Culture and Arts

Where academics offer long, abstract explanations of manic depression, she cuts to the heart of matter, showing what it is like for a child to live with a manic: “Mania is broiling and freezing thirty dozen chicken wings in Catalina sauce ‘to get a jump of condolence meals’ for friends who aren’t feeling well but aren’t dead yet.” “Who’s gonna notice the freezer burn,” Lola asks. more »

If you're interested in painting techniques, in 2006 NPR launched "a mini-series on how art is affected by available technology" and began with "the link between collapsible tin tubes and some of the world's best-loved paintings". Monet's well known biographer, Prof. Paul Tucker, imparts some details of the process as well as an amusing bit or two. more »

These early works are quite different from the richly decorated interiors with attractive women you might expect from Vermeer. Instead they depict a mythological subject, a story from the Bible and a brothel scene. more »

Unless you already know all the biographical details of Renoir's life, however, you read on if only to discover which woman, if any of them, will be next in his life and how the money will be found to complete the work within the deadline. You have to know whether Augustine will enable him to keep up his spirits, whether he will make the models all appear on time and frequently enough to finish each section at all, if the weather will hold, if he will be able to persuade his supplier to trust him for more paint…and other problems that arise like plot points in a thriller. more »