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Abstract Landscape Adolescence Advertising and Brands African Diaspora Allegory Alter Egos and Avatars Americana Anatomy Animal Portrait Animals Anthropomorphism Antiquity as Subject Architecture's Effects Arrivals/Departures Artist as Ethnographer Atmospheric Landscapes Attenuated Figure Bars and Restaurants Bathers Bedrooms and Bathrooms Bible Story Body Parts Caricatures and Parody Celebrity Censorship Childhood Circus/Carnival City Scenes Cityscapes Cityscapes and City Scenes Classical Figure Classical Mythology Collective History Conflict Consumerism Contrapposto Crime Cross-Cultural Dialogue Crowds Cultural Commentary Decay Deep Time Deities and Holy Figures Delegated Art Diaristic Digital Culture Disaster Dreams / Altered States of Consciousness Engaged with Byzantine and Medieval Art Engaged with Communist Visual Culture Engaged with European Old Masters Engaged with Pre-Columbian Art Engaged with Traditional African Art Engaged with Traditional Chinese Art Engaged with Traditional Islamic Art Engaged with Traditional Japanese Art Engaged with Traditional Korean Art Engagement with Mass Media Equestrian Erotic Eye Contact Face Failure Family Femininity Fertility/Pregnancy/Birth Figure Studies Figure from the Back (Rückenfigur) Figures in Nature Figures of the Art World Flora Focus on the Social Margins Food Gender Glamour Globalization Grotesque Group Portrait Group of Objects Group of Portraits Haze Hugs and Kisses Human Figure Humor Hybrids and Imaginary Creatures Implied Narrative Improbable Physics Individual Portrait Industry Infographics and Diagrams Institutional Critique Interiors Interlaced Bodies Intersectionality Isolation/Alienation Kawaii Kitsch Landscape and Nature Photography Landscapes Landscapes and Waterscapes Language Leisure Light as Subject Line, Form, and Color Love Machines Madonna and Child Manga Maps/Networks Masculinity Math Medical/Health Migration Modes of Transportation Mortality Mourning and Commemoration Movement Mutated Bodies Mysticism, Shamanism, and the Occult Mythology and Religion Narrative Natural History Nature Nautical Nostalgia Nude Obsolescence Outer Space Parties and Celebrations People at Home Performing Arts Personal Histories Personal Writing Systems Personification Political Political Events Political Figures Portrait Portraits without a Face Provocative Psychoanalysis Racial and Ethnic Identity References to Art History Reflections Related to Fashion Related to Film Related to Games Related to Hip-Hop Related to Literature Related to Music Related to Punk Related to Religion Related to Toys Shadows Representations of Everyday Objects Royal/Court Commission Royalty and Aristocracy Rural Life Saints Scenes of Everyday Life Science Science Fiction Seduction and Courtship Self as Subject Self-Portrait Sex Sexual Identity Silhouettes Southern Gothic Spaces of the Art World Sports/Athletics Still Life Stolen Moments Suburbia Surveillance Symbolic Composition Talismanic Technology Text The Abject The Afterlife The American West The Art Market The Artist's Studio The Body The City The Domestic and Domesticity The Elements The Environment The Fantastic The Mundane The Seasons The Senses The Sublime Time Times of Day Traces, Indexes, and Implied Presence Trauma and Struggle Travel/Tourism Unsettling Urbanization Utopia Vacant and Vacated Spaces Violence Virtue and Vice Visual Perception War and Military Water Waterscapes Work and Workers Zoomorphism

