Arts & Culture

Painting, architecture, literature, music and traditions: where great works and customs came from and why they still matter today.

Arts & Culture

Why Did Van Gogh Cut Off His Ear?

Van Gogh cut off his left ear in Arles on 23 December 1888 during a mental breakdown after a row with Gauguin. What is known about it, and what remains unclear.

Arts & Culture

Who Painted the Sistine Chapel Ceiling?

Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling in fresco for Pope Julius II from 1508 to 1512, with nine Genesis scenes and prophets and sibyls around them.

Arts & Culture

Why Is the Mona Lisa So Famous?

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was admired for its sfumato technique, but a 1911 theft from the Louvre that made world headlines turned it into a mass icon.