Everyday A Painting

The story behind the painting

Painting stories

Every day, Everyday A Painting reveals one painting and tells its story — a cinematic camera moving across the canvas, one thought at a time. These pages tell a few of those stories in full, with sources.

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci: Christ at the centre of a long table as twelve apostles react in four groups

The Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci · 1495–1498

One sentence, and twelve people go in different directions.

 The Last Day of Pompeii by Karl Bryullov: crowds fleeing a collapsing street under a red volcanic sky

The Last Day of Pompeii

Karl Bryullov · 1833

A city dying under a red sky, painted at operatic scale.

 Stańczyk by Jan Matejko: a jester in red slumped in a chair while the court dances behind him

Stańczyk

Jan Matejko · 1862

The jester who saw history first, while the court kept dancing.

 The Swing by Fragonard: a young woman on a garden swing kicking off her shoe

The Swing

Jean-Honoré Fragonard · 1767

A garden, a shoe in mid-air, and Rococo's most knowing joke.

 The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli: an incubus crouched on a sleeping woman

The Nightmare

Henry Fuseli · 1781

The painting that gave the bad dream its face.
Discover one painting a day

Everyday A Painting reveals one painting every day on iPhone — uncover it with a touch, watch its story unfold, and build a personal gallery over time. Coming to the App Store.