Rob Hefferan, 1968 | Ballet Dancers

Brave, forward thinking and always challenging, British painter Rob Hefferan experiments with themes, moods and styles to create thought provoking visual statements that inspire us to see beyond our limited and cultural frames of reference.

Whether working with chalk pastels, oils or acrylics, Rob’s ability and innate flair see him capture life as it is lived.

His sensitive capacity to see beyond our masks and reveal the touching truth of who we really are is a testament to his deep insight.

F. Hopkinson Smith (1838-1915) Landscape / Genre painter

Francis Hopkinson Smith was a United States🎨 author, artist and engineer.

He built the foundation for the Statue of Liberty, wrote many famous stories and received awards🎨 for his paintings.

Smith was born in Baltimore, Maryland, a descendant of Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He graduated from the Boys' Latin School of Maryland.

Alix Aymé (1894-1989)

Alix Angèle Marguerite Hava born in Marseille in 1894, studied drawing and music at the Conservatory of Toulouse. A prodigy, gifted in music as well as art, at the age of fifteen she won a gold medal in piano and considered a musical career before becoming a painter.

After her graduation from the Conservatory, she moved to Paris where she became a pupil, and then a colleague, of the important Nabi painter🎨 Maurice Denis.

In 1910 she collaborated with Denis on the decoration of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Later she worked in the Studios of Sacred Art founded by Maurice Denis and Georges Devallières in 1919.

Firmin Girard (1838-1921) Academic painter

Marie-François Firmin-Girard, known as Firmin-Girard, was a painter of history, religious subjects, genre scenes, portraits, landscapes, still lifes and flowers.

Firmin-Girard entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts at the tender age of 16 before continuing his studies at Gleyre’s atelier.

He made his debut at the Paris Salon at the age of 21 where his choice of exhibits showed him to be a talented young man, however as yet to find a defining style.

John Pitre, 1942 | Visinoary / Surrealist painter

Educated in the fine arts at the prestigious Art Students League in New York City, John Pitre, evolved to become a master of Fantasy and Surrealism🎨. Pitre has been a significant influence in the art world for over thirty years, and carries the distinction of being one of the most widely published artists in modern history.

Andrei Belichenko / Maria Boohtiyarova | Figurative painters

Andrei Belichenko / Андрей Беличенко and Maria Boohtiyarova / Мария Бахтиярова are two contemporary Russian artists, known for working in the Figurative style.

Andrei Belichenko (Karaganda, Kazakhstan, 1974) is a graduate of the Republican Art School in 1990, and after school - the Academy of Arts. Andrei studied in the Graphic Department of the Academy of Arts.

Henri Biva | Naturalist painter

Henri Biva (1848-1928) was a French artist, known for his landscape paintings and still lifes.

He focused primarily on the western suburbs of Paris, painting outdoors in the plein-air tradition; his style ranging between Post-Impressionism and Realism with a strong Naturalist component.

Sir Thomas Lawrence | Romantic painter

Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) was the leading British portrait painter of the early 19th century, portraying most of the important personalities of the day in his polished and flattering style.

He was a child prodigy and largely self-taught; at the age of 10 he was making accomplished portraits in crayon.

He was influenced by Sir Joshua Reynolds during his youth; his style developed very little throughout his life.

Paul Peel | Academic painter

Paul Peel (1860-1892) was a Canadian academic painter. Having won a medal at the 1890 Paris Salon, he became one of the first Canadian artists to receive international recognition in his lifetime.

Peel was born in London, Ontario, and received his art training from his father from a young age.

Later he studied under William Lees Judson and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins.

Gustave Loiseau | Post-impressionist painter

Gustave Loiseau was born in Paris, 3rd October 1865; he was to become one of the foremost of Post-Impressionist painters. Following his military service and having worked for the family firm, Loiseau visited Pont Aven in 1890, where he worked under the tutelage of Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), following the latter’s return from his first visit to Tahiti.

Although taught by Gauguin, Loiseau was a disciple of Claude Monet (1840-1926), adopting a Post-Impressionist style that owed a significant debt to Monet, seen clearly in his views along the Seine, his portrayals of the cliffs at Dieppe and Étretat and the towns and landscapes of the Dordogne Valley.

In 1893 Loiseau first exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Indépendants and in 1895 at the Salon Nationale.

