1656, The Hague, Confrerie Pictura The Dutch Golden Age turned a rebellion into a republic. It gave birth to markets of memory. In a century, artists created millions of windows into the natural world and natural order, of life and death. A record of a nation’s land, people and possessions was created. A virtual reality on canvas was a fusion of accuracy with artifice. Still life which simulated life. Works that captured both the senses and sentiment. Determination and desire were recorded al...

1656, The Hague, Confrerie Pictura The Dutch Golden Age turned a rebellion into a republic. It gave birth to markets of memory. In a century, artists created millions of windows into the natural world and natural order, of life and death. A record of a nation’s land, people and possessions was created. A virtual reality on canvas was a fusion of accuracy with artifice. Still life which simulated life. Works that captured both the senses and sentiment. Determination and desire were recorded al...

1664 The Hague The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 unleashed a Dutch Golden Age. Over a million paintings were created. Some were special, “1 of 1”: Rachel Ruysch, born in 1664. Rachel's father, Frederik, was a leading scientist with a collection of animal skeletons, mineral and plant samples. It inspired her as a child to draw them with uncanny accuracy. Her talents matched a society whose passions included art, flowers, and nature. At 14, she apprenticed with a leading artist, and develope...

1664 The Hague The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 unleashed a Dutch Golden Age. Over a million paintings were created. Some were special, “1 of 1”: Rachel Ruysch, born in 1664. Rachel's father, Frederik, was a leading scientist with a collection of animal skeletons, mineral and plant samples. It inspired her as a child to draw them with uncanny accuracy. Her talents matched a society whose passions included art, flowers, and nature. At 14, she apprenticed with a leading artist, and develope...

1791 Philadelphia Spanish Dollars were the tokens of a 18th Century Startup, the United States of America. Inspired by the silver "Thalers" of the Netherlands, the coins were minted by slaves of the Spanish Empire, and became the currency of rebels. The myth of the pirates' "pieces of eight", where a merchant made change by breaking a dollar into 8 "bits", was suitable for a country which itself was a fraction broken off from an empire. Despite no legal trade between Spain and England, B...

1791 Philadelphia Spanish Dollars were the tokens of a 18th Century Startup, the United States of America. Inspired by the silver "Thalers" of the Netherlands, the coins were minted by slaves of the Spanish Empire, and became the currency of rebels. The myth of the pirates' "pieces of eight", where a merchant made change by breaking a dollar into 8 "bits", was suitable for a country which itself was a fraction broken off from an empire. Despite no legal trade between Spain and England, B...

1648 The High Seas Elizabeth I, inherited a pittance of a navy, and William of Orange, wanted to free the Dutch from Spain. Both enlisted Pirates as privateers, to raid the ships of the House of Bourbon, rulers of the Spanish Empire. Religion, gold and power were the prizes. An armada of brigands. Navies for hire began to lose favor with the Peace of Westphalia. State owned armadas were on the rise. “You do not have to be afraid of them, Milady, they are only ragged beggars” -Councillor Charl...

1648 The High Seas Elizabeth I, inherited a pittance of a navy, and William of Orange, wanted to free the Dutch from Spain. Both enlisted Pirates as privateers, to raid the ships of the House of Bourbon, rulers of the Spanish Empire. Religion, gold and power were the prizes. An armada of brigands. Navies for hire began to lose favor with the Peace of Westphalia. State owned armadas were on the rise. “You do not have to be afraid of them, Milady, they are only ragged beggars” -Councillor Charl...

1963, Manhattan William threw haircutting parties. One friend brought an artist who experimented with silk screening to make paintings and adding new shadows and contours to photos. William's apartment was covered in foil and silver paint. The artist asked him to decorate his new loft in the same way. William said “yes”, and helped Andy Warhol create his art scenius, "The Factory". Andy was in the business of art. "Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money ...

1963, Manhattan William threw haircutting parties. One friend brought an artist who experimented with silk screening to make paintings and adding new shadows and contours to photos. William's apartment was covered in foil and silver paint. The artist asked him to decorate his new loft in the same way. William said “yes”, and helped Andy Warhol create his art scenius, "The Factory". Andy was in the business of art. "Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money ...

1648 Münster and Osnabrück, Holy Roman Empire It seemed endless, decades of war which killed millions, but the Peace of Westphalia came. A Dutch Republic was free of the Spanish Empire. By the time the treaties were signed, the rebel provinces were a world power. The Dutch Golden Age was a miracle. The world’s first stock exchange, first global corporation, an early central bank, and windmill powered shipbuilding, while the ports’ geographic sweet spot captured half of European shipping. Inte...

1648 Münster and Osnabrück, Holy Roman Empire It seemed endless, decades of war which killed millions, but the Peace of Westphalia came. A Dutch Republic was free of the Spanish Empire. By the time the treaties were signed, the rebel provinces were a world power. The Dutch Golden Age was a miracle. The world’s first stock exchange, first global corporation, an early central bank, and windmill powered shipbuilding, while the ports’ geographic sweet spot captured half of European shipping. Inte...

