Some famous kisses in art history commemorating St. Valentines Day: http://goo.gl/h4WCG.

Check out Édouard Manet’s gallery here: http://goo.gl/c0pqO.

Berthe Morisot would be 171 years old.

She was a painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. She was described by Gustave Geffroy in 1894 as one of “les trois grandes dames” of Impressionism alongside Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt.

In 1864, she exhibited for the first time in the highly esteemed Salon de Paris. Sponsored by the government, and judged by academicians, the Salon was the official, annual exhibition of the Académie des beaux-arts in Paris. Her work was selected for exhibition in six subsequent Salons until, in 1874, she joined the “rejected” Impressionists in the first of their own exhibitions, which included Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley. It was held at the studio of the photographer Nadar.

She became the sister-in-law of her friend and colleague, Édouard Manet, when she married his brother, Eugène… (more)

James Joyce and Augustus John, 1920s.

Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Igor Stravinsky and Olga Picasso, 1925.

Frida Kahlo with Leon Trotsky, 1937.

Four years ago, the painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, was stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art… (more)

Watch the complete documentary series “The Art of Russia” here:

In this series, the art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon tells the incredible story of Russian art – its mystery and magnificence – and until now a story untold on British television.

He explores the origins of the Russian icon from its roots in Byzantium and the first great Russian icon, Our Lady of Vladimir to the masterpieces of the country’s most famous icon painter, Andrei Rublev.

Both epic and awe-inspiring, and producing brilliant art, nevertheless medieval Russia could be a terrifying place.

Out of the Forest: Criss-crossing the epic landscape, Andrew visits the monastery founded by Ivan the Terrible, where his favorite forms of torture found inspiration in religious art. One man would shine a light into Russia’s dark ages – Peter the Great who, surprisingly, took as his inspiration Deptford in South London.

Roads to Revolution: He explores how Russia changed from a feudal nation of aristocratic excess to a hotbed of revolution at the beginning of the 20th century and how art moved from being a servant of the state to an agent of its destruction.

Smashing the Mould: The final part examines political revolution and how art was at the forefront of throwing out 1,000 years of royal rule, from its earliest revolutionary days of enthusiasm and optimism when painting died, the poster was king and the machine-made triumphed over the handmade to the dead hand of Socialist Realism.

Wassili Kandinsky passed away 67 years ago.

He was was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics. Successful in his profession—he was offered a professorship (chair of Roman Law) at the University of Dorpat—he began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) at the age of 30… (more)

Check out his gallery: http://goo.gl/w2YN7.

Diego Rivera or Frida Kahlo? Vote here: http://goo.gl/3b2hS.