# The Lonely Palette

The Lonely Palette is an art history podcast hosted by Tamar Avishai, a lecturer at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In each episode, Avishai focuses on a single work of art, explaining its historical context and significance. The podcast has been received positively by critics and won several awards.

## Format

Each episode examines a single work of art. Avishai begins with a montage of person on the street interviews with museum-goers at the Museum of Fine Arts reacting to the work. She then explains its historical context and significance.

## Reception

The podcast has been received positively and recognized on a number of best-of lists. It won The Improper Bostonian's 2018 best podcast award.

## Episodes

| No. | Title | Original release date |
| 1 | "Paul Cézanne's Fruit and Jug on a Table (c. 1890–94)" | May 11, 2016 (2016-05-11) |
| 2 | "Christian Boltanski's Lumieres (blue square – Sylvie) (2000)" | May 24, 2016 (2016-05-24) |
| 3 | "John Singleton Copley's Portrait of Samuel Adams (1771)" | June 7, 2016 (2016-06-07) |
| 4 | "Edgar Degas' Duchessa di Montejasi with Her Daughters, Elena and Camilla (c. 1876)" | June 21, 2016 (2016-06-21) |
| 5 | "Andy Warhol's Red Disaster (1962)" | July 5, 2016 (2016-07-05) |
| 6 | "Pablo Picasso's Portrait of a Woman (1910)" | July 20, 2016 (2016-07-20) |
| 7 | "Claude Monet's Rouen Cathedral Series (1892–94)" | September 7, 2016 (2016-09-07) |
| 8 | "Richard Serra's Torqued Ellipses (1998)" | September 21, 2016 (2016-09-21) |
| 9 | "Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Reclining Nude (1909)" | October 5, 2016 (2016-10-05) |
| 10 | "Piet Mondrian's Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue (1927)" | October 26, 2016 (2016-10-26) |
| 11 | "John Singer Sargent's The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit (1882)" | November 15, 2016 (2016-11-15) |
| 12 | "Jackson Pollock's Number 10 (1949)" | December 14, 2016 (2016-12-14) |
| 13 | "Edward Hopper's Room in Brooklyn (1932)" | January 4, 2017 (2017-01-04) |
| 14 | "Paul Gauguin's Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897–98)" | January 25, 2017 (2017-01-25) |
| 15 | "El Anatsui's Black River (2009)" | March 8, 2017 (2017-03-08) |
| 16 | "Vincent van Gogh's Postman Joseph Roulin (1888)" | March 29, 2017 (2017-03-29) |
| 17 | "Marcel Duchamp's Fountain (1917)" | April 18, 2017 (2017-04-18) |
| 18 | "J. M. W. Turner's The Slave Ship (1840)" | May 24, 2017 (2017-05-24) |
| 19 | "Guanyin, Bodhisattva of Compassion (Song Dynasty, 12th c. CE)" | June 14, 2017 (2017-06-14) |
| 20 | "Henryk Ross's Photographs of the Lodz Ghetto" | July 5, 2017 (2017-07-05) |
| 21 | "Mary Cassatt's In the Loge (1878)" | September 6, 2017 (2017-09-06) |
| 22 | "Jasper Johns' Target (1961)" | September 27, 2017 (2017-09-27) |
| 23 | "Umberto Boccioni's Forms of Continuity in Space (1913)" | November 1, 2017 (2017-11-01) |
| 24 | "Meditations on Mark Rothko" | November 22, 2017 (2017-11-22) |
| 25 | "Mission: Mona Lisa" | December 22, 2017 (2017-12-22) |
| 26 | "C.M. Coolidge's Dogs Playing Poker (1903)" | February 15, 2018 (2018-02-15) |
| 27 | "Roy Lichtenstein's Ohhh...Alright... (1964)" | March 7, 2018 (2018-03-07) |
| 28 | "Yoko Ono's Cut Piece (1964)" | March 29, 2018 (2018-03-29) |
| 29 | "Egon Schiele's Nude Self-Portrait (1910)" | April 26, 2018 (2018-04-26) |
| 30 | "Donatello's Madonna of the Clouds (c.1425–1435)" | May 31, 2018 (2018-05-31) |
| 31 | "Hiroshi Sugimoto's Byrd Theater, Richmond, 1993 (1993)" | July 12, 2018 (2018-07-12) |
| 32 | "René Magritte' The Son of Man (1964)" | August 28, 2018 (2018-08-28) |
| 33 | "Jean-Honoré Fragonard's The Desired Moment (c. 1770)" | September 13, 2018 (2018-09-13) |
| 34 | "Dance Dance Revolution" | November 14, 2018 (2018-11-14) |
| 35 | "Cecilia Vicuña's Disappeared Quipu (2018)" | December 14, 2018 (2018-12-14) |
| 36 | "Behold the Monkey" | January 31, 2019 (2019-01-31) |
| 37 | "Ansel Adams' The Tetons and Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming (1942)" | March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15) |
| 38 | "Wassily Kandinsky's Untitled (1922)" | March 28, 2019 (2019-03-28) |
| 39 | "Rembrandt van Rijn's Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh (1632)" | June 7, 2019 (2019-06-07) |
| 40 | "Frida Kahlo's Dos Mujeres (Salvadora y Herminia) (1928)" | July 19, 2019 (2019-07-19) |
| 41 | "Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait (1434)" | November 29, 2019 (2019-11-29) |
| 42 | "Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa (C.1829–1831)" | February 26, 2020 (2020-02-26) |
| 43 | "Carmen Herrera's Blanco y Verde (no. 1) (1962)" | March 1, 2020 (2020-03-01) |
| 44 | "Louise Bourgeois' Pillar (1949–50)" | March 8, 2020 (2020-03-08) |
| 45 | "Georgia O'Keeffe's Deer's Skull With Pedernal (1936)" | March 15, 2020 (2020-03-15) |
| 46 | "Patty Chang's Melons (At A Loss) (1998)" | March 22, 2020 (2020-03-22) |
| 47 | "Georges Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte (1884)" | May 4, 2020 (2020-05-04) |
| 48 | "Anselm Kiefer's Margarete and Sulamith (1981)" | August 3, 2020 (2020-08-03) |
| 49 | "Claes Oldenburg's Giant Toothpaste Tube (1964)" | September 10, 2020 (2020-09-10) |
| 50 | "Carrie Mae Weems's Not Manet's Type (1997)" | December 4, 2020 (2020-12-04) |

### Special Episodes

| No. | Title | Original release date |
| 0 | "Art! What is it Good For?" | May 4, 2016 (2016-05-04) |
| 0.2 | "Introducing Hub & Spoke (by way of Soonish)" | October 25, 2017 (2017-10-25) |

### Interviews

| No. | Title | Original release date |
| TBA | "Keepers of the Culture: A Celebration Of Maduna And Holmes (Live Event at the PRX Podcast Garage)" | February 7, 2018 (2018-02-07) |
| TBA | "Cecilia Vicuña, Poet & Artist" | December 14, 2018 (2018-12-14) |
| TBA | "Dan Byers, Director of the Carpenter Center, Harvard University" | March 28, 2019 (2019-03-28) |
| TBA | "The Guerrilla Girls, Feminist Activists & Artists" | November 12, 2019 (2019-11-12) |
| TBA | "Ralph Steadman, Artist & Illustrator" | December 18, 2019 (2019-12-18) |