Styles and Movements

"Bad Painting" '85 New Wave 19th Century American Art 19th Century American Paintings and Works on Paper 19th Century French Academy 19th Century German Realism 20th Century Art Abstract Art Abstract Expressionism Abstract Painting Abstract Photography Abstract Sculpture Abstract versus Figurative Art Abstraction-Création Action Painting Afrofuturism American Impressionism American Modernism American Prints 1880–1950 American Realism American Regionalism American Sculpture 1830–1950 American Tonalism American Works on Paper 1880–1950 Art Brut Art Deco Art Informel Art Nouveau Arte Povera Ashcan School Barbizon School Baroque Bauhaus Bay Area Figurative Art Beijing East Village Bengal School of Art Black Arts Movement Black Mountain College Body Art CalArts Capitalist Realism Chicago Imagists Chicano Art Cluj School CoBrA Colab Collaborations and Collectives Color Field Painting Conceptual Art Conceptual Art and Contemporary Conceptualism Concrete Art Constructivism Contemporary Academic Realism Contemporary Archaeological Contemporary Art Contemporary Asian Art Contemporary British Art Contemporary Canadian Art Contemporary Color Fields Contemporary Conceptualism Contemporary DIY Contemporary Fact versus Fiction Contemporary Fauvist Contemporary Faux Naïf Contemporary Feminist Contemporary Figurative Drawing Contemporary Figurative Painting Contemporary Gestural Abstraction Contemporary Glass Contemporary Gothic Contemporary Graphic Realism Contemporary Grotesque Contemporary Impressionist Contemporary Indian Art Contemporary Latin American Art Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African Art Contemporary Minimalist Contemporary Modernist-Type Photography Contemporary Op Art Contemporary Participation Contemporary Portrait Painting Contemporary Re-creations Contemporary Realist Portrait Photography Contemporary Scandinavian Art Contemporary Surrealistic Contemporary Traces of Memory Contemporary Turkish Art Contemporary Use of Textiles Contemporary Vintage Photography Cubism Cynical Realism Dada Dansaekhwa Danube School Dau Al Set De Stijl Deconstructivism Deutscher Werkbund Die Brücke Documentary Film Documentary Travel Photography Dusseldorf School of Photography Dutch and Flemish Early Computer Art Early Renaissance East Village Art Expressionism Fashion Photography Fauvism Faux Naïf Feminist Art Feminist Art and Contemporary Feminist Figurative Art Figurative Painting Figurative Sculpture Fluxus Folk Art Funk Art Futurism Geometric Abstraction German Expressionism Gestural Abstraction Gothic Art Graffiti and Street Art Grand Manner Group Material Group Zero Group f/64 Gutai Happenings Harlem Renaissance Helsinki School of Photography High Renaissance Hudson River School Hyperrealism and Photorealism Iconic Works of Art History Identity Politics Impressionism Impressionism and Contemporary Impressionist Japanese Erotic Prints Japanese Photography Japonisme Kanō School Land Art Landscape Photography Light and Space Movement Luminism Mannerism Medieval Art Mexican Muralism Minimalism Minimalism and Contemporary Minimalist Modern Jewelry Modern Photography Modern and Impressionist Art Modern and Impressionist Prints Mono-ha Nabis Neo-Conceptualism Neo-Concrete Art Neo-Dada Neo-Expressionism Neo-Geo Neo-Impressionism Neo-Plasticism Neoclassicism Net Art Neue Sachlichkeit New American Color Photography New American Documentary Photography New British Sculpture New Leipzig School New Topographics New York School Nineteenth Century French Realism Northern Renaissance Nouveau Réalisme Nul Group Old Master Drawings and Prints Old Master Influenced Fantasy Old Masters Op Art Orientalism Orphism Pattern and Decoration Movement Pictorialism Pittura Metafisica Pointillism Political Minimalism Political Pop Pop Art Pop and Contemporary Pop Post-'70s Ego Generation Post-Impressionism Post-Internet Art Post-Painterly Abstraction Post-War American Art Post-War European Art Post-World War I European Classicism Post-World War II School of Paris Postminimalism Pre-Raphaelites Pre-World War II School of Paris Precisionism Process Art Progressive Artists' Movement Purism Relational Aesthetics Renaissance Art Rinpa School Rococo Art and Design Romanticism School of London Self-Taught, Folk, and Outsider Art Shin Hanga Social Action Social Realism Socialist Realism Soviet Nonconformist Art Spatialism Spiral Group Street Photography Studio Museum in Harlem Artist-in-Residence (AIR) Program Suprematism Surrealism Surrealistic Symbolism Synchromism The Aesthetic Movement The Anthropocene The Blue Rider The New Fauves The Pictures Generation The Stars Art Group (Xing Xing) Traditional Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas Transavanguardia Ukiyo-e Venetian School Vienna Secession Viennese Actionism Washington Color School Works Progress Administration (WPA) Yale University School of Art Young British Artists (YBAs) Zaire School of Popular Painting

Design Movements

20th Century Furniture and Design American Furniture and Design American Mid-Century Design American Studio Craft Movement Art Deco Furniture and Design Art Nouveau Furniture and Design Arts and Crafts Movement Brazilian Furniture and Design British Furniture and Design Brutalism Contemporary Furniture and Design Danish Furniture and Design Dutch Furniture and Design French Furniture and Design International Style Italian Furniture and Design Memphis Design Mid-Century Modern Design Modern Design Modern and Contemporary Design Modern and Contemporary Fashion Design Post-War French Design Postmodern Architecture and Design Scandinavian Furniture and Design Union des Artistes Modernes Wiener Werkstätte

