Sandra Bierman, 1938 | Figurative painter

The magic of American painter Sandra Bierman lies in her soulful, larger-than-life figurative oil paintings that evoke an immediate sense of tranquility, strength, and emotional warmth.

Working entirely from her imagination without models or photographs, she channels what critics and collectors often describe as "pure magic" directly onto the canvas.

Her signature subjects are stylized, exaggerated women with bare, earthy feet and disproportionately large, caring hands.

These figures are deeply nurturing, often seen cradling babies, tending to plants, or holding companion cats.

Bierman approaches her canvases like an abstract painter, focusing on space, shapes, and fluid lines.

Jack Vettriano / Leonard Cohen | The Stranger song, 1967

"The Stranger Song" è uno dei brani più intensi e poeticamente complessi di Leonard Cohen, pubblicato originariamente nel 1967 come quarta traccia del suo iconico album di debutto, Songs of Leonard Cohen.

Il brano si distingue per l'ipnotico schema di fingerpicking sulla chitarra acustica e per un testo ricco di metafore legate al gioco d'azzardo, ai treni ed all'impossibilità di trovare un legame stabile.

Rodrigo Zaniboni | Impressionist painter

Rodrigo Zaniboni is a Brazilian painter from the São Paulo countryside.

His brushstrokes have a contemporaneous, realistic style reminiscent of the Impressionists.

Zaniboni uses a very particular palette to emphasize the correct use of the color scale, and the technique of painting by layers is one of his strongest skills; he uses the technique in his routine work and considers it one of the most important activities for artist.

Magdalena Serwin, 1983 | Figurative painter

Magdalena Serwin is an Polish artist born in the Jastrzębiu-Zdroju region, specializing in oil and putty technique.

Graduate of the State Higher Vocational School in Raciborz with a major in applied arts. Under the tutelage of great artists she explored the arts of painting, graphic arts as well as photography.

To a large extent, however, self-taught, for whom painting is a passion and at the same time a kind of peace, a respite from everyday matters.

When painting a picture, he always tries to find something unusual in the ordinary.

Ordinary characters, not known to anyone, with whom any viewer can identify, make friends....

Edward Hopper | Chop Suey, 1929

"Chop Suey" is the most iconic Edward Hopper (1882-1967) painting.

The 1929 masterpiece became the most expensive work of pre-war American art when it sold for $91,875,000 (including buyer’s premium) on 13 November 2018 as part of An American Place: The Barney A. Ebsworth Collection.

Wassily Kandinsky | Post-Impressionism period, 1896-1909

One of the pioneers of Abstraction in Western art, Wassily Kandinsky's (1866-1944) early work was influenced by Art Nouveau, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist styles.

The number of his existing paintings increased at the beginning of the 20th century; much remains of the landscapes and towns he painted, using broad swaths of colour and recognisable forms.

Such works reveal Kandinsky’s strong interest in the tradition of capturing light and the life of cities evident in Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as well as his love of vibrant and expressive color.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Love

Renoir’s joyful, discreet and tender vision, devoid of any hint of sentimentality, ribaldry or drama, distinguishes him from the other painters of his day.

The artist locates the interactions he depicts in his paintings in the public space, the new, modern social and natural settings - theaters, restaurants, guinguettes, boulevards and gardens - frequented by various social classes.

Theses popular "scenes" of modern love encouraged greater freedom of morals and the blossoming of "illicit" loves, in an era when bourgeois conventions and religious morality still governed romantic and sexual relationships.

Nathalie Picoulet, 1968 | Dreams in pastel

French figure painter Nathalie Picoulet was born in Amiens, France.

After displaying an early talent for drawing, she studied the history of Art and Design before deciding to pursue a full-time career as an artist in pastels.

Since her entrance into the world of pastels, she has been doing portraits, landscapes, and seascapes. Eventually, she discovered the subject that has brought her the greatest fame and acclaim: the female figure.

Lionello Balestrieri | Beethoven, 1900

In 1899, Lionello Balestrieri (12 September 1872 - October 24, 1958) painted a canvas depicting Beethoven -Kreutzer Sonata-, which after winning an award at the 1900 Universal Exposition in Paris and in 1901 in Venice, brought him fame.

The painting depicts a dimly lit garret-like apartment with a strand of listeners along the left wall, each in their own mood, while a violinist plays between them and a furnace.

Frederick Morgan | Romantic / Genre painter

Frederick Morgan (1847-1927), was an English painter of portraits, animals, domestic and country scenes.

He became known for his idyllic genre scenes of childhood.