Dirk Smorenberg (1883-1960) | Art Déco painter

Dirk Smorenberg is considered as one of the few Dutch Art Déco🎨 painters.

Smorenberg was born in Alkmaar, North Holland. He started painting in 1906 on a professional base.

He travelled to St. Ives as an artist/painter in the beginning of the World War I.

He also worked in Switzerland not far from Montreux and in 1910-1911 in the USA.

Simon Balyon, 1965 | Romantic painter

Contemporary Dutch master🎨 Simon Balyon, has long studied the Masters in many European museums and his interest includes the painters from the The Hague School.

Balyon was influenced by the Impressionistic and Romantic schools, which is inspiration for his own art work.

Simon Balyon was born in The Hague, the Netherlands and developed a passion for painting at an early age.

Alexei Harlamoff (1840-1925) | Genre painter

Alexei Alexeievich Harlamov / Алексе́й Алексе́евич Харла́мов was born in Dyachevka, near Saratov, Russia.

He enrolled as a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg where he was awarded🎨 a gold medal before continuing his studies in Paris.

It was here under the influence of Léon-Joseph Florentin Bonnat (1834-1923)🎨, a Professor in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts with whom he studied that Harlamoff developed his very particular style. Bonnat, born in Bayonne on the Spanish border, had studied in Spain and subsequently Italy, and was in his early years considered to be of the Spanish School.

Percy Bysshe Shelley | Ozymandias, 1818

"Ozymandias" is a famous sonnet written in 1818 by British Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)🎨, in which he reflects on hubris and the implacable passage of time and on the decline of leaders and their empires.

The poem is widely believed to have been inspired by a broken statue of Ramses II that is now, like many priceless Egyptian artifacts, in the possession of the British Museum.

Eric Fischl, 1948 | Neo-Expressionist painter

Eric Fischl is an internationally acclaimed American🎨 painter and sculptor. His artwork is represented in many distinguished museums throughout the world and has been featured in over one thousand publications. His extraordinary achievements throughout his career have made him one of the most influential figurative painters of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Fischl was born in New York City and grew up in the suburbs of Long Island. He began his art education in Phoenix, Arizona where his parents had moved in 1967. He attended Phoenix College and earned his B.F.A. from the California Institute for the Arts in 1972.

Marie-Claire Houmeau, 1955

Self-taught painter Marie-Claire Houmeau started to paint in 2002. She changed her career to devote herself to art.

At the beginning of 2003 she decided to devote herself totally to her art and to present her works to the public.

Her paintings cover variety of subjects - still life, flowers, nature, Venice, Japan and Paris, scenes of the everyday life and so on.

Jin Fengshi, 1959 | Portrait painter

Chinese painter🎨 Jin Fengshi was born in Jilin Province. In 1987 he graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Yanbian University in Jilin Province.

In 1999 he graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts of the Tenth Seminar.

In, 2008 he got his master's degree in painting in Hongik University Department of Fine Arts.

Member: In Chinese Artists Association, national artist, portraits American Association.

David Croitor, 1958 | Old street of Bucharest

Born in Suceava, Romanian painter David Croitor, graduated from the Faculty of Geology University of Bucharest, he studied painting and drawing with Dmitry Loghina and Anita Aurel in Bucharest.

Debut solo exhibition was held in 1986 in Bucharest. Participated in many collective and personal exhibitions.

Myoe Kyaw, 1966 | Impressionist painter

Burmese painter Myoe Kyaw was born in Yangon, Myanmar. He graduated from the State School of Fine Art Yangon and studied under U Thu Kha, U Mya Aye, and U Kyaw Lay. He has been exhibiting his work since 1987.

Myoe Kyaw's acrylic paintings are predominantly painted in cool tones. The strength of his brushwork in combination with his choice of colours produces a strong impression on his audience.

He has participated in over 70 group art exhibitions and has held 3 solo exhibitions in 2002, 2006 and 2012.

Arthur Hughes | Pre-Raphaelite painter

Arthur Hughes (1832-1915) was born in London.

His best-known paintings are "April Love" and "The Long Engagement", both of which depict troubled couples contemplating the transience of love and beauty.

He entered the School of Design, Somerset House, in 1846 and studied there under Alfred Stevens.

