Masterpiece

Naguib Mahfouz’s ‘Cairo Trilogy’ is a multigenerational story that doesn’t flinch away from difficult realities.

Henri Le Fauconnier’s ‘Mountaineers Attacked by Bears’ revealed that the movement could go beyond traditional subjects like still lifes and focus on the new themes of modern urban society.

A powerful, mysterious Spanish still life far different from Dutch, Italian, or later French examples.

John Milton’s ‘Areopagitica’ (1644) failed in its original mission, but it is now widely regarded as the world’s first important essay in defense of freedom of expression

Jacques Louis David’s ‘Portrait of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier and Marie Anne Lavoisier (Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze)’ is a tense painting created just before the chemist was guillotined.

Dante Alighieri’s ‘Divine Comedy’ offers a transcendent look at what lies ahead for the reader after this life.

In his ‘Dance to the Music of Time’ (c. 1634), Nicolas Poussin drew from tradition and his fascination with the body in motion.

“Prospero’s Cell” (1945), Lawrence Durrell’s account of life on the island of Corfu in the late 1930s, captures the supernatural effect of the Greek landscape on a visitor.

“A Love Supreme,” John Coltrane’s seminal jazz record, remains essential listening for lovers of any genre.

The artist’s mural series captures a vigorous, varied country as it sinks into the Great Depression.

Peter Bogdanovich’s ‘What’s Up, Doc?,’ released 50 years ago this month, remains a joyous comic romp.

Biltmore House, the 250-room, gargoyle-sprouting château, is the largest private residence ever erected in the U.S.

In the Montefeltro Altarpiece, Mary is surrounded by the patron as well as recognizable figures including John the Baptist, and Francis of Assisi.

A depiction of Lady Six Sky identifies her as both ritual priestess and triumphant ruler.

A picture taken shortly before the historic address, the ‘Gettysburg Lincoln’ captures an Abraham Lincoln who is both serious and sly.

Gwendolyn Brooks’s ‘We Real Cool’ uses enjambment to create a poem that’s masterly in its syncopated concision.

“It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” became one of the most memorable recordings by Duke Ellington and his orchestra.

In ‘Reclining Pan,’ a repurposed block of marble celebrates the deity’s carnal excesses.

The novel, marking its centenary, forever changed the literary landscape.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie upends the usual visitor experience in a design that champions modernism.