Ferdinand Hodler | Art Nouveau painter

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) was one of the best-known Swiss painters of the nineteenth century. His early works were portraits, landscapes and genre paintings in a realistic style.

Later, he adopted a personal form of Symbolism which he called "Parallelism".

Hodler was born in Bern, the eldest of six children. His father, Jean Hodler, made a meager living as a carpenter; his mother, Marguerite (née Neukomm), was from a peasant family.

Gaetano Esposito | Genre painter

Gaetano Esposito (1858-1911) was an Italian painter born in Salerno.

He first studied under Gaetano D'Agostino, but later enrolled at the Royal Institute of Fine Arts of Naples, where he studied under Filippo Palizzi, Domenico Morelli and Stanislao Lista.

In these studies, he was funded by a stipend from the government of Salerno.

He was influenced by Antonio Mancini, a lifelong supporter, especially in his genre depictions of the activities of the lower classes of Naples.

Saffo | Passione d'amore

Quei parmi in cielo fra gli Dei, se accanto

ti siede, e vede il tuo bel riso, e sente

i dolci detti e l'amoroso canto!

Saffo - Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli

Osman Hamdi Bey | Orientalist painter

Osman Hamdi Bey, [Constantinople, 1842-1910], Ottoman statesman, painter and art expert who put forth legislation aimed at regulating finds made by various archaeological enterprises in the Ottoman Empire and preventing the antiquities from being smuggled abroad.

As a painter, he became famous while he was alive. He worked on compositions with figures and portraits, and he was the first Turkish artist who painted figures.

In his paintings, there are many architectural and decorative details. He frequently appears as the main character; he used photos taken of him in different outfits and poses for his drawings.

Today, many domestic and foreign museum collections include his paintings as well.

The Tortoise Trainer - Pera Museum, İstanbul

Claude Monet | Inondation à Giverny, 1886

Claude Monet | Inondation à Giverny, 1886

In Inondation à Giverny Monet has created a vibrant landscape that pulses with dynamism. With the patchwork of colors that makes up the rolling hills of the landscape in the distance, coupled with the expansive stretch of water that carries the fragmented reflections of Giverny’s church and neighboring houses on its mirror-like surface, Monet has captured the effects of the natural light as it illuminated the region, and the atmospheric quality of the landscape as a whole, with remarkable results.