Barbara Jaskiewicz, 1957 | Scenery painter

Polish painter🎨 Barbara Jaskiewicz was born in Wroclaw, the city in which she still lives today. She graduated from the Wroclaw University of Technology with a BA in Architecture.

She paints in oils and watercolor and she also draws. Her subject matter is wide ranging, beginning with landscapes inspired by the noble sceneries found in the south of France, wild Alpine meadows or the picturesque valleys of the Tatra Mountains. Gardens and park promenades scattered within the trees of ancient forests, landscapes of Silesian lowlands and of Lubelszczyzna (situated in SE-Poland) appear to an equal degree.

Ile-de-France by Claude Monet

Guy de Maupassant, September 1886:

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"Last year... I of ten followed Claude Monet in his search of impressions. He was no longer a painter, in truth, hut a hunter.

He proceeded, followed by children who carried his canvases, five or six canvases representing the same subject at different times of day and with different effects".

Abraham Brueghel | Baroque painter

Abraham Brueghel (1631-1690) was a Flemish painter from the famous Brueghel family of artists.

He emigrated at a young age to Italy where he played an important role in the development of the style of decorative Baroque still lifes.

Early life

Abraham was born in Antwerp, the son of Jan Brueghel the Younger, the grandson of Jan Brueghel the Elder and the great-grandson of Pieter Brueghel the Elder.

Much of his artistic training came from his father Jan Brueghel the Younger, prolific painter and regular collaborator with Rubens.

Pedro Salinas / Jean Delville | Sospingimi.. / Empújame..

Sospingimi, lanciami

da te, dalle tue guance,

come da isole di corallo,

a navigare, ad andare lontano

per cercarti, a cercare

fuori di te ciò che possiedi,

ciò che non mi vuoi dare.

Per rimanere sola,

inventami foreste vergini

con alberi di metallo

Jean Delville (Belgian Symbolist painter, 1867-1953)

Geliy Korzhev / Гелий Коржев (1925-2012)

Geliy Mikhailovich Korzhev-Chuvelyov / Гелий Михайлович Коржев-Чувелёв was a Russian painter of a unique nature and scale with an extremely recognisable style.

Being an exponent of the Realist movement, the artist was also engaged in teaching activities for about thirty years, he acquired the status of the Professor of the Academy of Arts and was awarded honorary medals for his paintings on numerous occasions.

Francois Bard / Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I Have a Dream

delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

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.. And when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Evgeny Balakshin / Евгений Балакшин, 1962

The creativity of Evgeny Balakshin stylistically belongs to the Russian🎨 realistic school of painting, with its subtle color and light transmission, rich color palette.

Evgeny Balakshin / Евгений Балакшин was born in Saransk, the capital city of the Republic of Mordovia, Russia. A member of the Professional Union of Artists of Russia, he received systematic art education in Saransk Art School under the direct tutelage of M. P. Shanin.

Martin Luther King: "I Have a Dream"!

"I have a dream" - "Ho un sogno" - è la frase con cui viene identificato il discorso tenuto da Martin Luther King il 28 agosto del 1963 davanti al Lincoln Memorial di Washington al termine di una marcia di protesta per i diritti civili.

"Sì, è vero, io stesso sono vittima di sogni svaniti, di speranze rovinate, ma nonostante tutto voglio concludere dicendo che ho ancora dei sogni, perché so che nella vita non bisogna mai cedere.

Se perdete la speranza, perdete anche quella vitalità che rende degna la vita, quel coraggio di essere voi stessi, quella forza che vi fa continuare nonostante tutto.

Ecco perché io ho ancora un sogno...

Ho il sogno che un giorno gli uomini si rizzeranno in piedi e si renderanno conto che sono stati creati per vivere insieme come fratelli".

Carl Wilhelmson | Genre painter

Carl Wilhelm Wilhelmson (186-1928) was a Swedish painter, graphic artist, amateur photographer and art teacher.

His father, Anders Wilhelmson, was a "Bästeman" (a type of Naval Master), who died in a shipwreck in 1875. His mother, Amalia, opened a small shop to support the family.

Some relatives were in the printing business so, in 1881, he was apprenticed to the lithographers Meyer and Köster in Gothenburg.

He also took evening classes at the School of Design and Crafts. He later became a full time student of Carl Larsson🎨 at the Valand Academy.

