The Cultural Tutor
@culturaltutor
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A beautiful education.
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Joined May 2022
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The Danger of Minimalist Design
(& the death of detail)
A short thread...
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Bridges represent some of the greatest achievements of human engineering and architecture. Here are 12 of the most extraordinary:
1. Millau Viaduct, France (2004) - the world's tallest bridge.
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Ancient people knew the earth was round.
And about 2,240 years ago a man called Eratosthenes calculated its circumference within 1% of the correct figure... with a stick.
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India is home to some of the most beautiful and diverse architecture in the world. Here's just a few of the best:
Hawa Mahal in Jaipur (1799)
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14 of the world's greatest religious buildings:
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This is a real place. It is a housing estate called Les Espaces d'Abraxas, built near Paris in 1982.
And it's one of the most important buildings in the world...
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Why are cities all around the world starting to look the same?
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The Great Wave off Kanagawa, created by Hokusai in 1831, is one of the world's most famous paintings.
But why are there more than 100 different versions of it in galleries all around the world?
Because it isn't actually a painting...
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This painting is 600 years old.
And that mirror in the background is barely ten centimetres across, yet it contains a reflection of the entire room.
Including the artist at work, one of the greatest painters who ever lived, a man called Jan van Eyck...
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Skyscrapers used to be Art Deco and neo-Gothic, so what happened?
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This photo is 113 years old.
It was taken by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, an early pioneer of colour photography.
If you've ever wondered what the world used to look like, Prokudin-Gorsky's photos will show you...
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Thread of the most beautiful paintings of storms at sea:
The Great Wave off the Coast of Kanagawa by Hokusai (1833)
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Why Beauty Matters
(and how it has been destroyed by "usability")
A short thread...
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Have you ever noticed that the save icon is a floppy disk, even though they became obsolete twenty years ago?
That's called a "skeuomorph" - when something new takes on the appearance of what it replaced.
And once you start to look, they're everywhere...
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Why replacing orange street lights is an aesthetic downgrade — and bad for our health:
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An example of architecture from every single country in the world, in alphabetical order.
Starting with Afghanistan's Minaret of Jam.
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One painting from every year of the 20th century, in chronological order.
1900: Sunbeams by Vilhelm Hammershøi
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Why did Vincent van Gogh paint this skeleton smoking a cigarette in 1886?
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Everybody knows that Vincent van Gogh loved the colour yellow. But why?
Well, the story begins 19,000 years ago...
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Why has traditional architecture all around the world disappeared?
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Why did Claude Monet love the colour blue so much?
Well, it all began with four friends and a mistake...
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Shakespeare's best (and strangest) insults, a thread:
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Have you ever wondered why the world is full of box-shaped buildings with square windows, plain walls, and no ornamentation?
Well, it's because of this house in Austria.
It may look ordinary, but that's the point. It's actually 112 years old...
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Do you ever feel that some cities are just more alive than others?
It's probably because they're "mixed-use".
This is a simple idea, but it changes everything...
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This is the Apennine Colossus.
It is 442 years old and nearly 40 feet tall.
Here is its story...
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12 Reasons Why Cities Need More Trees:
1. Temperature Control
One large tree is equivalent to 10 air conditioning units, and the shade they provide can reduce street temperature by more than 30%.
2. Noise Reduction
Trees can reduce loudness by up to 50%. In urban areas
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This painting is over 100 years old.
It's by Zinaida Serebriakova, a wonderful painter with a fascinating life whose story is worth knowing...
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You might not have seen it before, but this is the world's 4th tallest building.
It's the Makkah Clock Royal Tower, built ten years ago in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
And it's not the only megastructure you probably haven't heard of...
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Girl with a Pearl Earring, painted by Vermeer in 1665, might just be the most famous and beloved portrait in the world.
But who is the girl?
Well, that's the thing. There was no girl, because this isn't a portrait...
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This may seem like an ordinary portrait, but look closer.
That grey mark at the bottom is actually a skull when viewed from the right angle.
It's The Ambassadors, painted by Hans Holbein the Younger nearly 500 years ago, and one of art's greatest mysteries...
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We've all heard of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
But where are they? Who built them and why? Were they even real?
Well, the first thing is that the idea of "Seven Wonders" is itself 2,000 years old...
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The small city of Lugo in northern Spain has a special secret.
It is the *only* place in the world to have a complete set of intact Roman walls. They were built 2,000 years ago and surround the entire old town.
But how did they survive? That's where it gets interesting...
