At a 1982 meeting arranged by Bruno Bischofberger, Warhol photographed Basquiat, who soon returned a still-wet double portrait, sparking a prolific collaboration explored in the Basquiat × Warhol exhibition.
Swimmers on a Wooden Pier
Michael Axelos’s Swimmers at Palaio Faliro (1935) captures a sunlit, carefree Greek seaside, inviting comparison with Bellows’ Forty-Two Kids, where urban energy and raw vitality define a contrasting vision of youth.
The Fourth of July 1916
Childe Hassam’s The Fourth of July 1916 transforms Fifth Avenue into a vibrant sea of American flags, using Impressionist brushwork and patriotic color to celebrate national identity during the First World War era.
Fish and Waves by Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Fish and Waves lamp reflects his fascination with water, Eastern aesthetics, and luminous design, transforming glass and bronze into a flowing aquatic vision of color, movement, and light.
Léon Bakst
Léon Bakst revolutionized theatrical design with vibrant colours, exotic motifs, and unified aesthetics, transforming stage productions into harmonious works of art that continue to inspire students and modern designers alike.
Hartwell Memorial Window by Tiffany
Agnes Northrop, leader of Tiffany’s female designers, “the Tiffany Girls,” crafted the luminous 1917 Hartwell Memorial Window — a masterpiece of light, color, and glass-painted landscapes.
Freedom From Want by Norman Rockwell
Rockwell’s joyful Freedom From Want — originally a wartime vision of Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms — became America’s most beloved Thanksgiving image, raising $132 million in war bonds.
Smash the Hun
Hopper’s raw 1918 propaganda poster Smash the Hun — dismissed by its creator as “pretty awful” — unexpectedly launched his career, winning $300 and captivating thousands of Broadway passersby.
Rooms by the Sea
Hopper’s Rooms by the Sea transforms Cape Cod light into an image of solitude, where an interior opens abruptly to the vast, silent sea—echoing Romantic ideas of isolation, contemplation, and the presence of nature beyond human enclosure.
Hand With Seaweed and Shells by Émile Gallé
Gallé’s Hand With Seaweed and Shells echoes Baudelaire’s vision of the sea as a mirror of the human soul, transforming glass into a poetic symbol of fluid identity, where nature, life, and mortality merge in ambiguous, oceanic reflection.