1918 Paris The Great War, the war to end all wars, in fact ended the 19th Century. Patriotism and propaganda gave way to protest and pacifism. Wars change everything. After the Great War, past art movements bled into Modernism. It bore Surrealism - a new unreal reality - whose muses were scarred and traumatized soldiers. New art to describe the indescribable. "In the war, things were in terrible turmoil. What I had learned at the academy was of no use to me and the useful new ideas were still...

1918 Paris The Great War, the war to end all wars, in fact ended the 19th Century. Patriotism and propaganda gave way to protest and pacifism. Wars change everything. After the Great War, past art movements bled into Modernism. It bore Surrealism - a new unreal reality - whose muses were scarred and traumatized soldiers. New art to describe the indescribable. "In the war, things were in terrible turmoil. What I had learned at the academy was of no use to me and the useful new ideas were still...

1904, Paris Henri Matisse wished for “a small syndicate that would give me enough money to work for a year". André Level, lawyer from a respected family of industrialists, raised a fund to buy a collection of work from emerging and unappreciated artists. Art in the eyes of some, bizarre trash to many - opportunity for Level. Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, and van Gogh were among the 60 artists in 145 works which "La Peau de l’Ours", "Skin of the Bear", bought in 1904. The sale in a dreary auction...

1904, Paris Henri Matisse wished for “a small syndicate that would give me enough money to work for a year". André Level, lawyer from a respected family of industrialists, raised a fund to buy a collection of work from emerging and unappreciated artists. Art in the eyes of some, bizarre trash to many - opportunity for Level. Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, and van Gogh were among the 60 artists in 145 works which "La Peau de l’Ours", "Skin of the Bear", bought in 1904. The sale in a dreary auction...

1602 Batavia (later known as Jakarta, Indonesia) The Dutch golden age disrupted the Spanish Empire's dominion over the world, and the shadow of a handful of potentates in Amsterdam loomed over millions. A new center emerged for commerce, commodities and confusion de confusiones. Disruption and disaggregation were bundled into a piece of paper: a "Company". The VOC, short for "Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie", was the first of its kind. The Reformation bound together innovations from th...

1602 Batavia (later known as Jakarta, Indonesia) The Dutch golden age disrupted the Spanish Empire's dominion over the world, and the shadow of a handful of potentates in Amsterdam loomed over millions. A new center emerged for commerce, commodities and confusion de confusiones. Disruption and disaggregation were bundled into a piece of paper: a "Company". The VOC, short for "Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie", was the first of its kind. The Reformation bound together innovations from th...

1648 Amsterdam Pliny the Elder said a girl became the muse of painting after drawing an outline of a boy she loved, following his shadow cast by lamplight. Love made the myth of the muse. The 80 Years War faded into the peace of Westphalia in 1648, a Dutch Golden Age shined. Its art flowered into a million works. A handful of artists entered myth and history. Rembrandt, revered for his shadows - subdued earth tones, dark spaces punctuated with flares. Vermeer, loved for his light - yellows of...

1648 Amsterdam Pliny the Elder said a girl became the muse of painting after drawing an outline of a boy she loved, following his shadow cast by lamplight. Love made the myth of the muse. The 80 Years War faded into the peace of Westphalia in 1648, a Dutch Golden Age shined. Its art flowered into a million works. A handful of artists entered myth and history. Rembrandt, revered for his shadows - subdued earth tones, dark spaces punctuated with flares. Vermeer, loved for his light - yellows of...

1990, PLANET EARTH The lines of reality after 1945 shift, an end and a beginning. A wall falls. A divided Germany unifies. East meets West. Berlin becomes one city again. Europe begins to form a union. At the same time other nations come apart, the U.S.S.R. and Yugoslavia. Billionaires are created by the former, and bombs will drop in the latter. The first McDonalds and Pizza Huts open in Russia. An army in Iraq invades a smaller neighboring country, Kuwait. A Long War will begin. A marginal ...

1990, PLANET EARTH The lines of reality after 1945 shift, an end and a beginning. A wall falls. A divided Germany unifies. East meets West. Berlin becomes one city again. Europe begins to form a union. At the same time other nations come apart, the U.S.S.R. and Yugoslavia. Billionaires are created by the former, and bombs will drop in the latter. The first McDonalds and Pizza Huts open in Russia. An army in Iraq invades a smaller neighboring country, Kuwait. A Long War will begin. A marginal ...

1907, Mexico City Magdalena was born in a village, known as "the Place of the Coyotes". Isolated for polio at 6, her photographer father, nurtured the artist inside her. The early years were punctuated with her parents' unhappy marriage and hardships. Despite all of this, she began a medical education at an elite school. This all changed with a bus accident. She was impaled by an iron handrail through her pelvis, her bones and spine broken. She was reborn as an artist who traveled the co...

1907, Mexico City Magdalena was born in a village, known as "the Place of the Coyotes". Isolated for polio at 6, her photographer father, nurtured the artist inside her. The early years were punctuated with her parents' unhappy marriage and hardships. Despite all of this, she began a medical education at an elite school. This all changed with a bus accident. She was impaled by an iron handrail through her pelvis, her bones and spine broken. She was reborn as an artist who traveled the co...