https://www.loeweljournals.com/features daily 0.75 2026-08-09 https://www.loeweljournals.com/features/the-sick-child monthly 0.5 2026-08-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a2a17ddad36e57b666d8ccb/d606bcb7-7764-4a95-9931-1d2be79102c7/The+Sick+Child+-+Munch.jpg Features - Still Aching Today - Take a look at this painting. This is Edvard Munch’s The Sick Child (1885-1886). The painting depicts a child and a woman, interpreted by many to be the child’s aunt, together in a room. Notice the hands: they are the sharpest connection within the painting. Neither person can change what’s happening, but they refuse to let go. This child is Johanne Sophie, Edvard Munch’s one-year-older sister, on her deathbed, after being infected by Tuberculosis. She died at 15. The woman never looks at the child. Instead of making eye contact, the woman buries her face. Her posture communicates grief more than any facial expression could. Yet, the child seems strangely calm. While the adult is overcome with emotion, the child appears quiet and accepting, staring into a dark curtain, which many interpret as death. EDVARD MUNCH PAINTED THIS 6 TIMES. Art captures what words cannot. He turned his childhood grief into something that still aches today. Edvard Munch, The Sick Child, 1885-1886. Oil on canvas, 118.5 x 120 cm. Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain). https://www.loeweljournals.com/features/our-saint-rosala monthly 0.5 2026-08-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a2a17ddad36e57b666d8ccb/5237a893-b2fa-4ec3-b69a-7dab39c99c23/466833b4ef5d938c51186f81fa50e4c5.516x516x1.png Features - Our Saint Rosalía - HOW LUX BLENDS ANDALUSIAN DEVOTION WITH FEMININE RECLAMATION A deep-dive into Rosalía’s “De Madrugá,” and how it relates to Artemisia Gentileschi’s baroque masterpieces. LUX album (2025). Image courtesy of Columbia Records / Sony Music Entertainment. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a2a17ddad36e57b666d8ccb/9c6b0d9e-c35c-40c3-911a-85e6410d23be/St+OLGA+of+KIEV+%28ROSALIA+FEATURE%29.jpg Features - Our Saint Rosalía - The Fire and the Crown: The Lore of Saint Olga The structural core and idea of one track that stood out to us the most, “De Madrugá,” her shortest with a run time of only 1 minute and 44 seconds, relies on an intentional subversion of what is seen as holy identity. Rosalía strips away the sorrowful and passive imagery traditionally associated with feminine divinity, choosing instead to refer to Saint Olga of Kyiv. In a haunting vocal shift, Rosalía shifts the language entirely to chant in Ukranian: “Я не шукаю помсти, помста шукає мене” (“I do not seek revenge, revenge seeks me”). This verse represents the legacy of Olga, a 10th-century regent who followed through on a series of blood-soaked acts of vengeance aimed at the Drevlians to avenge her murdered husband. Her most famous act of retribution involved her “Fire Birds,” where she demanded pigeons and sparrows from her enemies as an act of peace, only to have her soldiers tie burning cloth to the birds’ legs, letting them fly back to set their entire city ablaze. Rosalía further mirrors this piece of folklore, singing her Spanish lines: “Traigo mil lenguas de fuego… t o'as en mi pelo” (“I bring a thousand tongues of fire… all in my hair”). By centering Olga’s ruthless yet calculated wrath, “De Madrugá” redefines what we consider the boundaries to holiness. Olga was later canonized as a saint years after her revenge-driven acts, transforming her into one of the most interesting contradictions in religion. Rosalía utilizes this twist to frame revenge as not mindless violence, but as a grueling and physical struggle with grief. Nikolay Bruni, Saint Olga (1901). Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a2a17ddad36e57b666d8ccb/794cb727-c1b6-4b6d-a0bd-341e835ae54a/Artemisia_Gentileschi_-_Judith_and_Her_Maidservant_with_the_Head_of_Holofernes_-_52.253_-_Detroit_Institute_of_Arts.jpg Features - Our Saint Rosalía - This strategy directly mirrors the style of Baroque Painter Artemisia Gentileschi. Just as Gentileschi used harsh shadows and candlelit scenes to depict powerful women taking back their power through bloodshed, specifically seen in Judith Slaying Holofernes (c. 1620) and Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes (ca.1623-1625), Rosalía uses her industrial electronic beats to transform a historic tragedy into a moment of female empowerment. Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes, ca.1623-1625, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mr. Leslie H. Green, 52.253. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a2a17ddad36e57b666d8ccb/fc497751-6a06-4fcf-b115-a6676a084049/IMG_5074.jpeg Features - Our Saint Rosalía - ECHOES OF THE MIDNIGHT PROCESSION While the track is explicitly built on the history of Saint Olga, its sound and hook draw striking similarities to Spain’s Holy Week (Semana Santa). The title itself, De Madrugá, echoes the phrase used to describe La Madrugá, which is the most sacred, tense, and sleepless night of the Spanish processions, taking place during the night of Maundy Thursday transitioning into Good Friday, where streets fall into a trance as massive pasos (floats carrying centuries-old sculptures) tower over the crowds, lit entirely by thousands of flickering candles. Hear the breathless flamenco palmas (clapping). They represent the suffocating pressure felt by costaleros, which are the hidden men who carry the multi-ton masterpieces on the back of their necks. Perhaps listen to this line of “De Madrugá:” “Me pesan las cadenas” (“The chains weigh me down”). Rosalía’s voice pierces the heavy instrumentation here, capturing the essence of what is a saeta: a religious song, coming from the Latin word sagitta, meaning arrow, where the raw voice pierces from the heart to religious statues below. When Rosalía sings, “La Cruz en el pecho calibra mi cuerpo, para desquitarme yo Tengo derecho.” (“The cross on my chest calibrates my body, I've got every right to get even”), she frames devotion as a physical test. Her body feels the heavy weight of her mourning until it changed her. The final phrase “на світанку” (“at dawn”) provides closure, signaling a sort of rebirth as the track shifts from the night to the day. Detail of a paso procession, Seville. Photography by LÖWEL, 2026. https://www.loeweljournals.com/features/scenes-from-the-story-of-nastagio-degli-onesti monthly 0.5 2026-08-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a2a17ddad36e57b666d8ccb/669dd041-bc75-4ef8-a035-14c4b724705a/Botticelli_Prado_104.jpg Features - Scenes from the Story of Nastagio degli Onesti - Make it stand out Sandro Botticelli, Scenes from the Story of Nastagio degli Onesti (1483). Mixed method, 82.5 × 138.5 cm. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain. https://www.loeweljournals.com/features/der-stephansdom-in-wien monthly 0.5 2026-08-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a2a17ddad36e57b666d8ccb/1782781758096-GCR6GRGFANSY034R5JQJ/Rudolf_von_Alt_-_Der_Stephansdom_in_Wien_%281832%29.jpg Features - Der Stephansdom in Wien - Rudolf von Alt, Der Stephansdom in Wien (1832). Oil on canvas, 46 × 57.5 cm. Upper Belvedere, Vienna. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain. Rudolf von Alt, Der Stephansdom in Wien (1832). Oil on canvas, 46 × 57.5 cm. Upper Belvedere, Vienna. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain. https://www.loeweljournals.com/features/la-maison-du-pendu monthly 0.5 2026-08-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a2a17ddad36e57b666d8ccb/22a47335-68ab-48e4-92b4-8cf4f11c06eb/La_Maison_du_pendu%2C_Auvers-sur-Oise%2C_par_Paul_C%C3%A9zanne%2C_FWN_81.jpg Features - La Maison du pendu - Paul Cézanne, La Maison du Pendu (1873). Oil on canvas, 55.5 x 66.3 cm. Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain). Paul Cézanne, La Maison du pendu (The Hanged Man’s House) (1873). Oil on canvas, 55.5 × 66.3 cm. Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain. https://www.loeweljournals.com/features/blog-post-title-four-lr658-tcthp-7nadf-z5jm5 monthly 0.5 2026-08-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a2a17ddad36e57b666d8ccb/57292bd0-2ef5-473c-a3ad-5e3d18866701/Fragonard%2C_The_Swing+%282%29.jpg Features - The Swing - Make it stand out Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing (1767). Oil on canvas, 81 × 64 cm. The Wallace Collection, London. 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