Garden Room Frescos from Livia's Villa

This section of the Garden Room fresco from the Villa of Livia (30–20 BC) decorated a summer dining room, transforming it into an immersive orchard of pines, roses, and fruit trees. Livia Drusilla, wife of Augustus and Rome’s first empress, used such spaces to project harmony and prosperity. The painted walls dissolve into a perpetual spring where birds perch amid lush foliage, evoking abundance, divine protection, and the renewal central to Augustan ideology.

Christ in Glory (detail)

Raphael

The radiant figure of the risen Christ (1508–10) crowns the celestial register of The Disputation of the Sacrament. His raised hand and visible wounds recall both his Passion and his role as judge at the end of time. Encircled by golden rays, he visually affirms the doctrine of the Eucharist as the enduring, real presence of Christ.

Senegalese Woven Baskets

These vibrant, lidded baskets—known locally as canari or nguedj—are handwoven from local grasses and colorful recycled plastic. Common across Senegal, they serve both functional and decorative purposes, used for storing grains, carrying goods, or as striking home decor reflecting Wolof artisanal heritage.

Descent from the Cross

Luis Alberto Acuña

Acuña (mid-1950s) renders the moment of Christ’s body being lowered from the cross with emotional gravity and communal sorrow. The composition emphasizes solidarity in grief, surrounding Christ with figures of all ages and backgrounds, reinforcing the universality of human suffering and compassion.

The Courtyard of the Wind Palace

Salvador Dalí

Dalí’s surreal installation (1970s) features golden female mannequins resembling votive icons in windows surrounding a central bronze figure of Venus crowned with a ship. This work merges classical motifs with theatrical elements, creating a fantastical vision of fertility, mythology, and voyeurism, showcasing Dalí’s unique blend of art and architecture.

Roman Commander Leading the Battle

The center of the Portonaccio sarcophagus (c. 180), named after the Roman district it was found in, depicts a central mounted figure, likely the deceased general, exuding calm amid chaos. His dominance over the long-haired Germanic barbarian enemy Romans fought during the Marcomannic Wars embodies Roman ideals of virtus, leadership, and divine favor in battle. The scene endorses Rome’s imperial ambitions, immortalizes the general’s heroic status and aligns him with esteemed Roman virtues.

Perspective Gallery

Francesco Borromini

Created for Cardinal Spada, this architectural illusion (1653) compresses nine meters into an illusion of great depth. By subtly reducing the size of columns, floor tiles, and ceiling coffers, Borromini crafted a vanishing point that evokes grandeur. The statue at the end, appearing monumental, is just 90 cm tall—transforming scale into metaphysical reflection.

The Comedy, Parody, and Tragedy

Rodel Tapaya

This painting (2018) from Tapaya’s Urban Labyrinth series swirls with hybrid beings, masks, and mythic figures at a chaotic table. Angelic wings, demonic grins, and spectral visages blur folk imagination with urban satire. Tapaya weaves Philippine mythology into contemporary critique, where humor and menace mirror the fractured realities of modern city life.

Cape Verde Cormorant Family by the Sea

This adult cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo lucidus, shelters its young atop whitewashed coastal cliffs. Native to West Africa, the species is a skilled swimmer and hunter, diving to catch fish in clear Atlantic waters. The chicks’ dusky fluff and pale faces reveal their early stage of life, still wholly reliant on the parent’s protection and feeding.

Hunting Scene with Ibex

This engraved boulder (8th c. BC–5th c. AD) shows a hunting scene with wild ibexes and human figures in motion across its surface. The pecked outlines follow the rock’s curves, using natural contours to animate the animals and hunters. Such imagery reflects the importance of mountain game in early nomadic subsistence and ritual, linking the surrounding landscape to group identity and shamanic practice.

Sudden Awakening

Zhang Huan

This large Buddha head sculpture (2006) lies fragmented on the ground, its heavy upper section slightly shifted above closed eyes and rough, ash-coated features. Formed from ash and steel, it draws on materials linked to ritual burning and industrial residue. The broken, weighty face reveals how contemporary Buddhist art confronts impermanence and the tension between spiritual ideals and material collapse.

Ritual Diadem with Mythic Figure

This gold diadem (200 BC–600 AD) from the Calima culture of southwestern Colombia portrays a richly adorned figure with a feline-like nose ornament, earspools, and cascading fringe. The animal motif, typical of shamanic regalia, suggests transformation and spiritual power. Its balanced form and expert metalwork demonstrate the Calima mastery of gold as a medium of ritual authority.

Judith Beheading Holofernes

Caravaggio

This canvas (c. 1599) painted in Rome embodies Caravaggio’s radical realism and theatrical chiaroscuro. Judith, a young widow, slays the Assyrian general Holofernes to save her people. Her calm determination contrasts with his violent death and the maid’s aged pragmatism. By staging sacred violence with unflinching naturalism, Caravaggio redefined biblical painting as a drama of human courage and divine justice.

Cat Strolling Through the Alley

A calico cat walks confidently along a cobbled path in Sidi Bou Said, framed by soft yellow walls, trailing vines, and bright blue woodwork. The scene captures the village’s quiet poetry, where cats are not just companions but iconic inhabitants—moving freely through a maze of Mediterranean light and architectural grace.

The Earth

Einar Jónsson

This sculpture (1904–08) depicts a human figure cradling a smaller, draped form, symbolizing the Earth or nature. Jónsson, an Icelandic sculptor, is known for his symbolic and allegorical works exploring mythology, spirituality, and the human condition. This piece reflects his exploration of humanity’s connection to the natural world and the spiritual realm.