Athena turns 2!

Since our launch on 28 June 2021, we have grown into a community of over 4,000 pre modern art lovers on Instagram - with many more over on our growing YouTube channel and website. We have published more than 50 articles dedicated to exploring different periods and artists from pre-modern art history all around the world, and we have collaborated with countless individuals, galleries, museums and organisations in digital projects, educational videos, written pieces, live online events and podcasts. Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do, so thank you to everyone who we have worked with, and to every one of our followers for sharing your thoughts and feedback with us.

It is our great wish to share the necessity of art history as a means by which we can explore the human condition and show the prevailing importance of pre-modern art in the modern world.

We are so excited to see how Athena Art Foundation will grow over the next two years and beyond - there are lots of exciting plans ahead, which we can’t wait to share with you.

Here are the top ten pre-modern artworks that you have most loved over the last two years… Click on each image to learn more about it

Watercolour of artist’s model Pierre Louis Alexandre in 19th-century Sweden

Rogier van der Weyden’s Descent from the Cross (c.1435) featured in our online talk with Richard Jacques in April earlier this year about images of the Easter story

Moroccan Man was painted by José Tapiro y Baro in 1913 - it is one of the many artworks in our ‘Portraits of Black Men by European Painters’ reel series

Anna Bilinska’s self-portrait (1892) - check out our 5 minute video on YouTube exploring her life and works (as part of our ‘Overlooked Art History’ series)

Ophelia by John Everett Millais - explored in a collaborative reel with Pre-Raphaelite society

Albrecht Durer’s Self-Portrait - the artist Volker Hermes’ choice for his ‘My Favourite Artwork’ video (Volker also joined us for our most recent online event at his London exhibition)

Giovanna Garzoni’s hedgehog still life (another artist featured on our ‘Overlooked Art History’ video series on YouTube)

Gandhara buddha statue featured in our introductory video to Gandharan art (both as a reel and as a 3 minute YouTube video)

Laure by Eduoard Manet - again, check out the 5 minute video on YouTube to learn all about this artist model living and working in 19th-century Paris

Sofonisba Anguissola’s Chess Game (1555) was chosen by artist Olivia Kemp as her favourite artwork in our video series ‘My Favourite Artwork’

As always, feel free to get in touch (via form below) about your favourite artworks and recommendations, or periods and artists from pre-modern art history which you would like to learn more about - we always love hearing from you.