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When people talk about "Gothic architecture" we tend to think of cathedrals and churches.
But the Middle Ages were also full of beautiful town halls, universities, hospitals, and bridges.
So here is a journey through the world of secular Gothic architecture...
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Do you ever feel that older cities are just more interesting than new ones?
Well, it isn't just because they're old.
It's because of something called "vernacular architecture"...
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One year is exactly 365.2422 days long.
More than two thousand years ago a Greek astronomer called Hipparchus calculated the length of a year to within 0.005 of that figure.
And he didn't even have a telescope...
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A short history of the world in 13 maps & infographics:
1. Everybody alive today compared to everybody who has ever lived
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Why does Argentina wear a pale blue and white football kit?
It's a story that involves the Byzantine Empire, Renaissance painters, Napoleon, and a revolution...
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14 wonders of Gothic (and Neo-Gothic) architecture:
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Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" is one of the world's most famous images.
But what is it? Who the hell is he? Why does he have four arms and four legs?
The answer probably has something to do with the room you're sitting in right now...
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Why don't we make interesting drain pipes any more?
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This is Barcelona at night, one of the world's most unique cities. But why does it look like that?
Well, until 1855 it was overcrowded, dirty, and diseased — then something special happened.
Here is how you build a beautiful city...
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Art Nouveau doorways are delightful.
Like this one in Brussels, designed by Ernest Delune in 1893 for the house of a famous glass maker.
And there are plenty more just like it...
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Why are the same words spelled differently in American and British English?
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A guide to the Nine Circles of Hell according to Dante's Inferno.
From the sins that will land you a place in each circle (including astrology and political corruption) to how you'll be punished and who else is already there...
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One painting from every year of the 19th century, in chronological order.
1801: Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David
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Want to know the difference between the Ancient Greeks and the Ancient Romans? Just look at their statues.
Art always tells you what a society wants to believe about itself.
So, from the Soviet Union to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, here's what art says about who we are...
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On this day 2,068 years ago Julius Caesar was assassinated in broad daylight in the middle of Rome.
But it wasn't a mob or popular uprising — Caesar was killed by a group of disgruntled senators.
Here's how it happened, moment by moment, on that fateful day in 44 BC...
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This painting is over 100 years old.
It was made by a Swedish illustrator called John Bauer, one of the most important artists you've never heard of.
His revolutionary art influenced everything from graphic novels to animated films to video games, and here's why...
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A brief introduction to Albert Bierstadt, one of the greatest landscape painters who ever lived...
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What I'm talking about is unconscious, small m minimalism.
Which has become the social default for seemingly every design choice, whether architectural or corporate or anything else.
It is a troubling phenomenon because of what minimalism represents: a lack of detail.
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This is Swaminarayan Akshardham, a colossal Hindu temple in Delhi built with marble and limestone and covered in thousands of sculptures.
But this is not an ancient temple — it is less than twenty years old.
And it might change the future of architecture...
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A little thread of the world's most beautiful villages:
Aitoliko, Aetolia-Acarnania, Greece
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This city is not in Italy, France, or Germany.
It's in China and it's less than ten years old.
This is Huawei's R&D Headquarters, where 25,000 people work, and it might just be the most interesting office building(s) in the world...
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The letters "ough" can be pronounced at least 8 different ways in English.
How did that happen?!
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If you're interested in the Middle Ages, here are 16 paintings you'll absolutely love...
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Don't fear the semicolon.
Here's how to use it:
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Why does detail matter? Think of it as identity.
What gives the phone box on the left its distinctive character?
The details: colour, mouldings around the door, the ornamentation at the top.
The phone box on the right has no real detail, and no character.
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Why did René Magritte paint a man with his face hidden by an apple in 1946?
And why did he call it The Son of Man?
Welcome to the uncanny world of Surrealism...
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16 of the creepiest paintings ever made:
1. Saturn Devouring His Son by Peter Paul Rubens (1636)
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Who is Santa Claus, why does he look like that, and where did he come from?
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Mosques are filled with complex geometry, kaleidoscopic colour, and intricate ornamentation.
Why do they look like that?
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Exactly 1,602 years ago today the city of Venice was founded.
So here's a thread of some of the most beautiful places in one of the world's most beautiful cities:
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This is the Hawa Mahal in Jaipur, India.
Even though its name means "Palace of the Winds" it isn't actually a palace.
In truth, the Hawa Mahal is something much more interesting...
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Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany is one of the world's most famous and beautiful castles.
