Brushstrokes: Every Picture Tells a Story

Waldemar examines the symbolism and haunting mystery of Gaugin's masterpiece. It amounts to a religious epic about good and evil, temptation and desire.

Waldemar draws out the untold stories hidden in Van Gogh's Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear. It is a tale of geishas, brothels, bullfights, love affairs, suffering and a fiery relationship with Gauguin. Investigation of this famous work, emblematic of his time in the south of France, reveals the extent of the artist's personal demons and the profound effect this had on his work.

In this painting, Waldemar explores both Cezanne's Provencal roots and his deep religious fervor. He attempts to lay out the thematic and graphic ingredients that make this picture so powerful and intense.

At 2015 miles long, the Thames is England's greatest river. While many artists have highlighted it within their work, William Dobson hid it subtly in his famous Portrait of an Old and a Younger Man some 400 years ago. Why?