Visual Qualities

Abstract Illusionism Allover Composition Angular Arabesque/Scroll Asymmetrical Balance Biomorphic Black and White Blown-Off-Roof Perspective Blurred Bright and Vivid Colors Bulbous Calligraphic Color Gradient Columns and Totems Contour Line Cracked Creased Crinkled Wrinkled Crystalline and Geological Forms Curvilinear Forms Dark Colors Dense Composition Divisionist Dotted Dynamism Earth Tones Emphasis on Linear Perspective Extreme Angle Flatness Fractal-like / Kaleidoscopic Fragmented Geometry Geometric Glittery Grid Hard-Edged Highly Detailed Highly Ornamented Iridescence/Opalescence Irregular Curvilinear Forms Irregular Linear Forms Layered Images Linear Forms Marbleized Metallic Mimicking Ruined Materials Mirrored Molecular Mr Doodle: Pop Heart Collection Pastel Colors Patinated and Oxidized Patterns Piles/Stacks Pixelated Primary Abstraction Primary Colors Psychedelic Radiating Lines Raw versus Finished Rough Scattered Composition Sharp/Prickly Shiny/Glossy Single Object Slender Slumped/Draped Smooth Surface Sparse Stained Glass Effect Striped Symmetrical Tangled Forms Transparent/Translucent Medium Viscous Forms Woven/Perforated Wrapped

Medium and Techniques

Camera Obscura Album, Folio and Fan Formats Altarpiece Altered and Substituted Canvases Analogue Filmmaking Animation Appropriation Arabic/Farsi Calligraphy Archaeological Object Art That Plays With Scale Artist's Frame Artists’ Books Automatism Bentwood Black-and-White Photography Body Casts/Body Prints Books and Portfolios Burned/Charred Caravaggesque Carving Chance Chiaroscuro Cinematic Close-Up Collage Collecting and Modes of Display Color Photography Color Theory Comic/Cartoon Computer-Aided Manufacturing Copies and Emulations Cut/Ripped Dance Delicate Materials Densely Textured or Haptic Surface Design/Architecture Study Digital Art Digital Painting and Drawing Digital Print Digital as Manual Digitally Manipulated Divinatory Objects, Talismans, and Amulets Documentary Photography Drawing East Asian Calligraphy East Asian Ink-and-Wash Painting Embossed Paper En plein air Encaustic Endurance Art Ephemera Erased and Obscured Etching/Engraving Extruded Design Film/Video Focus on Materials Folded Planes Found Footage and Found Video Fresco Frontal Perspective Generative Art Gestural Glass and Ceramics Glitch Aesthetic Gold Leaf and Gilding Handscroll Hanging Scroll Hatching History Painting Hyperrealism Illustration Imitated Material Immersive Impasto Installation Art Intaglio Intentionally Exposed Canvas Interactive Intricately Sculpted Kinetic Sculpture Large Brushstrokes/Loose Brushwork Large-Scale Painting Large-Scale Photography Large-Scale Sculpture Light Art Lightbox Lithograph Long Distance and Deep Distance Long Exposure Mail Art Manipulated Photography Manuscript Maquette Mediated View Miniature and Small-Scale Paintings Mixed-Media Monochrome Painting Monotype/Monoprint Multiple Exposure Multiple Screens Multiple Styles Murals and Wall Drawings NFT Negative Image Oil Painting Oil on Copper Oil on Panel Open Form Organic Material Outdoor Art Painting Painting and Writing Tools Panorama Paper Cut-Outs Passage Pastel Performance Art Photogram Photograph as Material Photographic Source Photographs of Surfaces Photography Photojournalism Photomontage Photorealistic Picassoesque Polychrome Sculpture Poster Poured Printed Matter Prints Process-Oriented Projection Pulled, Scraped, and Scratched Recycled Reduced-Scale Architecture Relief Rembrandtesque Repetition Research as Art Restored and Repurposed Screen Format Sculptural Use of Paint Sculpture Sculpture-Based Photography Sfumato Shallow Depth of Field Silkscreen Site-Specific Art Snapshot Aesthetic Soft Sculpture Sound Art Splattered/Dripped Spray Paint Staged Photography Stains/Washes Study Suspended/Hanging Tempera Time-Lapse Photography and Film Tondo Topographic Photography Traditional Photographic Techniques Traditional Scroll Painting Transfer Trompe l’oeil Typography Typologies Use of Traditional Techniques Vintage Photo Prints Virtual and Augmented Reality Wall Sculpture and Installation Watercolor Website Woodcut and Linocut Work on Paper

Time Periods

1000 - 1400 CE Art 15th Century Art 16th Century Art 17th Century Art 18th Century Art 1900 - 1917 Art 1918 - 1939 (Interwar) Art 1940s-1950s Art 19th Century Art 21st Century Art 500 - 1000 CE Art Ancient Art Art of the 1960s Art of the 1970s Art of the 1980s Art of the 1990s Contemporary Impressionist and Modern Hub Late 19th Century Art Modern Post-War Hub Pre-20th Century Art Prehistoric Art

