• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Farnam Street Logo

Farnam Street

  • Articles
  • Newsletter
  • Podcast
  • Books
  • Courses
  • Log In
  • Become a Member

Art

“Jootsing”: The Key to Creativity

Creativity can seem like a mysterious process. But many of the most creative people understand that you can actually break it down into a simple formula, involving what researcher Douglas Hofstadter calls “jootsing.” Here’s how …

Read more“Jootsing”: The Key to Creativity

7 Things I Learned in Architecture School

“Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context —a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.” — Eliel Saarinen *** “The following lessons in design, …

Read more7 Things I Learned in Architecture School

John Seabrook and the Modern Song Machine

Ever noticed a certain “sameness” to the pop songs you hear nowadays? A similarity in their structure, feel, and the voices you hear on the tunes? You’re correctly clued in. Mostly gone are the days of Elton John and …

Read moreJohn Seabrook and the Modern Song Machine

Agnes Martin on The Secret of Happiness

“The best things in life happen to you when you’re alone.” *** Agnes Martin was a famous abstract painter and minimalist. In this short interview with Chuck Smith and Sono Kuwayama from her studio in 1997, the 85-year-old …

Read moreAgnes Martin on The Secret of Happiness

Rendez-Vous with Art: The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Art

Philippe de Montebello was the longest-serving Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1977-2008). Martin Gayford was an acclaimed art critic. Their book, Rendez-Vous with Art, is structured around the conversations they had …

Read moreRendez-Vous with Art: The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Art

Vincent van Gogh on Color

In a letter to his brother Theo, dated July 1882, found in Ever Yours: The Essential Letters, Vincent van Gogh describes how the simple few fundamentals combine into nearly endless permutations. Absolute black doesn’t in fact occur. Like …

Read moreVincent van Gogh on Color

What A Rembrandt Can Teach you about Software and Programmers

A thoughtful passage by David Gelernter in Mirror Worlds: or the Day Software Puts the Universe in a Shoebox…How It Will Happen and What It Will Mean on how looking at a Rembrandt can teach us to better understand not only software …

Read moreWhat A Rembrandt Can Teach you about Software and Programmers

The Notebooks of Paul Klee

“Ingres is said to have created an artistic order out of rest; I should like to create an order from feeling and, going still further, from motion.” *** Paul Klee was a painter who wrote extensively about color theory. His …

Read moreThe Notebooks of Paul Klee

Hans Ulrich Obrist On The Pace of The World And the Value of Slowness

Hans Ulrich Obrist is a legendary curator and interviewer. In the book Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Curating, the tables are turned and he is the one being interviewed. Here is a noteworthy exchange between him and Jefferson …

Read moreHans Ulrich Obrist On The Pace of The World And the Value of Slowness

William Blake — Heaven and Hell

“If the lion was advised by the fox, he would be cunning.” *** Two excerpts from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell found in The Essential Blake. The Voice of the Devil All Bibles or sacred codes have been the …

Read moreWilliam Blake — Heaven and Hell

Susan Sontag: Against Interpretation

Against Interpretation, Susan Sontag’s second book, was published in 1966, but some of the essays date back to 1961, when she was still writing for The Benefactor. Sontag had come to New York in the early 60’s, eager to become …

Read moreSusan Sontag: Against Interpretation

Rembrandt — The Power of Art

You’re a painter. What’s the worst thing that can happen to you: neglect, derision, disgrace? Worse than all these misfortunes is to have to mutilate your masterpiece, the bravest thing you’ve ever tried. That’s what …

Read moreRembrandt — The Power of Art

The Château de Versailles: From The Seat of Power to The Museum Of The History of France

The Palace of Versailles, also know as The Château de Versailles, began as King Louis XIII’s hunting lodge. It is now considered one of the most beautiful achievements of 18th-century French art. The son of King Louis XIII, Louis XIV, …

Read moreThe Château de Versailles: From The Seat of Power to The Museum Of The History of France

Physicist Richard Feynman on Beauty of a Flower

Richard Feynman talking about the beauty of the natural world. I have a friend who’s an artist and has sometimes taken a view which I don’t agree with very well. He’ll hold up a flower and say “look how beautiful it …

Read morePhysicist Richard Feynman on Beauty of a Flower

Discover What You’re Missing

Get the weekly email full of actionable ideas and insights you can use at work and home.


As seen on:

Forbes logo
New York Times logo
Wall Street Journal logo
The Economist logo
Financial Times logo
Farnam Street Logo

© 2023 Farnam Street Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Proudly powered by WordPress. Hosted by Pressable. See our Privacy Policy.

  • Speaking
  • Sponsorship
  • About
  • Support
  • Education

We’re Syrus Partners.
We buy amazing businesses.


Farnam Street participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising commissions by linking to Amazon.