Faced with an unforgiving lump of marble, the 80-year-old Michelangelo sent more splinters soaring (and at three times the speed) than three robust stone cutters could produce. Mad with loneliness (his lover, Vittoria Colonna, closest friend, Luigi del Riccio, and lifetime servant, Urbino, were all d

Anxiety, Dramatic, Ecstatic, Intense, Renaissance art, Tragic, Visceral

Like an avenging angel invading the capital of high culture, Pablo Picasso came to Paris to confront the establishment and write himself across the face of modernity. He viewed art as a way of recreating himself, and invented -- only to later shed -- any number of artistic styles. The young Picas

Cubism, Distorted, Figurative painting, Geometric, Kinetic, Mythic, Perverse, Political, Polychromatic, Primal