Geographic Regions

African Art American Art Andes Region Art Angolan Art Art of Latin America and the Caribbean Asian Art Australian and New Zealand Art Austrian Art Beijing Artists Belgian Art Berlin Artists Brazilian Art British and Irish Art Brooklyn Artists California Art Canadian Art Caribbean Art Caucasus Art Central American Art Central Asian Art Chinese Art Cuban Art Dutch Art East African Art East European Art East German Art Eastern Mediterranean Egyptian Art Flanders and Luxembourg French Art French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname German Art Greek Art Hong Kong Artists Indian Art Iranian Art Iraqi Art Israeli Art Italian Art Japanese Art Korean Art Latin American Art Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine London Artists Los Angeles Artists Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian Art Mexican Art Middle African Art Middle Eastern and North African Art New York Artists North African Art Pakistani Art Paris Artists Portugese Art Russian Art San Francisco Artists Scandinavian Art South African Art South Asian Art Southeast Asian Art Southeast European Art Southern Cone Art Spanish Art Swiss Art Taiwanese Art Tibetan Art Tokyo Artists Turkish Art West African Art

Materials

Aluminum Assemblage Bone Brass Bronze Cardboard Ceramic Chalk Chrome-Plated Concrete Enamel Found Objects Gemstone Glass as Material Gold Inlay Ivory Leather/Hide Marble Metal Mosaics Natural Fibers Neon and Fluorescent Light Plaster Plastic Porcelain Resin Silver Stained Glass Steel Stone Taxidermy Terracotta Use of Common Materials Use of Ephemeral Materials Use of Paper Use of Precious Materials Use of Vintage Imagery Wood

Design Concepts and Techniques

CAD (Computer Aided Design) Children's Furniture and Design Design by Architects Design by Artists Engineering/Construction and Design Focus on Joints/Connections Handcrafted Furniture and Design Iconic Works of Design Industrial and Product Design Jewelry by Painters and Sculptors Masonry Construction Modular Design Non-Functional Design Reinforced Concrete Construction Religious Building Restrained Forms Steel/Iron Frame Construction Sustainable Design Timber Frame Construction Whimsical Design Women Designers

Cultural and Religious Styles

Aboriginal Art Ancient Egypt Art of Burma Art of Tonga Art of the Congo Art of the Ivory Coast Art of the Upper Paleolithic Asante Art Aztec Art Bamileke Art Benin Art Buddhist Art and Architecture Byzantine Art Cambodian Art Celtic Art Cheyenne Art Christian Art and Architecture Early Medieval Art Eastern Zhou Dynasty Edo Art Etruscan Art Greek Art and Architecture Greek and Roman Art and Architecture Guatemalan Art Han Dynasty Heian Period Hellenistic Art Himalayan Art Hindu Art and Architecture Hopi Art Iban Art Igbo (Ibo) Art Indonesian Art Islamic Art and Architecture Kushan Empire Maranao Art Mayan Art and Architecture Mbole Art Meiji Art Mende Art Mesopotamian Art Ming Dynasty Minoan Art Moche Art Mughal Art Mycenaean Art Native American, First Nations, and Alaska Native Art Northern and Southern Dynasties Oku Art Ottoman Art Papua New Guinea Art Phoenician Art Pre-Columbian Art Qing Dynasty Roman Art and Architecture Romanesque Art Shang Dynasty Song Dynasty Sui Dynasty Tang Dynasty Thai Art Traditional African Art Traditional Oceanic Art Western Zhou Dynasty Yaka Art Yombe Art Yoruba Art Yuan Dynasty Yup'ik Art

Furniture and Lighting

Armchair Bed Bench Ceiling Light Chair Chaise Lounge Chandelier Coffee Table Console Desk Dining Table Floor Lamp Furniture Lighting Mirror Sconce Seating Shelving Side Chair Side Table Sideboard Sofa Stool Storage Table Table Lamp Upholstered Furniture

Textiles

Embroidery Knitted and Crocheted Rug Tapestry and Wall Hanging Textile Arts Use of Fabric

Jewelry and Fashion Object Types

Bracelets Brooches Costume Accessory Earrings Necklaces Rings Watches

Tableware, Vessels, and Objects

Artist Merchandise and Multiples Autograph Blanket Bowl Clock Container Door Exhibition Poster Figurine Flatware Frame Glass Objects Household Objects Keychain Letter Objets de Vertu Plate Postcard Skateboard Tableware Tool Towel Toy Tray Vase Vessel Wallpaper

Antiquities, Artifacts, and Religious Objects

Arms and Armor Ceremonial Object Funerary/Commemorative Object Mask Musical Instrument Reliquary Tablet/Stele

