Adolf von Becker | Genre painter

Adolf von Becker (1831-1909) was a Finnish genre painter and art professor of German descent.

He was one of the first Finnish artists to study in Paris, who taught many of the young artists of the Golden Age of Finnish Art.

Becker was born in Helsinki, where he began his artistic studies at the newly founded Finnish Art Society Drawing School; he also studied law.

Alexei Antonov, 1957 | Still life painter

Aлексей Антонов is a Russian artist who has studied art in Russia, Azerbaijan and Italy, and has been living in the US since 1990.

TAlexei Antonov has created a stunning collection of still life paintings that embody hyper realism and classic work of Renaissance masters.

Antonov was literally born an artist, began to draw, as he remembers - since the age of three.

The first drawings were made by mom’s lipstick, right on the wallpaper.

Tatiana Deriy, 1973 | Figurative painter

Tatiana Deriy / Татьяна Дерий is a dynamically growing painter, whose major creative goal is comprehension of unity of the world's esthetic beauty and its profound meaning as well as rendering them to viewers through painting.

Born in a wonderful part of Moscow region, not far from "Archangelskoye" estate full of creations of famous architects and sculptors, refinement of palace parks and canvases by Veronese and Tintoretto, at an early age she developed special world outlook which later on defined the tenor of her work, based on the sense of harmony and beauty.

Vladimir Mukhin, 1971 | Romantic painter

Vladimir Mukhin captivates audiences with his art, seamlessly blending lyricism, refined lines, and vibrant energy.

His works harmoniously merge the rich color palette of impressionism with the dynamism of Art Nouveau and the foundational techniques of traditional academic painting.

Born in Kazakhstan, Vladimir Mukhin honed his skills at the Penza Savitsky Art College before embarking on a transformative journey at the renowned Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture in Moscow.

Vladimir Volegov | Il pittore Romantico delle figure

Vladimir Volegov nacque nella città di Khabarovsk il 19 dicembre 1957.

All'età di due anni, sua madre abbandonò il padre, prese il figlio e si trasferì a Sverdlovsk (ex Ekaterinburg).

Da allora in poi, la famiglia si trasferì spesso da una città all'altra.

La madre desiderava che Volegov diventasse medico, ma lui nutriva un forte desiderio di dipingere.

Alexei Butirskiy, 1974 | Cityscape painter

Born in Moscow, Russian painter Алексей Бутырский entered Moscow Art College in 1992.

In 1996 he completed his studies at the Art College and graduated with an Excellence Diploma.

In 1998 he graduated from the Russian Academy of the Arts where he studied under respected professor, L.S. Hasyanova.

He graduated from the Academy with the highest honors attainable.

Alexei currently serves as Professor of Drawing at the same academy.

Alexander Sheversky, 1961 | Ballet dancers

Alexander Sheversky is an artist who truly captures the essence of beauty with his brushstrokes, whether he is painting a still life, a ballerina, or an assortment of candy in a crystal clear Mason jar.

Clean, modern, crisp. Sheversky's art speaks to his technical training, discipline, and great patience.

Alexander employes these same skills, in his daily practice of yoga.

Alexander Sheversky, born in the Republic of Moldova, the son of an accomplished artist.

Marc Chagall's America Windows, 1977

The America Windows are a stunning display of the iconic style of one of the world’s most prolific and expressive artists.

They capture Marc Chagall’s unique vision as he reflected, late in his career, on the resilience and freedom of the creative spirit.

At eight feet high and thirty feet across, these stained glass windows are a vast arrangement of colors of the highest intensity - bright reds, oranges, yellows, and greens - placed against brilliant shades of blue. Representations of people, animals, and items such as writing implements, musical instruments, and artists’ tools float above a skyline of buildings and trees.

Marc Chagall | The Tree of Life, 1963 | Stained glass

The Tree of Life or The Peace window - La Paix ou L’Arbre de vie - at the chapel of Cordeliers of Sarrebourg, a small town in the Vosges Mountains in France, is a stained-glass window about 15 feet (4,6 meters) wide and 12 feet (3,7 meters) high, contains several symbols of peace and love, such as the young child in the center, being kissed by an angelic face which emerges from a mass of flowers.

The Peace Window / Tree of Life is the largest stained-glass window made by Marc Chagall.

On the left, below and above, motherhood and the people who are struggling for peace are depicted.

