Art, culture & history images

January & February

Claude Monet's plein-air landscapes are perennial favorites for calendar products. We are so accustomed to seeing Monet's talents expressed in scenes full of flowers and gardens that we often look past his winter paintings, like The Magpie (bottom left). View some of our favorite Monet masterpieces. The Kiss by Pablo Picasso (bottom right) is the perfect image for the month of February not only for its love-ly subject matter but its icy blue color palette. Editing Picasso down to 12 works is almost impossible, but we have made our best effort. Check out our favorite 12 works by Picasso.

March & April

Not quite Winter and not yet Spring, March is the perfect month to highlight a beautiful textile pattern by William Morris. The 'Rose' pattern (bottom left) evokes the budding of flowers and the chirping of birds even if the weather outside is less than ideal. William Morris's flat use of line and color (he didn't use realistic three-dimensional shading) give his work a timeless quality. Our favorite Morris patterns. For April, we've chosen a charming fashion plate by French illustrator Georges Barbier. Barbier's depictions of theater and ballet costumes and haute couture fashion of the early 20th century won him wide acclaim, and we can see why. It was difficult to choose our favorite 12 Barbier illustrations from the Vogue-described 'Knight of the Bracelet.'

May & June

The works we picked for May and June are by Mary Stevenson Cassatt and Edgar Degas respectively.  American-born Cassatt is a perfect pick for the month of May, not least of which because of her beautiful mother and child portraits which capture quiet, intimate moments. Here are some of our favorite works by Cassatt. A friend of Cassatt's, Edgar Degas, is another constant favorite for calendars. We picked one of his gorgeous paintings of jockeys (below right), partially for the Kentucky Derby season but also because, like Monet, we wanted to highlight a lesser-known part of Degas' oeuvre. Here are 12 candid paintings by Degas to consider.

July & August

For the most American of months, we chose American artist Winslow Homer. Homer's idyllic paintings of marine subjects and children frolicking in the sun are the essence of the American summer. In addition to Boys in a Pasture (below left), click here for a selection of calendar-worthy works by Homer.  August is the perfect month to feature our candid historical photography. From vintage beach fashion to families at the shore, check out our lightbox of bathing beauties.

September & October

One can hardly think of Indian summers without simultaneously imagining Van Gogh's vibrant, sunny fields of summer wheat.  We'd venture to guess that the Dutch master is by far the most popular calendar artist, and you've no doubt seen most of his work, but here are our favorite and slightly less well known works by Van Gogh. No calender line is complete without a little Klimt. This lovely image, The Birch Wood (bottom right),  is one of our favorite works and is perfect for late Autumn. Most identify Gustav Klimt by his masterful Symbolist portraits of women, but Klimt was also a skilled landscape painter. Click here for a selection from Klimt's Attersee landscape series.

November & December

One could make an entire calendar of details pulled from Pieter Bruegel's works. Bruegel, a 16th century Flemish painter, was well known for his peasant scenes; The Blue Cloak and Children's Games are among our favorites. Peasant Wedding (below left), a celebration of the harvest, is our pick for November. Click here for a selection of works by Pieter Bruegel. For the month of December, we thought it appropriate to pull something from our wonderful collection of almost 3,000 Madonnas. The beautiful early 20th century Madonna and Child by Marianne Stokes (below right), has a very modern feel.  Click here for a selection of some of the most recent additions to the archive.