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Tagged works

A young, pale-skinned woman with long, blond hair and wearing a coral-red gown stands on a pedestal before a landscape filled with people in this vertical painting. The painting has an arched top, and the woman who fills most of the view is Claudia Quinta. Her hair is adorned with strands of pearls, and a larger pearl hangs from a piece of jewelry like a brooch at the top center over her forehead. A sheer veil covers the back of her head. Her body faces us but she turns her head slightly to our right, so she gazes at us from the corners of her light hazel eyes. A pearl necklace with a square gold, sapphire-blue jewel and pearl pendant encircles her neck. The brown sleeves of her dress are flecked densely with short gold lines, and white fabric shows at gaps over the elbows. The red bodice has a high waist tied with a brown belt, which also holds sheer fabric in place so it falls to her knees over the long red skirt. The skirt is bordered with a gold geometric design along the bottom hem, which stops just short of her sandaled feet. In her right hand, on our left, she holds a small, navy-blue boat with a gold figure standing in it. Her other hand rests by her left thigh, to our right. She balances near the front edge of the rectangular pedestal, which is pale violet purple. On the front face, two winged, chubby children are painted white to resemble stone carvings. They brace a panel bordered in gold. The plaque has a teal-blue background, and gold letters read, “CLAVDIA CASTA FVI NEC VVLGVS CREDIDIT AMEN ET TAMEN ID QVOD ERAM TESTIS MIHI PRORA PROBAVIT CONSILIVM ET VIRTVS SVPERANT MATERQVE DEORVM ALMA PLACET POPVLO ET PER ME HVNC ORATA TVETVR.” Beyond Claudia Quinta a river winds in a tight S-curve through dark green hills. Farther back, to our left, a group of people with thin, elongated bodies dressed in blue, light brown, and orange walk in front of a tall dark blue building as they head toward a river on the right side. The building has an arched opening and a tower topped with a taupe-brown spire. To our right of Claudia Quinta, a woman wearing a rose-pink dress holds a rope around the prow of a boat at the edge of the river. Like the boat held by Claudia Quinta, it is navy blue and has the same shape. The pale lavender-purple river continues into the distance, where it meets rocky outcroppings along the horizon, which comes about halfway up the composition. A pale blue sky above is filled with wispy bands of clouds.

Hilma af Klint — The Ten Largest — Number 4 Youth

A woman and child sit on an ornate gold, curving throne in front of a shimmering gold background in this vertical painting. Two winged angels in roundels at the upper corners and the woman and child all have peach-colored skin with a gray cast. The woman tips her head toward the child, to our right. She has almond-shaped eyes, a long, straight nose, and her small lips are closed. She looks into the distance over the child’s head. She wears a scarlet-red mantle that covers her head and drapes over her shoulders and body. The azure-blue of her dress beneath is visible at her throat and over one knee. The child sitting on her knee is as tall as a toddler but has adult proportions in his face and body. He holds up his right hand, on our left, and raises the first two fingers. He holds a red scroll in his other hand. He wears a forest-green robe over a salmon-pink garment. The clothing of both the woman and child have geometric gold lines indicating folds in the drapery, and both have gold halos. The child’s halo is marked with three red arms to create a cross above and to the sides of his head. The woman rests her feet on a low stool in front of the opening of the elaborately carved, two-tier throne that nearly encircles the pair. The winged angels in the upper corners have gold halos, brown hair, jeweled, gold garments, and each holds an orb and scepter.

Hilma af Klint — The Ten Largest — Number 10 Old Age

Against a shiny gold background, a man with peach-colored skin nearly fills this tall, narrow, vertical panel above a row of twelve people, significantly smaller in scale, kneeling by his feet and looking up at the man, their hands together in prayer. The top of the panel comes to a point above the man’s head. His body faces us, and he looks at us with brown eyes under furrowed, dark eyebrows. His nose is long and straight, and his mouth is small with a rosy lower lip. He has a brown, trimmed beard, and his hair is receding. He holds up a gold-handled sword with a slate-gray blade in his right hand, on our left, while in his other hand, he cradles a thick black book with a gold-edged pages against his chest. The man wears a floor-length, celery-green tunic with a flowing, rose-pink robe over his left shoulder, on our right, and around his body. The robe is lined with tangerine orange and has a faint, patterned border. The toes of his sandaled feet stick out. On a smaller scale, along the bottom of the painting, six pairs of people kneel facing the center, three couples to each side. Eleven of the people gaze with heads tipped back, up at the man with their hands folded in prayer. To our right, one woman turns and gestures, mouth open, to her neighbor. Their long robes are painted in shades of shell pink, indigo blue, scarlet red, butter yellow, sage green, and chestnut brown. Some wear white fabric over their hair while others are bareheaded. The gold background is incised around the man’s head to create a halo. Molding and a band of alternating strips of slate blue and brick red enclose the pointed panel. Three shapes, like small banners, are painted in red with gold lettering around the man’s head, with an “S” at the top center, “PAU” over his shoulder to our left, and “LUS” to our right. In the blue and red band set into the frame at the lower center, an inscription reads, “NI.MCCCXXXIII M II.ESPLETUM FUIT HC OPUS.” There is a noticeable network of cracks across the painting’s surface, especially on the gold background behind the man.

