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“The Blue Dress,” 1866 Artist: Alfred Stevens Oil on panel; 31.4 × 26 cm Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, USA Visuverse

The State Russian Museum is now on Telegram! It’s more than a collection of paintings—it reflects the soul of a people and the story of their past. We Russians are not a people without history. Our artistic heritage reaches back through the ages, and the spirit of ancient masters still watches over our ancient land. Visuverse

“Nativity” — Gerard David This painting reflects the quiet symbolism of 15th-century Netherlandish art. In the background, David depicts a recognisable northern medieval city: Jerusalem, where Christ will one day be crucified. This hint of future sacrifice in a peaceful birth scene reminds viewers that salvation began with Christ’s arrival. In the distance, an angel announces the news to the shepherds, while one hurries to worship the child. By showing two moments on one canvas, David uses a common medieval device in which time unfolds nonlinearly. Some scholars suggest Joseph’s face may portray the patron. Born in Oudewater, David spent his mature years in Bruges and joined its painters’ guild. After Hans Memling’s death in 1494, he became the city’s leading painter of religious works. His name was largely forgotten after his death, until a British researcher rediscovered his work in the 19th century and reconstructed his biography from Bruges archives. Visuverse

“In the Stable,” 1846 Artist: Benno Adam Oil on canvas, 42 × 34.5 cm National Museum in Warsaw Visuverse

“Julie Le Brun Looking in a Mirror,” 1787 French artist Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842) Oil on canvas; 73 × 59.4 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Visuverse

“Reading by the Window,” 1885 Austrian artist Raimund Ritter von Wichera (1862–1925) Oil on canvas; 34 × 28.5 cm Private collection Visuverse

“Lady Godiva” by John Collier Visuverse

⚡️The election is over, and VPNs are starting to go down one by one. Over the past week, Beeline, T2, and MegaFon have reported new restrictions. ✅ A VPN is now available in Russia that disguises its traffic as regular internet activity, making it harder for operators to detect or interfere with its use. It’s called Boost - VPN. The service continually updates its infrastructure and works on improvements every day. Telegram, WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube all work over mobile data. Visuverse

“Moon Magic” — Daniel Merriam Visuverse

“View of Emmerich” — Jan van Goyen Jan van Goyen’s deceptively simple landscapes capture weather, space, and the shifting interplay of land, water, light, and air. Using quick, instinctive strokes and a muted palette of greys, browns, cool blues, and earthy greens, he helped shape 17th-century Dutch landscape painting. He often travelled along the Rhine, sketching towns such as Arnhem and Emmerich before completing paintings in his studio. Here, a small ferry carries passengers and loaded carts across the river—a glimpse of everyday life, typical of his work. Van Goyen created around 1,200 paintings and 800 drawings, yet struggled with debt. He speculated in tulips during the famous “tulip mania” and died owing 18,000 guilders. Visuverse

“Last Look at England” — Ford Madox Brown Brown portrays himself and his wife, Emma, as emigrants, though he never left England. The idea was inspired by his friend, Pre-Raphaelite sculptor Thomas Woolner, who sailed for Australia in 1852 after failing to find recognition. Brown later recalled being “desperately short of money and a little out of his mind” and considering a move to India with his young family. Instead, he painted this work. The figures closely resemble Brown, Emma, and their newborn son Oliver, whose tiny hand peeks from her cape. Born in 1855, Oliver was the year’s completion of the painting. Following the Pre-Raphaelite principle of “painting nature as it is,” Brown had his models pose outdoors in all weather to capture the open sea’s diffused light. The circular format evokes a telescope view of the ship leaving Dover’s white cliffs. In 2013, BBC Radio named it Britain’s eighth most popular painting. Visuverse

“Lilacs,” 1872 French artist Henri Fantin-Latour (1836–1904) Oil on canvas; 47 × 56.5 cm Private collection Visuverse

“Sunset in the Forest” — Louis Rémy Mignot Visuverse

“Crab on Its Back” — Vincent van Gogh Price: $145,000 The date is uncertain: the Van Gogh Museum suggests autumn 1887 in Paris or January 1889 in Arles, after Van Gogh left hospital. That month, he told his brother Theo he planned to resume painting with still lifes. This crab may have been among his first works. Crabs were rare in European still lifes but common in Japanese prints, which Van Gogh loved. He and Theo collected hundreds, including Hokusai crab prints. One theory says a Japanese art magazine Theo sent inspired the painting. Van Gogh set the bright red crab against deep green, using Eugène Delacroix’s theory that complementary colors intensify each other. He studied the idea in books by critic Charles Blanc and saw it as key to powerful painting. In *Two Crabs*, one crab lies on its back, the other upright. Researchers suggest Van Gogh painted the same dead crab from both sides; details closely match. Visuverse

“Nightmare” — Detlef Blunk Visuverse

“Interior with a Young Woman Standing by a Window” Danish artist Carl Vilhelm Holsøe (1863–1935) Oil on canvas Private collection Visuverse

“Interior of the Moulin de la Galette” — Ramon Casas Price: $51,000 While Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec depicted the Montmartre café as a lively celebration of color, light, and dance, Casas presents a dim room with indifferent, thoughtful figures. Art historians link its shadows and somber mood to his pessimism and friend Santiago Rusiñol, rather than Impressionism. In winter 1890, Casas moved into the Moulin de la Galette with Rusiñol and Miquel Utrillo. Their apartment was above the dance hall, in a complex with a restaurant, garden, and wooden windmill. They explored bohemian Montmartre and wrote about Paris for Barcelona’s La Vanguardia. Painted during Casas’s third Paris stay, this work belongs to a series. A larger version, viewed from the orchestra pit, is at the Cau Ferrat Museum in Sitges. This version debuted at Barcelona’s Sala Parés in 1891 and appeared in a major Paris exhibition devoted to Casas in 1900, organized by Utrillo. Visuverse

“The Night Café” — Vincent van Gogh Van Gogh called it “one of the ugliest I have ever painted”—and meant to make it ugly. In a letter to his brother Theo, he said he wanted to show the café as a place where “one can ruin oneself, go mad, or commit a crime.” The painting depicts the Café de la Gare in Arles, where Van Gogh rented a room upstairs. He worked on it for three nights, sleeping by day to capture the mood of a late-night refuge for those who couldn’t afford a bed—or were too drunk to be admitted elsewhere. Its colors are deliberately unrealistic: Van Gogh contrasted pink with blood and wine red, and green with yellow-green and harsh blue-green, evoking “a hellish furnace in pale sulfur” and “the dark forces of a cheap tavern.” Short of money, he eventually gave the painting to café owner Joseph Ginoux in exchange for his room. Visuverse

“Elegant at the Market,” 1903 French artist Léon Carré (1878–1942) Oil on canvas; 100 × 63.5 cm Private collection Visuverse

“Cornflowers” — Isaac Ilyich Levitan Visuverse