enabled in the text tool options to smooth the edges.
Try a different, higher quality font.
Try saving differently: Export your image with higher-quality settings, especially if using JPEG, to preserve the text's sharpness.

Which application are you using to create your images? I ask because they're impossible to read.

It could still get worse for the next years. However, I have hope after the mid-terms, the tide will change. Maybe with any luck he will visit his first wife down in her underground condo on the golf course, permanently. 😉

I haven't had any "banned" per se, but at times they will still post but cover it up so you have to be the one to open it if you want to see it.

Tamara de Lempicka :
The Key (La clé), 1946

Oil on canvas
19 x 14 in | 48.3 x 35.6 cm

My pleasure. 😊

It really is.

Detail of the Hercules sculpture by Antonio Canova!

What fresh fuckery is this?! 🤬

Joanie Mitchell self-portrait

Happy Birthday, Joanie
🎂 🎉🎈

They're criminals. They want to keep the $$ for themselves. This is all part of the plan in Project 2025.

Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) :
Capricious Line, 1924,l

Oil on cardboard
27.6 × 19.7 in | 70.0 × 50.0 cm

Solomon Guggenheim Museum, NYC

Wow!

Auguste Herbin (France, 1882-1960) :
COMPOSITION CUBISTE, 1918

Oil on canvas
81.2 x 65 cm | 32 x 25-5/8 in

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid

Conrad Veidt as the Maharajah of Bengal in Das Indische Grabmal / Mysteries of India (Joe May, 1921)

produced by May Film, Berlin. Postcard.
Weimar Era

Many of Abercrombie's paintings are small-scale,oil on Masonite compositions. Incorporating countless recognizable motifs that characterize Abercrombie's illusionary artistic style, Message for Mercy is a quintessential example of the artist's surrealist undertones and deeply personal approach to painting The title Message for Mercy derives from the black cat at the center, named Mercy. The letter under the doorframe is addressed to "Mercy", further personifying the cat and underscoring the relationship between cat and artist The feline form is often symbolic of Abercrombie’s own psyche and physical body in her work, as is the case in the present composition. With Abercrombie’s physical form absent from the subject, Mercy dominates the center of the composition in her stead. The introduction of the letter into the composition, delicately situated along the threshold of the door, is Abercrombie’s method of intentionally alluding to the outside world. Both the arrival of the letter and the small landscape painting hanging at right – also executed in Abercrombie’s distinct style – provide a glimpse into the outside world, as rendered in the artist’s unique, surrealist manner. Interior spaces frequently appear in Abercrombie’s oeuvre and serve as an important element of the psychology of her artistic practice. “Whether or not she was physically present in the room, which offers no escape, is a kind of prison reflecting the artist’s feelings of inadequacy, insecurity and entrapment,” explains Weininger. The broom in the corner of the composition is symbolic of notions of womanhood and motherhood, the traditional conventions of which Abercrombie rebelled against. Together, each of the thought-provoking motifs within Message for Mercy offer autobiographical connotations for Abercrombie, who consistently sought to incorporate her own personal experiences into her understanding of her interior spaces, landscapes, and portraits.

Gertrude Abercrombie
(American, 1909–77) :
Message for Mercy, 1950

Oil on canvas
18⅛ x 24⅛ in | 46 x 61.3 cm

Further description in the alt text 👇

35 seconds?! You're a trooper! I cannot take 1 second of his face, his voice or anything else about that giant piece of worthless shit.

Wow, thank you so much for your kind words. 😊

Jacek Tofil :
tumbleandredhat, 2025

fine art paper | 100 x 70 cm