Hilma af Klint — The Ten Largest — Number 6 Adulthood

A young, pale-skinned woman with reddish-blond hair sits with a nearly nude, chubby toddler standing in her lap in this vertical painting. She looks down at him, her body and face angled to our left. Thin lines creating a gold halo fan out from the back of her head. An ivory-white scarf wraps around her head and trails down the back of her neck where it is tucked into a dark, teal-blue cloak covering her shoulders and draping across her lap. Under the robe, she wears a loose, cherry-red gown with vertical pleats over her chest. The baby, also with pale skin, reddish blond hair, and a delicate gold halo, looks up at her face with light brown eyes. He stands on the woman’s right thigh, to our left. One of the woman's hands wraps around his body and supports his legs, while she props up his chest with her other. A length of pale gray fabric wraps over one shoulder and around his stomach. The two are situated in front of a column and pillar supporting a horizontal lintel overhead. The view beyond is of a blue sky over a golden field with dark green conical cypress trees in the distance.

A woman sitting on a throne supports a baby as twelve winged angels look on, all framed in a carved, gilded pointed arch in this vertical panel. It is the center of a three-panel triptych. The background behind all the people is gold, and the top of the panel comes to a rounded, pointed arch under a second taller, sharper point. Trios of spiraling columns frame the left and right sides. The woman, child, and angels all have pale skin tinged faintly with green, and rosy cheeks. They all have blond hair except for the woman, whose hair is covered, and all have plate-like gold halos that overlap, sometimes obscuring the bodies of others. The woman, Mary, faces us from her ivory-white, carved stone throne. She looks slightly above us with brown eyes under delicate brows. She has a small, straight nose, and her narrow pink lips are closed. The lapis-blue robe that covers her head and body is bordered with gold patterns, and has a starburst on her right shoulder, to our left. The pea-green underside of the mantle is visible where it turns over on the sleeves and down the front, and the robe is worn over an ivory-white dress patterned with gold. The child she holds with both hands, Jesus, stands on her lap and wraps one arm around her neck. His other hand grips the high neckline of her dress. He looks up with dark, close-set eyes. He has curly blond hair, a double chin, and rounded cheeks. Two tiny teeth are barely visible below his pink upper lip. Despite the rounded cheeks, his face looks more like that of an adult, and the proportions of his body are also adult-like. He wears a gold-trimmed, pale pink robe over a blue garment, which stops just short of his bare feet. The twelve angels surrounding the throne are grouped in trios, with three looking on to our upper left, three to our upper right, and then two trios gathered in each lower corner. Their wings and robes are painted in tones of celery green, ruby red, butter yellow, and pale rose pink. Each has a triangular diadem above their foreheads. The floor beneath is patterned with gold against a burgundy-red background. Above Mary and Jesus, a bearded man is shown from the chest up in a shape made of three lobes alternating with three points. That man faces us and holds up his right hand, to our left, with the first two fingers raised. He wears a shell-pink garment under a green robe, and holds up an open book with Latin text with his other hand. The frame around Mary, Jesus, and the gable above is carved and gilded. Barely discernable, the panel is inscribed across the bottom below the throne, “AVE MARIA GRATIA PNELA DOMINUS.” The pages of the books read, “EGO SUM A O PRINCI PIU FINIS EGO SUM VI A. VERITAS VITA.”

This painting shows a woman sitting and cradling an infant on her lap. The woman faces slightly left and looks down at the child with a slight smile. She has pale skin and golden hair covered by a semi-translucent white veil. She wears a red garment with gold embroidery and a dark blue cloak with gold trim and a star-shaped brooch on her shoulder. The infant has curly golden hair and is dressed in a sheer garment, looking up towards the woman. Surrounding these two people are more people with wings and cherubic children with the bodies of red-and-gold birds. All of these people have pale skin and golden hair, and they wear colorful robes in shades of red, white, and light blue. Everyone in the painting has a golden halo around their head, and the background is a decorative golden surface with intricate patterns around the edge of the painting.

A woman sits in the center of this vertical panel painting and gazes down at a baby lying across her lap while two winged angels hold up a red, gold, and black brocade-like patterned cloth behind her. All the people have pale skin, pink cheeks, blond hair, and flat, gold halos. The woman’s body is angled slightly to our right, and she holds her hands crossed over her chest as she gazes down at the baby. The woman has a straight, pointed nose and a small, pink-lipped mouth. Her azure-blue robe covers her head and drapes over much of the crimson-red dress beneath. The edge of the robe and cuff of her dress are trimmed in gold. The baby lies with his arms slightly raised, and he looks up at the woman. His hips and legs are wrapped with sheer white cloth. The angels in the upper corners of the panel both wear robes in the same azure blue of the woman, and the garments have a gold band around the high waist and gold around the neckline. They look at the woman and hold up the cloth that falls behind and under her and the baby.

