Ottorino Respighi: Trittico botticelliano Venus, in the middle, presides over her realm, but as it’s Spring, as we know from the painting’s title, Primavera, the world is a buzz of activity. As we read the painting from right to left,

One of the most enduringly influential members of the Surrealist movement René Magritte is best known for his illusionistic images that challenged the viewer’s preconceptions of reality. Magritte once said, “my painting is visible images which conceal nothing; they evoke

Volker Niehusmann: Songs of Calypso In Homer’s Odyssey, during his 10-year struggle to return home, Odysseus is stranded on Calypso’s island. Although she promises him immortality, he yearns to return home and after seven years as her captive, he’s able

Ming Tsao: If ears were all that were needed Los caprichos, by Francisco Goya, are a series of 80 prints done in aquatint and etching created in 1797 and 1798. The series illustrates the world follies, as represented in contemporary

Johan de Meij: The Venetian Collection Dutch composer Johann de Meij (b. 1954) was inspired by four paintings in the Peggy Guggenheim collection in Venice to create his own Venetian Collection. The paintings he chose come from some of the

William Alwyn: Derby Day Commissioned by the BBC to replace a performance of his Second Piano Concerto, British composer William Alwyn wrote a lively overture that was only after the fact linked to a work of art. Alwyn agreed that

Thea Musgrave: Turbulent Landscapes In an extraordinary work that is not only based on a number of paintings by JMW Turner (1775–1851) but also uses a particular thematic point to connect them, Scottish composer Thea Musgrave (b. 1928) creates a

In 1903, the Austrian painter and illustrator Gustav Klimt paid a visit to Ravenna, the capital of Byzantine Italy in the 6th century. The proclaimed goal of this visit was to broaden his range of artistic historical references by closely