Morgan was born in London. He was commonly known as Fred Morgan and was the son of John Morgan, a successful genre artist sometimes known as 'Jury Morgan' (after one of his paintings The Gentlemen of the Jury).

Leonard Cohen / Jack Vettriano | Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the wedding now

dance me on and on dance me very tenderly

and dance me very long we’re both of us beneath our love

we’re both of us above

dance me to the end of love

The Belle Époque: A Dream of Times Gone by Vittorio Corcos

Italian painter Vittorio Matteo Corcos (1859-1933) was known for genre works depict winsome and finely dressed young men and women, in moments of repose and recreation.

Born in Livorno, Italy, he studied drawing and painting at the Academia di Belle Arti in Florence under Enrico Pollastrini.

He then traveled to Paris where he met Léon Bonnat, and signed a contract with the Goupil and Cie, he was able to supplement his income as a portrait painter with illustrations for magazines.

Mozart | Rondo alla Turca, 1783

The Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331 / 300i, by Austrian classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) is a piano sonata in three movements.

The sonata was published by Artaria in 1784, alongside Nos. 10 and 12 (K. 330 and K. 332).

The third movement of this sonata, the "Rondo alla Turca", or "Turkish March", is often heard on its own and regarded as one of Mozart's best-known piano pieces.

Théodore Frère | Orientalist painter

Charles-Théodore Frère (1814-1888) was a French Orientalist painter.

His younger brother, Pierre-Édouard, and his nephew and namesake, Charles Edouard Frère, were also painters.

Painter of historical subjects, genre scenes, local scenes, landscapes (with figures) and seascapes; watercolourist and draughtsman. Orientalist.

The son of a Paris music publisher, Frère studied at the École des Beaux-Arts under Léon Cogniet and Camille Roqueplan.

André Rieu | Strauss party

André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu (1 October, 1949) is a Dutch violinist and conductor best known as the founder of the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra.

André Rieu has legions of fans worldwide and his performances have become major events in the calendar that are always guaranteed to sell out.

André Rieu tours Europe and the USA constantly and has also toured Australia and the Far East regularly.

Queen Nefertiti's Long Lost Tomb

QV66 is the tomb of Nefertari, the Great Wife of Pharaoh Ramesses II, in Egypt's Valley of the Queens.

It was discovered by Ernesto Schiaparelli (the director of the Egyptian Museum in Turin) in 1904.

Nefertari, which means "beautiful companion", was Ramesses II's favorite wife; he went out of his way to make this obvious, referring to her as "the one for whom the sun shines" in his writings, built the Temple of Hathor at Abu Simbel to idolize her as a deity, and commissioned portraiture wall paintings.

Modigliani, the Secret of empty eyes in his portraits

"When I know your soul, I will paint your eyes" - Amedeo Modigliani (Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris, 1884-1920) once said.

Of all the striking characteristics seen in Modigliani’s portraits, be they the elongated visages or the disfigured features, the mysterious, hazy eyes of the sitters capture the true essence of the painter’s style.

In fact, while he would outline the eyes, he'd rarely paint the pupils, except when he had a close, nurturing relationship with them - enabling a basis for emotional intelligence.

Johann Strauss | Morning Papers, Op 279 | Viennese waltz

Morgenblätter (Morning Papers), Op. 279, is a Viennese waltz composed by Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) in 1863 and first performed on 12 January 1864 at the Sofiensaal in Vienna.

The work's genesis was attributed to the composition of a waltz by Jacques Offenbach later titled "Abendblätter" when Offenbach dedicated his work to the influential Vienna Authors' and Journalists' Association (Presseclub Concordia).

Camille Claudel | La valse, 1889-1905

Torna a Surriento!

"Torna a Surriento" is a Neapolitan song composed in 1894 by Italian musician Ernesto De Curtis to words by his brother, the poet and painter Giambattista De Curtis.

The song was copyrighted officially in 1905, and has become one of the most popular of this traditional genre.

Others include:

╰┈➤ "O sole mio",

╰┈➤ "Funiculì funiculà",

╰┈➤ "Santa Lucia".

Richard Wagner | Ride of the Valkyries

The Ride of the Valkyries (German: Walkürenritt or Ritt der Walküren) is the popular name of the prelude to the first scene of the third and last act of Die Walküre, the second of the four epic music dramas that constitute the operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (English: The Ring of the Nibelung), composed by Richard Wagner.

As a separate piece, the "Ride" is often heard in a purely instrumental version, which may be as short as three minutes.

Peter Nicolai Arbo (Norwegian historical painter, 1831-1892) | The Valkyrie