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INTERVALS-27 HAS ANNOUNCED THE DATES

The dates for the milestone 10th edition of INTERVALS FESTIVAL have lit up building facades across Moscow, including the media façades of the Cosmos Hotel and the RIA Novosti building.

See you in Nizhny Novgorod, April 29 – May 3 👁️‍🗨️👁️‍🗨️

INTERVALS is an international festival of multimedia art, transforming urban spaces into a large-scale open-air exhibition. For a brief moment, historical buildings, industrial structures, and public areas become stages for light installations and video mapping.

More details will appear soon on the festival’s website and in our Telegram channel. For now — save the date.

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Gevorg Endza Babakhanian
"The Mother of God with the Infant", 2023

***

The birth of a sweet child
greets my belated verse.
May he be blessed
by all angels, heavenly and earthly!
May he prove worthy of his father,
as loved and beautiful as his mother;
may his spirit stay calm
and his faith firm, like a heavenly cherub.
May he, in due time,
know nothing of love’s torments or the greedy dreams of fame;
may he look—without blame—
upon the world’s false glitter and hollow noise;
may he not seek reasons
for others’ passions or his own joys,
and may he rise from worldly mire
with soul unstained and heart unharmed.

— Mikhail Lermontov, 1839

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Gustav Klimt, "The Daughters", 1913

The masterpiece "The Daughters" by Gustav Klimt, housed in the National Gallery in Prague, is a hypnotic manifesto of femininity. Around a sleeping, innocent girl, the bodies of six women intertwine, symbolizing maturation and the awakening of sensuality. Klimt deliberately excludes men from the scene, seeing them as mere onlookers to a grand feminine mystery.

Each of the master's canvases is a riddle. The heroines' blanket is covered with flowers (a symbol of new life) and spirals, meaning eternity and fertility. This is Klimt in his late period: instead of the familiar gold leaf, the volume is built from a mosaic of deep blues, pinks, and purples that conceal the storm of future passion.

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Georg Anton Rasmussen
"Fjord Landscape," 1898

A Norwegian who spent his life in Germany, yet his spirit remained forever among his native fjords. Rasmussen (1842–1914) painted the harsh northern scenery in a way that makes the viewer almost physically feel the icy air and the hush of the Nordic cliffs. His canvases take your breath away.

The painting was created at a time when Europe was growing curious about Scandinavia, and Rasmussen aimed to show the world not something frightening, but a majestic, living land where the mirror-like surface of the water and the monumental rocks symbolize eternity.

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Natalia Milashevich
"Girlfriends. Daisies"
("Thoughtful and Tender"), circa 2010–2013

Natalia Milashevich's paintings of children are infused with purity and sincerity. Her subjects are often captured in moments of quiet reflection, play, or everyday concerns. The artist masterfully conveys delicate facial features, the spontaneity of children's emotions, and soft, flowing light.

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In 1869, two destitute artists, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Painting 1) and Claude Monet (Painting 2), painted side by side, both under the same title: "The Frog Pond."

This was the name of a floating restaurant near Paris. It got its nickname from the “frogs” — bold women who flouted morality and hopped between lovers as easily as changing gloves. The cafe owner fed the artists for free, taking away the “unpromising” sketches to cover the stains on the walls. Today, those stains are worth millions.

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Eugen de Blaas — "Ideal Footwear," 1877

A refined scene from the master of Italian Academic painting. The painting captures an on-site fitting: a shoemaker on his knees slips a fine shoe onto the foot of a noblewoman, while a maid watches with a smile.

An elegant domestic tableau with a light note of flirtation and humor. It underscores the patron's wealth and high social standing. The artist achieves astonishing precision in texture—from the sheen of the satin gown to the velvet upholstery of the sofa.

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Fyodor Andreyevich Bronnikov (1827–1902), a prominent academic painter. Born in Shadrinsk into a family of icon painters, he spent most of his career in Italy. He earned the title of professor of historical painting for his outstanding achievements.

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Beatrice Emma Parsons
Summer Garden, 1900s–1920s

A British artist renowned for her watercolor depictions of gardens.

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Paul Antoine de la Bulae
'Salomé', 1909

A New Testament tale centers on Herod Antipas's stepdaughter (Herod the Great's son). At the feast, she danced so entrancingly for her stepfather that he vowed to grant any wish of hers. Urged by her cruel mother, Salomé demanded a terrible reward — the head of the prophet John the Baptist on a platter. The king did not dare break his vow.

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Rachkov Nikolai Efimovich
"Girl with Berries," 1879

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Still lifes by contemporary artist Sergey Khamalyan (Suren Surenovich Khamalyan).

The artist primarily works in oil painting, continuing the finest traditions of the Russian realist school. His works stand out for their vibrant color, meticulous attention to detail, and an abundance of sunlight and warmth.

