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Chocolate Bowl
This clay bowl is about 1,600 years old and was made by the Maya people living in Guatemala in Central America. We know it was made for serving a chocolate drink because the artist painted glyphs that represent chocolate.
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Weeping Coconuts
Some people consider this still life to be a self-portrait of Frida Kahlo. But instead of showing a picture of what she looked like, Frida shows us the things that connected to her life.
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An Artist's Retreat
This is just one of many handscrolls artist Xiang Shengmo made and called Beckoning of Solitude. He made the scrolls to represent his desire to leave behind his public life and enjoy a peaceful existence alone.
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Frank Lloyd Wright
This lamp was designed by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright around 1902. Wright believed that a building, its setting, and everything inside it should all go together to create one look.
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Images from Ancient Egypt
Do you have pictures of people who are important to you or objects that help you remember your ancestors and family? In ancient Egypt, some people asked artists to represent them on a stela so the living would remember them after their deaths.
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The Road to the Studio
Look at the variety of colors artist David Hockney used in the painting. As he has said, "I like [bright color] and surround myself with it because I think, frankly, it makes life a bit more joyful."
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Lord of Good Fortune
Ganesha is the Hindu god of good fortune and the destroyer of obstacles. He is worshipped by many Hindus before beginning important activities like travel, taking a test, or going on a job interview.
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Catching Butterflies
Rufino Tamayo came to believe that pre-Columbian and folk art were the truest expressions of Mexican culture. He collected pre-Columbian art and the objects in his collection inspired his own artworks.
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The Afterlife in Ancient Egypt
The image shown here is a detail of a sarcophagus, or coffin, decorated with images from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. This book was buried with the body and contained instructions, spells, and passwords.
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Flowers on a Ledge
Dutch Artist Ambrosius Bosschaert painted this still life nearly four hundred years ago in Holland. How many different types of flowers did the artist include?
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Elements of Nature in Art
Take a close look at this lamp. Louis Comfort Tiffany designed it after a type of plant that he liked known as a pond lily.
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Liberty Enlightening the World
Few sculptures in the world are as famous at this one. We know it as the Statue of Liberty, but its actual name is Liberty Enlightening the World.
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Stained-Glass Panel with Angel
Gothic cathedrals were built to be very tall with high ceilings, thin walls, and many windows. For the faithful, the colored light created by stained-glass windows symbolized the presence of God.
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Man Jaguar
Have you ever imagined what it would be like to change into your favorite animal? In ancient Mexico, between 1200 and 400 B.C., a civilization called the Olmec believed their rulers could transform into jaguars and other powerful creatures.
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Aquamanile
What is the creature on the lion's back? Around the time this aquamanile was made, artists in Europe sometimes invented imaginary beasts for their works of art. The beasts were supposed to scare evil away.
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Artworks in Everyday Life
In some cultures, art is part of daily life. Look closely at the stool pictured here. How does it compare to the chairs or stools you use at home or at school?
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Flower Day
In nearly all of his work, Diego Rivera found ways to celebrate Mexican culture and its connection to nature. This painting shows a flower seller carrying a bundle of calla lilies in an open-air market.
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Red-Blue Chair
De Stijl artists made designs that focus on straight lines, right angles, and the primary colors red, blue, and yellow. They were also interested in designs that clearly show how the actual object was put together.
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Cliff Dwellers
George Bellows was part of a group of artists known as the Ashcan School. They painted realistic scenes of the everyday lives of the working class and the poor in the early 1900s.
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A Place to Store Treasured Objects
This reliquary was carved from wood and decorated with gold and many colors of paint. The artist who made it around the year 1510 took great care to create a realistic image of a woman.
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Drawn to the Desert
Horse's Skull with Pink Rose is one of many paintings Georgia O'Keeffe created to define her feelings about the New Mexico desert, which she called "the faraway."
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Star-Shaped Tile
An artist made this colorful tile in Iran a little over five hundred years ago.
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Flags Over Fifth Avenue
See if you can match the flag with the country in this 1918 painting, which the artist Childe Hassam was inspired to make after watching a parade on Fifth Avenue.
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Rustic Ware
Can lizards and slimy fish be the subjects of fine art? French artist Bernard Palissy thought so, and made some very unusual ceramics to prove the point.
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Lord of Obstacles
The Hindu god Ganesha has the head of an elephant, a round belly, and many arms. Ganesha is sometimes called the lord of obstacles because he can make it easier for you to do something. |
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Maiolica Dish
This dish—probably part of a set made for the Salviati family of Florence, Italy, between 1560 and 1570—gives us an idea of what the Italian countryside might have looked like in the late 1500s.
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Piazza San Marco
Canaletto combined two views of the piazza, one from the west and one from the south, and the result is a painting that is slightly better than the real thing. |
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Thoth: Scribe of Life
The writing of hieroglyphics was considered a sacred act, and Egyptians believed that Thoth presided over the scribes.
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The Enlightened One
A Buddha is someone who has reached a state of complete peacefulness called enlightenment. This sculpture tells the story of Siddhartha Gautama, who was to become the Buddha Shakyamuni. |
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The Young Artist
Have you ever thought about becoming an artist? The painting pictured here was painted in the mid-1800s. What does it tell us about an artist's education at that time? |