Katharsis (detail)

José Clemente Orozco

This explosive mural section (1934) fuses war, lust, and revolution into a single convulsion. Clashing fists, rifles, and machines crush bodies into chaos. The nude woman evokes both violence and moral decay, while fire and protest surge behind. Orozco presents modernity as an inferno—only through destruction can truth emerge.

Archangel Gabriel (Isabel de Santiago)

Isabel de Santiago

This early 18th-c. work by Isabel de Santiago—a rare female artist of the Quito School—portrays Gabriel as a celestial messenger of abundance. Draped in luminous textiles, the archangel holds a cornucopia, blending classical fertility symbols with baroque angelology in a uniquely Andean devotional image.

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.

Bronze Youth with Spear

This Hellenistic bronze (2nd c. BC), found in Rome, shows a young man in heroic nudity, the visual language of leaders and demi-gods. His relaxed contrapposto, short beard, and athletic build recall works by Lysippos, sculptor of Alexander the Great. The spear (a modern replacement) completes the image of poised authority. Likely a prince or elite figure admired in Rome, the statue exemplified Greek idealism to Roman elite.

Fantastical Rhinoceros

This mural detail (c. 1590) depicts a rhinoceros modeled on Dürer’s 1515 woodcut, which became the European archetype of the beast despite anatomical inaccuracies. Its armored plates and dragon-like expression reflect colonial-era fascination with exotic fauna, filtered through Renaissance imagination and limited firsthand knowledge of African and Asian animals.

Woman with Umbrella

Fernando Botero

A solitary figure walks through a forest, her reflection mirrored below as if suspended between worlds. Her voluminous dress and umbrella contrast with the vertical rhythm of the trees. With surreal calm and poetic symmetry, Botero (1989) transforms a simple stroll into a meditation on solitude, identity, and the quiet theatricality of everyday life.

Hanuman Battle Scene Mural, Wat Phra Kaew

This mural depicts a battle from The Ramakien, Thailand’s version of The Ramayana. Hanuman, the monkey god, confronts a demon amid chariots and celestial beings. Created in the late 18th c., its vivid colors and gold leaf exemplify Thai artistry, while the story itself reinforces ideals of loyalty, courage, and divine justice central to Thai identity.

Euclid Teaching Geometry

Raphael

In this vibrant lower-right scene from The School of Athens (1509–1511), Raphael presents Euclid demonstrating geometric principles with a compass. Painted in Rome during the High Renaissance, this detail celebrates empirical learning as foundational to human knowledge. The intense focus of his young onlookers reflects the Renaissance ideal of rediscovering ancient scientific wisdom through observation and reason.

Bearing the Spoils

This Assyrian relief (7th c. BC) depicts court officials carrying slain lions in a ceremonial procession. The lions, draped across shoulders or in nets, symbolize King Ashurbanipal’s might and divine favor. The scene highlights the lion as both adversary and sacred offering, reflecting the king’s imperial authority and the ritualistic order of the Assyrian court. It illustrates the power dynamics and religious beliefs of ancient Mesopotamia.

Nencatacoa Ritual Gold Mask

This hammered gold mask(600–1600 AD)represents Nencatacoa, Muisca god of weaving, art, and festivity. Revered as a divine fox or bear, he protected textile workers, goldsmiths, and musicians. Masks like this were worn in rituals celebrating fertility, creation, and communal joy—especially with chicha-fueled dancing honoring the spirit of artistic life.

Portrait of an Indigenous Person

Luis Alberto Acuña

This striking 1934 oil painting reflects the artist’s deep engagement with indigenous identity and pre-Columbian heritage. The stoic, symmetrical face, wrapped in a red hood beneath a wide-brimmed hat, evokes dignity and resilience. Acuña, a key figure in Colombian modernism, often highlighted native ancestry as a counter-narrative to Eurocentric ideals.

Thermopolium of Lucius Fullo and Lucius Placidus

This thermopolium (2nd–3rd c.), or a hot food and drink bar, shows a marble-clad counter with built-in jars beside a painted wall panel depicting vessels that advertised the shop’s offerings. Its mosaic floor and brick vaulting accommodated heavy use as such establishments formed a key part of Ostia’s commercial and daily life.

Prickly Pear and the Mediterranean Horizon

At the edge of a cliff near Sidi Bou Said, a cactus stands firm against the vast blue expanse of the sea. The prickly pear, native to North Africa, symbolizes endurance and quiet resilience. This tranquil vista reflects the meeting of land and water, plant and sky—a still moment in Tunisia’s coastal poetry.

Christ the Judge

Rogier van der Weyden

At the summit of the Last Judgment Altarpiece (1445–50), Christ sits enthroned on a rainbow, resting his feet on a golden globe that symbolizes dominion over the world. He raises his right hand in blessing, while his left gestures toward judgment. The sword and lily flanking him signify justice and mercy, balancing wrath with compassion. Draped in vivid red, Christ embodies divine authority, anchoring the entire altarpiece in the promise of eternal judgment and salvation.

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.