Green Tara

Dozens of people form a line starting from an opening in a city wall or building in the background to a rustic shed-like structure close to us, to kneel before a seated woman holding a baby on her lap in this vertical painting. All of the people have pale skin tinged faintly with green. The top edge of the panel is shaped so it has two rounded sections like shoulders leading to a stepped, crown-like form with an inward curving triangle at the top. A nickel-gray, crenelated stone wall of a distant city is nestled into the top, stepped section, with a glimmering gold sky above filling the uppermost triangle. Tile-roofed and domed buildings and a few towers appear densely packed beyond the wall. People on foot and horseback create a line from an arched opening in the wall toward us and to our right. Three of the people on horseback in the distance wear long robes and have gold halos. The line of people winds behind a tall, narrow hill to our right and it continues close to us. Two horses, two camels, and several people wait to the right but our attention is drawn to the trio in the foreground, Mary, Jesus, and Joseph, and the three men near the infant, the Magi. Mary wears a lapis-blue mantle covering her head and shoulders over a petal-pink dress, and she sits on a wooden or stone chest in the center of the painting. Her body faces us but she turns her face to look with pale blue eyes off to our right. In one hand she holds a hexagonal gold vessel that tapers to a flame-like finial. With the other hand, on our left, she supports the blond infant sitting in her lap. He is covered only with a white cloth around his waist, and he looks toward the vessel as he holds up the index and middle fingers of his right hand. To our left and slightly behind Mary, a balding man with white hair and beard and wearing a blue garment under a red robe sits with his head propped in his hand, looking down. His other hand rests on what might be the handle of a crutch or staff. The man, woman, and child have gold halos with what appears to be writing. The three Magi also have gold halos and they all wear scarlet-red shoes. The oldest kneels before Mary and kisses Jesus's feet. He has a long, light gray beard and is balding. He wears a brocade-like gold robe over pale brick-red sleeves. A cleanshaven man with dark brown hair and wrinkles around his mouth kneels to our left as he raises a jewel-encrusted gold crown from his head. He wears a gold and red floral-patterned garment and holds a rounded vessel, also with a flame-like finial. A younger, cleanshaven man with smooth features and shoulder-length, curling blond hair to our right also wears a gold crown. A dagger hangs from the waist of his sky-blue tunic, and his leggings are pale plum purple. Both arms are bent to his hands are held up, and in his right hand, he holds another tabernacle-like gold vessel. The structure to our left houses a donkey and bull munching hay. A gold sunburst floats above the roof, which seems to be built up against the stone wall of a building. The hills and trees beyond the people is painted with pine and moss greens and brown.

About three dozen people gather in a grassy field to either side of a crumbling structure to kneel and pray before a woman and baby in the center of this horizontal painting. The woman, Mary, and baby, Jesus, have smooth, pale skin while the others have light or tanned skin. The structure has sand-colored stone pillars, a wooden triangular, pitched roof, and a straw floor. Mary, who has an elongated torso, sits facing us with her knees apart. She wears an azure-blue robe over a rose-pink dress. A shell-pink veil covers her head and body. Jesus sits on her left knee, his pudgy body angled to our left. He is nude except for a transparent cloth wrapped over one shoulder and the opposite hip. Mary’s left hand braces his torso. On Mary’s right, our left, Joseph, an older man, stands facing us. He clasps his hands at his chest and leans on a long stick. He has wrinkled skin, long, gray curly hair, and a full beard. Both Mary and Joseph tilt their heads to their right, our left, as they look down at Jesus. Joseph wears a golden yellow robe over a blue tunic. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus have faint gold halos. Behind them, a brown cow and gray donkey rest on the straw. People closest to Mary and Jesus kneel and bow their heads while the people to the left and right sides mostly stand. Three men kneeling closest to Mary and Jesus offer gifts, including a bronze vessel and a gold jar. One man has long dark brown hair and a beard, and wears a gold crown. Another man is bald with long gray hair and beard, while the third is cleanshaven with shoulder-length brown hair. These men wear robes in powder blue, carnation pink, or celery green with delicate silver and gold embelishments. Others in the crowd range in age from young and cleanshaven to older and bearded. They wear robes and tunics in shades of raspberry pink, butterscotch yellow, lapis blue, plum purple, or forest green. Several horses, their coats white or cinnamon brown, stand among the crowd, a few with riders. To our right, one horse rears its head and two others stand facing each other. Beyond the crowd, grassy green meadows and hills dotted with trees lead back to the horizon. A pale blue sky fills the top third of the composition.