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Bill Stoneham
"Hands Resist Him," 1972

In this painting, Bill Stoneham reimagined a childhood photograph of himself, subtly enhanced with added elements—like the heavy door in the background.

The artist interpreted the imagery as follows: the boy with an unusually serious, almost adult expression—himself at age five; the barred, oversized door—symbolizing the boundary between reality and the dream world; the doll-like girl—among the most unsettling figures, a guide into illusion; and the small childlike hands visible in the background—representing alternate lives or unrealized possibilities.

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💵 How Salvador Dali Dined at Someone Else’s Expense

The surrealist Salvador Dali loved luxurious restaurants—but hated paying for them. So he devised a bold trick: turning his signature into personal currency. Gathering guests at Paris’s finest establishments, the artist would order lavish delicacies and expensive wines. At the end of the meal, Dali calmly wrote out a bank check—then flipped it over and left a quick sketch on the back.

He had perfectly calculated human psychology. No restaurateur would ever cash the check. The original drawing on the reverse, created by the master’s hand, was worth dozens of times more than the cost of the meal. Instead of depositing it, owners framed the checks as prized artworks. Not a single cent was ever deducted from Dali’s account. Thus, audacity and branding secured the artist a lifetime of free feasts.

*Photo features rapid linear sketches and original autographs by Salvador Dali*

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Ghosts from the Victorian era, reimagined

Michael Locascio crafts eerie, glowing nightlights shaped like spectral figures—detailed sculptures that captivate with their haunting realism. Each piece blends artistry and atmosphere, illuminating the dark with a whisper of the past.

#art #sculpture #design #ghost #victorianera

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Scenes of rural life amidst the Norwegian fjords by Hans Dahl

Hans Dahl (1849–1937) was an artist renowned for his captivating Norwegian landscapes, featuring towering fjords and sweeping valleys.
Amidst these enchanting settings, he often depicted young women engaged in everyday tasks—gathering leaves and grass to feed livestock, fishing, mowing hay, or picking flowers to sell at market. Explore more

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“The Five Senses” by Jacques Linard

Seventeenth-century artists loved painting still lifes—elegant, yet often straightforward. At first glance, Jacques Linard’s work seems no different: a typical arrangement of fruits and flowers on a table. But the French painter embedded a philosophical narrative into his composition, where every object carries symbolic meaning. Together, they represent the five human senses.

1. The mirror — sight
2. The flowers — smell
3. The fruit — taste
4. The musical notes — hearing
5. The playing cards and velvet purse — touch

#ИскусствоИстория #ЖакЛинар #Натюрморт #ПятьЧувств
#ArtHistory #JacquesLinard #StillLife #FiveSenses

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Unlike the turbulent, dazzling southern seas we’re accustomed to, Ivan Aivazovsky’s painting *Neva* (1880s–1890s) presents a restrained northern marine landscape. In his later years, the master often moved away from dramatic effects toward a wiser, more concise expression. Here, nature’s grandeur unfolds through a cool palette of grays and blues, where a solitary sailing ship and a crimson flag serve as the only dramatic focal point, drawing the viewer’s gaze.

In the distance, barely visible through a translucent river haze, stand the austere silhouettes of St. Petersburg — the city seems to silently witness the eternal struggle between human will and the elemental power of water. The great marine painter clearly shows that true monumental strength lies not in bold colors, but in inner harmony. Aivazovsky’s north doesn’t repel — it conquers with its refined, noble poetry, urging us to see familiar landscapes in a new light.

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Edward Munch
"Melancholy," 1894–1896

The Devil retired, selling his tools: Envy’s dagger, Wrath’s hammer, Greed’s traps, Jealousy’s arrows, Fear’s nets—each polished, priced. But at the center, on velvet, a worn wooden wedge: Despair. Its price? Higher than all others combined.

An onlooker scoffed: —Why so much for this broken peg?
The Devil smiled: —This is my favorite. Despair is invisible. While anger or envy alert their victims, this wedge slips into doubt unseen. A tiny crack, and the heart hardens, hands fall. Will fades. Once surrendered, the soul is open—I use all other tools freely.

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Friedrich von Amerling
*An Italian Mother with Her Child*, 1850

In 1850, the Austrian master captured the Biedermeier era’s essence—a retreat from political turmoil toward domestic peace after the Napoleonic Wars. Amerling’s soft chiaroscuro, warm hues, and gentle forms radiate calm, honoring home life and quiet emotion.

A deeper layer emerges in the child’s hand: a rose, symbolizing purity in Christian tradition. The "thornless rose" recalls the Virgin Mary, linking earthly motherhood to the Madonna. Through this detail, Amerling elevates a tender moment into the sacred.

#ArtHistory #Biedermeier #FriedrichVonAmerling
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