The canal district of Amsterdam in the Netherlands celebrates 400 years in 2013. The Rijksmuseum has undergone ten years of renovation and restoration. I’ll discuss the major museums of Amsterdam.

Born in Dublin to Irish and French parents, then emigrating to the US, Augustus Saint-Gaudens was lauded by President Theodore Roosevelt and historian Lorado Taft. I’ll explain why he was called ‘the greatest sculptor of the late 19th century’.

The 'Mona Lisa' by Leonardo da Vinci is an enigmatic painting raising questions as to the identity of the sitter, why Napoleon’s obsession and inspiring a song and movie in modern times. What really lies behind that mysterious Mona Lisa smile?

'The Scream' was an 1893 painting that became an iconic symbol for a stressful life in twentieth and twenty-first century pop culture. Did the Norwegian Expressionist painter Edvard Munch intend for 'The Scream' to have such mass appeal?

In my interpretation of Michelangelo’s fresco on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, what did God’s finger bring to Adam? Was it life or intelligence? I’ll introduce a third theory.

The Surrealist movement in art originated at the end of WWI. I will discuss the works of Surrealist painters Salvador Dalí and René Magritte.