Just Wall Decor

04/19/2026

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The 10 most impactful fine artists of the 20th centuryul

03/02/2026

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How forms in nature can influence all aspects of artistic endeavors including fine art, photography, sculpture and architecture.

12/29/2025

VAN GOGH HUMOR OR A SELF-PORTRAIT ?

Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette was painted at the beginning of 1886 when Van Gogh was studying at an art academy in Antwerp. Things were not going well. His teachers were impatient with his work while fellow students were equally dismissive of his style. His letters to his brother Theo suggested he was having a mental collapse. He dashed off this painting at the start of 1886. Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith have argued in Van Gogh - A Life (Random House, 2012) that this was in fact his first self-portrait. He would not paint another one (Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat at the Easel) until moving to Paris later that year.

By contrast, the Van Gogh Museum describes this painting as a “juvenile joke” meant to display his command of human anatomy.