St. Catherine of Siena and the Beggar

Hilma af Klint — The Ten Largest — Number 5 Adulthood

A woman holding a nude baby boy sits on a blue patterned pillow on the floor in front of a brick-red curtain held up by two angels in this vertical painting. The people all have pale, almost gold-colored skin with a green cast, though their cheeks are flushed with pale pink. The woman sits facing us and looks slightly off to our right. She has almond-shaped eyes, a straight nose, and her lips are closed. She wears a blue cloak with a white hood over a shell-pink dress. Her right arm, on our left, rests in her lap and she supports the baby with her other arm. The baby’s nude body is pudgy like a baby but his face and head are proportioned more like an adult. His body turns toward the woman and he reaches up to her neck, and he looks into the distance to our left. Both have flat, plate-like gold halos. The winged angels holding up the red curtain also have halos and they wear blue robes. The curtain falls in gentle folds behind the mother and child, and fabric of the same color underneath the blue pillow on which they sit suggests that the curtain extends onto the floor. A dove, also haloed, floats at the top center of the painting. The gold background around the curtain and behind the angels and dove is painted into an arch over the people, and the upper corners of the panel are dark. A Latin inscription is painted with capital gray letters against a white band along the bottom edge of the panel: “AVE: MARIA: GRATIA: PLENA: DO.”

The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret

Hilma af Klint — The Ten Largest — Number 9 Old Age

This painting depicts a man with light skin, white hair, and a white beard wearing an orange cloth draped over a dark-blue garment with gold embroidery around the shoulder and neckline. He holds two large red keys in his left hand, and a thin, red, cross-topped rod in his right hand. There is a faint outline of a halo around the man's head, which is slightly turned to the right. The background is gold, enclosed within a red, white, and black patterned border.

In front of a crumbling stone building, an older man kneels in front of a second man, smaller in scale, hanging from a tall, wooden cross, with a city in the background in this vertical painting. Both men have pale skin. At the lower center of the composition, the kneeling man, Saint Jerome, pulls his navy-blue robe to one side to expose his muscular but slender bare chest with a bloody mark at its center. With his other hand, he holds a rounded, gray stone touched with pink, also suggesting blood, by his side. He has long, silvery-gray hair and a long, pointed beard. His pink lips are parted, and we see his teeth. He raises gray eyes to look up at the man on the slender cross, which rises along the left edge of the composition. The man on the cross brown hair, a plate-like gold halo, and a white loincloth is draped across his hips. The shell-pink ground is littered with rocks. A red hat with a shallow brim and a tasseled chin cord sits near Saint Jerome’s sandaled feet. A miniature lion lies between Saint Jerome and the arched opening of the crumbling, terracotta-red structure along the right edge of the painting. Ivy grows up one side of the arch, and an hourglass and book with a red cover and gold-edged pages sit on a white cloth under the opening. An owl perches on a branch of an oak tree growing from the front face of the structure, and a hawk sits on a branch of the fruit tree growing from the stone courtyard, between Saint Jerome and the crucifix. A shrub with dark green leaves and clusters of three olive-green fruits fills in most of the space beneath the canopy of the fruit tree. To our right and in the distance, a man with a pointed black hat, a black jacket, and white pants rides away from us on a gray horse. To our left, the courtyard gives way to an amphitheater-like space. There, next to a donkey, a man with a long white beard hands a bundle of wood or planks to another man whose brown hair is cut into a ring encircling his head. Both men wear rose-pink garments over navy-blue togas. A town with white and pale pink stone buildings rises up a hill into the distance. The sky above deepens from honeydew green along the horizon to pale then peacock blue along the top edge of the composition. A few ice-blue, white, and light gray clouds float across the sky.

Hilma af Klint — The Ten Largest — Number 5 Adulthood

Hilma af Klint — The Ten Largest — Number 3 Youth

Hilma af Klint — The Ten Largest — Number 8 Adulthood

Crucifix with Scenes of the Passion

This vertical portrait shows the head, shoulders, and chest of a young man with smooth, pale skin and shoulder-length, dark blond hair positioned behind a narrow gray, stone ledge. Shown against a black background, the man tilts his head to our left and his eyes cut to our right. His left eyebrow, on our right, is slightly arched over brown eyes. He has a long, straight nose, pale pink lips, and his hair falls down the sides of his face from beneath a crimson-red, flat-topped cap. He wears a brown garment with white linen peeking through at the shoulder seams. The neck and seam down the front are lined with white, perhaps fur. He holds his right hand to his chest with his middle finger overlapping his ring finger.

More in Medium and Techniques

Camera Obscura
Album, Folio and Fan Formats
Altarpiece
Altered and Substituted Canvases
Analogue Filmmaking
Animation
Appropriation
Arabic/Farsi Calligraphy
Archaeological Object
Art That Plays With Scale
Artist's Frame
Artists’ Books

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