Claude Monet | Failing sight

Monet's second wife, Alice, died in 1911, and his oldest son Jean, who had married Alice's daughter Blanche, Monet's particular favourite, died in 1914.

Their deaths left Monet depressed, as Blanche cared for him.

It was during this time that Monet began to develop the first signs of cataracts.

John Salminen, 1945 | Watercolor painter

John Salminen earned his Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in art from the University of Minnesota. He lives and works in Duluth, Minnesota. John teaches workshops, makes presentations and participates in painting events around the world.

John is a signature member of numerous art societies in the United States, including: the American Watercolor Society – Dolphin Fellowship; the National Watercolor Society; and the Transparent Watercolor Society of America – Distinguished Master.

Richard Johnson, 1953 | Romantic painter | VideoArt

Richard S. Johnson was born in Chicago to a family of artists.

While still in primary school, Johnson was accepted as a scholar to the Art Institute of Chicago.

A graduate of the American Academy of Art, he embarked on a career as an illustrator.

Johnson's style has been regarded as having the technical excellence of Pre-Raphaelite romanticism mixed with contemporary expressionism and abstraction.

Rembrandt van Rijn | Life and Artworks

Rembrandt van Rijn, in full Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Rembrandt originally spelled Rembrandt (born July 15, 1606, Leiden, Netherlands-died October 4, 1669, Amsterdam), Dutch Baroque painter and printmaker, one of the greatest storytellers in the history of art, possessing an exceptional ability to render people in their various moods and dramatic guises.

Rembrandt is also known as a painter of light and shade and as an artist who favoured an uncompromising realism that would lead some critics to claim that he preferred ugliness to beauty.

Early in his career and for some time, Rembrandt painted mainly portraits. Although he continued to paint-andetch and, occasionally, draw-portraits throughout his career, he did so less frequently over time. Roughly one-tenth of his painted and etched oeuvre consists of studies of his own face as well as more-formal self-portraits, a fact that has led to much speculation.

Francesco Solimena | Baroque painter

Francesco Solimena (1657-1747) was a prolific Italian painter of the Baroque era, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen.

Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino, province Avellino.

He received early training from his father, Angelo Solimena, with whom he executed a Paradise for the cathedral of Nocera (a place where he spent a big part of his life) and a Vision of St. Cyril of Alexandria for the church of San Domenico at Solofra.