Michel Fokine approached the still-youthful art of ballet with fresh insight, revitalizing a form that had become saturated with spectacle. In 1898, after joining the Maryinsky Ballet, Fokine found himself dissatisfied with his beloved art form. It had been reduced to a circus act, as dancers showed

Erotic, Ethereal, Fantastic, Hallucinatory, Spectral, The early russians

Often called "the first of the moderns," Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes trailed legend behind him wherever he went. Even casual acquaintances were struck by Goya's surplus of personality: he was fiercely independent, an amateur toreador, a relentless adventurer, at times a street fighter, and (si

Dark, Fantastic, Intense, Parody, Romantic art, Tense

Wafted across the rustling waters by spring breezes, the naked goddess alights on shore, long-limbed and emanating beauty that could only come from a more powerful and mythical world. Her arrival on her lovely scallop-shell boat, with her blonde hair flowing about her, signals a new era. She is born

Erotic, Ethereal, Fantastic, Mythic, Playful

As a young artist, Domenikos Theotokopoulos was fascinated by news of the Renaissance, which reached all the way to his home on the island of Crete. Crete was controlled by Venice, then an important center for commerce and the arts. Domenikos headed for this cultural hub around 1560, determined to le

Dreamy, Epic, Fantastic, Religious, Renaissance art