But it isn't a real castle: it has central heating, hot water, flushing toilets, telephones, and elevators.
Because Neuschwanstein is actually the world's biggest work of fan fiction...
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The Sagrada Família in Barcelona, started 142 years ago and still not quite finished, is one of the world's most beloved buildings.
And that makes sense, because it's totally unique, right? Not exactly.
This is the story of how you create an iconic building...
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14 paintings by famous artists you probably haven't seen before:
1. Smoking Skull by Vincent van Gogh (1886)
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This is the town of Shibam in Yemen, known as the "Manhattan of the Desert".
But it's much older than Manhattan — these skyscrapers are 500 years old...
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This is the Statue of Unity in India, completed in 2018.
At 240 metres tall including its base - nearly three times the height of the Statue of Liberty - it's the tallest statue in the world.
Here are eleven more marvels of colossal sculpture...
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On this day 197 years ago the world's first ever public railway was opened in northern England.
And a whole new form of architecture was born: the train station.
So, to celebrate, here are some of the world's greatest train stations...
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This painting is from 1833.
It's by Thomas Cole, an artist of extraordinary imaginative power.
But The Titan's Goblet isn't even his masterpiece...
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How many large corporations have rebranded towards far more simplified logos?
This is a notorious recent example.
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Why does The Lord of the Rings trilogy still look so good?
Many reasons, but here's one: Minas Tirith wasn't CGI. They built a miniature version of the whole city and filmed that. It looks realistic... because it was real.
And this wasn't even the biggest model they made...
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There's more to the world of art than Leonardo da Vinci and Pablo Picasso.
So here are 11 brilliant, beautiful, & bizarre painters you've (probably) never heard of:
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This two thousand year old statue is called Laocoön and His Sons.
And it's one of the most divisive works of art in history...
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This image was not generated by AI.
It's a 450 year old painting called The Librarian, by the wildly inventive artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
And his other paintings only get stranger...
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Pelé made Brazil's kit the most famous of any sports team in the world.
But why is it yellow, green, and blue?
It's a story that involves crushing defeat, the Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon's sister-in-law, and dragons...
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This painting has no brush strokes — it is made from over 2,000,000 individual dots of colour.
And though this may look like nothing more than a sunny afternoon in Paris, it has a much darker hidden meaning...
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A brief introduction to Neoclassical Architecture...
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Brazil is home to some of the most beautiful and diverse architecture in the world, from Baroque to Brutalism. Here's just a few of the best:
Library of the Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading, Rio de Janeiro (1887)
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We're so used to seeing and hearing about the pyramids that it's easy to forget how strange and extraordinary they really are.
So, just to remind you:
When woolly mammoths went extinct the Pyramids of Giza were already more than 500 years old.
Cleopatra and Julius Caesar are…
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The Ancient Greeks had two words for time:
1. Chronos = sequential, quantitative time
2. Kairos = fluctuating, qualitative time
Here's why you need to understand kairos...
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This is a sewage pumping station from 1865.
Why did the Victorians build things like that? Were they just confused? Or did they have the right idea?
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This painting is over 200 years old.
It's by William Blake: the most radical, terrifying, and visionary artist you'll ever know...
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Perhaps minimalist design is so prevalent because we no longer have anything to say.
You don't need me to explain what the Gothic cathedral says, for example.
But the skyscraper? It doesn't say anything, really. It's just... *there*.
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Today is the winter solstice - the first day of the season. So here is a thread of the most beautiful paintings of winter:
The Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1565)
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Thread of the most beautiful paintings of the moon:
The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh (1889)
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What are all these scribbles on your keyboard?
A brief history of punctuation marks:
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Setting is a big part of any film, but how do you get the right place?
You can use CGI, build a set — or find the perfect location.
So from Star Wars to The Grand Budapest Hotel, here are some real places you might recognise from fictional worlds...
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In the 19th century Paris was torn down and totally rebuilt according to the urban plan of just two men.
It might be considered one of the world's most beautiful cities now, but people at the time hated this new version of Paris...
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Why did M.C. Escher draw this impossible world in 1953?
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Victor Hugo is most famous for writing beloved novels like Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
But he was also one of the greatest painters of the 19th century.
And Hugo's art, kept secret until after his death, is unlike anything you've seen before...
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The Birth of Venus, painted by Sandro Botticelli in 1485, is one of the world's most famous and beloved paintings.
But it was completely forgotten for nearly four hundred years because nobody thought it was any good.
So... what changed?
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