Baroque art masterfully manipulates emotions with its grandiose swirls of drama, light, and shadow.
It stands as the original immersive experience in visual storytelling, predating modern-day cinema.
Let's take a look at the artists and their masterpieces from this era. 🧵⤵️
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
An Italian sculptor and architect, Bernini's work is synonymous with the Baroque architecture of Rome, where his dynamic sculptures and grandiose designs define much of the city's appearance.
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi)
Known for his revolutionary use of chiaroscuro and incredibly realistic human figures, Caravaggio brought emotional depth and dramatic lighting to his paintings.
Peter Paul Rubens
A prolific Flemish artist, Rubens is famous for his vibrant, dynamic compositions and depictions of mythological and religious subjects filled with movement.
Rembrandt van Rijn
A master of the Dutch Golden Age, Rembrandt is renowned for his portraits, landscapes, and scenes from literature and the Bible, showcasing deep psychological insight and innovative use of light.
Diego Velázquez
A leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, Velázquez served as the court painter to King Philip IV and is best known for his proficient and nuanced portrayals of European royalty.
Johannes Vermeer
Although less prolific, Vermeer’s works like "Girl with a Pearl Earring" are revered for their serene beauty and meticulous attention to light and color.
Frans Hals
Known for his lively and loose technique, Hals was a Dutch Golden Age painter who excelled in portraits that vividly expressed the personality of the subjects.
Artemisia Gentileschi
A groundbreaking female painter of the era, Gentileschi is celebrated for her powerful depictions of biblical and mythical female figures, often portraying them as strong and resilient characters.
Annibale Carracci
A key figure in the development of Baroque painting, Carracci co-founded the Accademia degli Incamminati in Bologna, fostering a style that blended naturalism with the formal ideals of the Renaissance.
Nicolas Poussin
A French painter who spent most of his working life in Rome, Poussin is known for his classical approach to Baroque art, emphasizing order and clarity in his historical and mythological scenes.
Claude Lorrain
Renowned for his landscape paintings, Claude’s works are characterized by their serene representations of nature and classical ruins, often bathed in a soft, ethereal light.
Anthony van Dyck
A student of Rubens, van Dyck became a leading court painter in England and is famous for his elegant and sophisticated portraits of royalty.
Georges de La Tour
Although his work was largely forgotten until the 20th century, La Tour is admired for his nighttime scenes illuminated by candlelight, creating a quiet, introspective atmosphere.
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Known for his vibrant frescoes and grandiose decorative paintings, Tiepolo's work embodied the ornate grandeur of the late Baroque and Rococo periods.
Alessandro Algardi
A contemporary of Bernini, Algardi was another prominent Baroque sculptor, known for his bas-reliefs and statues in a slightly more restrained style than Bernini’s dramatic creations.
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What if the greatest British export isn’t the language or the empire…
…but a sense of timeless beauty etched in stone and paint?
Most people don’t realize how bold British art and architecture really is.
Let me show you the masterpieces they never taught you about: 🧵👇
Most cities hide their secrets underground.
London built its greatest secret above ground.
The Royal Naval College in Greenwich looks like something out of ancient Rome yet it was designed by Christopher Wren to be “the Versailles of the sea.”
Its twin domes once trained the world's most powerful navy.
How do you immortalize love, sorrow, and empire… with one sculpture?
Answer: the Albert Memorial.
Critics mocked it when it was built. Now they quietly admit it’s one of the most emotionally overwhelming monuments in Europe.
Civilizations don’t begin with kings or armies — they begin with stories.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer’s Iliad, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings — separated by thousands of years, they’re all asking the same question:
How do you turn chaos into meaning? 🧵
The oldest epic we know is about Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, who lost his closest friend and went searching for immortality, only to learn that no man escapes death.
He learned that meaning lies in what we build and leave behind.
Across time, stories help us face death and make sense of a broken world.
That was 4,000 years ago. But the pattern never changed.
Every epic since has wrestled with the same truth: chaos comes for all of us.