Musical symbols in the panel evoke thoughts of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which was a favourite of Mr. Hammarskjöld's.

Konstantin Razumov, 1974 | Children's world

Konstantín Rázumov (Константин Разумов) is a Russian painter with a realistic-impressionistic tendency.

He began his studies in art and painting in the studio Ilyá Glazunov at the Academy of Fine Arts in Moscow.

Razúmov is faithful to early Impressionism; however, he adds some modern touches, which are most evident in his beautiful, charming, soft and sensual figures.

Olga Dugina, 1964 | 1001 Nights

Sheherazade, the king's beautiful wife, is due to be executed at dawn - unless she can convince the king to change his mind.

That night she tells him a wonderful story which, as dawn comes, she leaves unfinished.

"Will you let me live to finish the tale?" she asks.

"Of course", replies the king, "I must know what happens next".

Zinaida Serebriakova's 140th Birthday

Russian-born French painter Zinaida Yevgenyevna Serebriakova / Зинаи́да Евге́ньевна Серебряко́ва (1884-1967), born on this day in 1884, 140 years ago, was the First Famous Female Russian Artist.

Zinaida Serebriakova left an indelible mark on her nation’s culture through masterful paintings of the contemporary life and landscapes of her Russian homeland.

Serebriakova was born on an estate in the Kursk Province of Russia (present-day Ukraine) into a lineage full of respected artists.

Anton Chekhov: "Only one who loves can remember so well"

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov / Антон Павлович Чехов (1860-1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer.

His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.

Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre.

Chekhov was a physician by profession.

"Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress".

• "Il ruolo dell'artista è porre domande, non fornire risposte".

• "The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them".

Monument to Anton Chekhov and Lady with the Dog | Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine

Igor Levashov [Игорь Левашов] 1964 | Flower painter

Born near Moscow, Russian painter Игорь Левашов entered the School for Young Painters in 1997 and the world-famed Sourykoff Institute in Moscow in 1984.

He finished his formal training at the Royal Academy of Modern Art in the Hague in 1996.

In this age he discovered his love and passion for flowers.

His detailed paintings are done in oil in a one-time-session.

Andre Kohn, 1972 | Ladies and hats

André Kohn, Russian painter, was born in Stalingrad, but was raised in the southernmost region of the Former Soviet Union near the Caspian Sea.

He spent the first 12 years of his life surrounded by nature before moving with his family to Moscow in 1984.

The precise convergence of three dynamic forces-culture, environment and talent-combined to produce one of the most collected figurative painters on the American art scene today.

Igor Kozlovsky and Marina Sharapova

Igor Kozlovsky /b. 1956, Slobodskoi, Kirov Region, Russia.

Marina Sharapova /b. 1960, Leningrad, Sankt-Petersburg, Russia.

Igor and Marina are husband and wife artistic team, working together on the same canvas. Artists, designers, interior architects.

Working as a husband-and-wife team, the Russian-born duo Igor Kozlovsky and Marina Sharapova collaborate on each painting.

Nikolay Dubovskoy | Romantic painter

Nikolay Nikanorovich Dubovskoy / Николай Никанорович Дубовской (1859-1918) was a Russian landscape painter, associated with the Peredvizhniki.

Together with Isaac Levitan, he helped create what came to be known as the "Landscape of Mood".

He displayed artistic talent at an early age; copying illustrations from Niva and other popular magazines.

Elena Barenbaum (Eve Farb)

Illustrator Eve Farb / Ева Фарб - real name Elena Barenbaum / Елена Баренбаум, works both as an illustrator and as a psychologist.

She has a passion for design and Russian fairy tales, and has illustrated multiple books published in Russia, where she is from and lives with her husband and her cat.

Marc Chagall's Colors

An early modernist, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) was associated with the École de Paris as well as several major artistic styles and created works in a wide range of artistic formats, including painting, drawings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints.

He experienced modernism's "golden age" in Paris, where "he synthesized the art forms of Cubism, Symbolism, and Fauvism, and the influence of Fauvism gave rise to Surrealism".

Marc Chagall: "Lo stile non è importante. Esprimersi lo è"

• "Color is everything. When color is right, form is right. Color is everything, color is vibration like music; everything is vibration".

• "Despite all the troubles of our world, in my heart I have never given up on the love in which I was brought up or on man's hope in love. In life, just as on the artist's palette, there is but one single colour that gives meaning to life and art–the colour of love".