The Lonely Palette
Welcome to The Lonely Palette, the podcast that returns art history to the masses, one painting at a time. Each episode, host Tamar Avishai picks a painting du jour, interviews unsuspecting museum visitors in front of it, and then dives deeply into the object, the movement, the social context, and anything and everything else that will make it as neat to you as it is to her. For more information, visit thelonelypalette.com | Twitter @lonelypalette | Instagram @thelonelypalette.
- Update frequency
- every 28 days
- Average duration
- 31 minutes
- Episodes
- 104
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
Bonus - Introducing Hub & Spoke (by way of Soonish)
The Lonely Palette is thrilled to announce that we're a founding member of Hub & Spoke, a brand spanking new collective of Boston-centric, idea-driven podcasts. To kick things off, we're proud to pre…
Ep. 22 - Jasper Johns' "Target" (1961)
Ceci n'est pas un target, and other bewildering and profound pronouncements by conceptual neo-Dadaist (with abstract Pop Art sensibilities) Jasper Johns.
Music used:
The Andrews Sist…
Ep. 21 - Mary Cassatt's "In the Loge" (1878)
So. It appears that art history has a woman problem.
Music used:
The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"
The Blue Dot Sessions, "Waterborne", "Pat Dog", "Partly Sage", "Illway",…
Ep. 20 - Henryk Ross's Photographs of the Lodz Ghetto (1940-44)
In this special episode, we look at the exhibition Memory Unearthed: Henryk Ross’s Photographs of the Lodz Ghetto, and explore the Lodz ghetto specifically, Holocaust photography more generally, and …
Ep. 19 - Guanyin, Bodhisattva of Compassion (Song Dynasty, 12th c. CE)
Take a load off as you relax into this Song Dynasty masterpiece. You're going to be here for a while.
Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, …
Ep. 18 - JMW Turner's "The Slave Ship" (1840)
Because it's hard to look directly into the sun. Or yourself.
Music used:
The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"
The Blue Dot Sessions, "Sunday Lights", "Town Market", "Rapids"…
Ep. 17 - Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" (1917)
On the occasion of its hundredth birthday, we dive into the art world's greatest joke (splash!).
Music Used:
Podington Bear, "A1 Rogue", "In My Head"
The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bis…
Ep. 16 - Vincent Van Gogh's "Postman Joseph Roulin" (1888)
You've just had a manic break, cut off a piece of your ear, and gifted it to a prostitute. Who ya gonna call? Your get-a-grip postman friend, of course!
Music used:
The Andrews Sisters,…
Ep. 15 - El Anatsui's "Black River" (2009)
One man's trash is Ghanaian fiber artist El Anatsui's treasure.
Music used:
Podington Bear, "Down and Around"
The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"
The Blue Dot Sessions, "Coro…
Ep. 14 - Paul Gauguin's "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?" (1897-98)
The gospel according to Gauguin is basically an existential hodgepodge that you and I were never supposed to understand.
Music used:
The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"
The B…
Ep. 13 - Edward Hopper's "Room in Brooklyn" (1932)
Welcome to Edward Hopper's specific, yet schematic, love letter to the alienation of the modern American city.
Music used:
The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"
The Blue Dot Se…
Ep. 12 - Jackson Pollock's "Number 10, 1949" (1949)
Dust off your verbs, it's time to make sense out of chaos.
Music used:
Eric Dolphy, "Out To Lunch"
The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"
The Blue Dot Sessions, "Parade Shoes", …
Ep. 11 - John Singer Sargent's "The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit" (1882)
The darlings, the crown jewels, the moneymakers. Just what the heck is it about these girls?!
Music used:
The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"
The Blue Dot Sessions, "Brass Bu…
Ep. 10 - Piet Mondrian's "Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue" (1927)
Think abstraction is totally inaccessible? Pull up a chair.
Music used:
The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"
The Blue Dot Sessions, "The Provisions", "A Certain Lightness", "A…
Ep. 9 - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's "Reclining Nude" (1909)
The German Expressionists get hot. Nazis get bothered.
Music used:
The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"
David Szeszlay, "Night Surfing"
Michael Howard, "The Tallest Man in Ida…
Ep. 8 - Richard Serra's "Torqued Ellipses" (1996)
This big bully is about to give you a lesson in contrasts you won't soon forget. Featuring Dar Williams!
Music used:
The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"
The Blue Dot Sessions…
Ep. 7 - Claude Monet's "Rouen Cathedral" Series (1892-94)
After centuries in the shadows, it's light's turn to shine.
Music used:
The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"
The Blue Dot Sessions, "The Spinnet", "Lahaina", "Discovery Harbo…
Ep. 6 - Pablo Picasso's "Portrait of a Woman" (1910)
You think your seven-year-old could paint this indecipherable abstract Cubist painting? Well, it's not abstract, it's totally understandable, and... he couldn't.
Music used:
Paolo Pava…
Ep. 5 - Andy Warhol's "Red Disaster" (1962)
Elbow-deep in trauma, Andy Warhol plays with repetition and bores us into action.
Music used:
Chris Zabriskie, “Cylinder Four”
The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen"
Ketsa, “Catch…
Ep. 4 - Edgar Degas' "Duchessa di Montejasi with Her Daughters, Elena and Camilla" (c. 1876)
Hey! You there! Don't walk by this seemingly-boring painting. You might miss the 19th century.
Music used:
Reynold Philipsek, "Intro and Nuages" (Django Reinhardt cover)
The Andrews Si…