Storytelling has always been an important part of art. Artists have depicted stories from religion, myths, history, literature, and daily life. This gallery includes artworks that show the range of subject matter artists tackled and their varying approaches to storytelling, from the everyday to the dramatic. Some adapt sources from literature, while others create new fictional scenes that suggest meanings through the figures’ gestures and how they occupy their settings.
Image Credits:
Luca Giordano, Rest on the Flight into Egypt (detail), ca. 1660, oil on canvas, 69 7/8 x 112 3/8 in., Private Collection, photo © Oklahoma City Museum of Art
Doel Reed, Contemplation, ca. 1940, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in., Oklahoma City Museum of Art, gift of the Estate of Lela O’Toole, 1995.008, © Oklahoma State University Museum of Art, Stillwater, Oklahoma, photo © Oklahoma City Museum of Art
Francis Hayman, The Storm Scene in ‘King Lear’, mid-1760s, oil on canvas, 14 1/4 x 23 5/8 in., Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Museum purchase with funds provided by Angie Hester, 2001.011, Image by Google