Willem Haenraets, 1940 | Impressionist painter

With soft colors, the artist conjures up a romantic world of beautiful illusion on his canvasses. Hollandaise painter Willem Haenraets was born in Rotterdam and his talent was discovered at an early age.

Haenraets was just 16 when he started his training at the academy in Maastricht, which he followed with further education at the Antwerp art academy.

Granted a scholarship for talented students, he received his artistic polish as a master craftsman student of the renowned professors Sarina and Vaarten.

Haenraets’ creations are evidence that the great tradition of the Belgian-Dutch school has received a flourishing sequel. The old masters certainly would have given him a nod of approval.

Nadežda Petrović (1873-1915) | Impressionist painter

Nadežda Petrović / Надежда Петровић was a Serbian painter and one of the women war photography pioneers in the region.

Considered Serbia's most famous impressionist and fauvist, she was the most important Serbian female painter🎨 of the period.

Born in the town of Čačak, Petrović moved to Belgrade in her youth and attended the women's school of higher education there.

In 1893, she became an art teacher at the school and later taught at the women's university in Belgrade. Afterwards, she obtained a stipend from the Serbian Ministry of Education to study art in the private school of Slovenian artist Anton Ažbe in Munich.

Percy Bysshe Shelley | Love's Philosophy / Filosofia dell'amore

Caspar David Friedrich🎨 (German Romantic painter, 1774-1840) | On the Sailing Boat | State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

The fountains mingle with the river

And the rivers with the ocean,

The winds of heaven mix for ever

With a sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single,

All things by a law divine

In one another's being mingle-

Why not I with thine?

Laila Bell | Figurative sculptor

Laila Bell is a Danish born artist working and teaching in Byron Bay Australia.

Laila was born north of Copenhagen, Denmark.

From an early age she knew the path in her life would be too express herself in some form of art.

This desire brought her to study full time for 5 years at Copenhagen Art School, examining many different mediums and learning the classical way of drawing and studying the figure.

Hodges Soileau, 1943 | Plein Air painter

American painter Hodges Soileau is a native of Southwest Louisiana with a career that has taken him to live in many parts of the country.

His Cajun accent is all but gone, but his cultural ties remain strong. His most successful 25 year illustration career has presented him with opportunities to work with major publishing houses in New York City gracing the covers of more than 300 books.

Hodges was a 23 year member of the prestigious Society of Illustrators in New York City. During this time, he received many citations of merit for work exhibited in annual shows.

He was selected to execute the painting for the Illustrators 29th Annual Call for Entries, and chaired 35 annual exhibitions.

Louise Breslau | Impressionist painter

Louise Catherine Breslau (1856-1927) was a German-born Swiss painter, printmaker and pastel artist active in France.

She trained at the Académie Julian in Paris and exhibited at the salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the late nineteenth-century.

In 1874, after having taken drawing lessons from a local Swiss artist, Eduard Pfyffer (1836-1899), Breslau knew that she would have to leave Switzerland if she wanted to realize her dream of seriously studying art.

Joan Miró | Surrealist painter

Joan Miró i Ferrà (1893-1983) was a Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona.

Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride.

In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards, Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting methods as a way of supporting bourgeois society, and famously declared an "assassination of painting" in favour of upsetting the visual elements of established painting.

Henry Lerolle (1848-1929)

Henry Lerolle was a French painter🎨, art collector and patron, born in Paris. He studied at Académie Suisse and in the studio of Louis Lamothe.

His work was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1868, 1885 and 1895.

In 1889 Lerolle painted the murals "The Crowning of Science" and "The Teaching of Science" in the Hôtel de Ville, Paris.

Fred Calleri, 1964 | Romantic Figurative painter

Fred Calleri’s experience at The Maryland Institute College of Art 1988-1993 was a watershed event artistically.

The excellent training he received opened the window to all fields of art.

Ironically, Fred took one painting class in college and only became seriously interested in professionally painting after the birth of his son in 1997.

After an extensive period in Graphic Design and Marketing, Calleri decided to move to Flagstaff and take advantage of the history, scenery, people and especially the astounding light offered in the western regions of the U.S.A recent move has brought Calleri to Santa Barbara, CA.

Daniel Ridgway Knight (1839-1924)

Daniel Ridgway Knight was an American artist🎨 born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He painted peasant women out of doors with great popular success.

Born: March 15, 1839, Pennsylvania, United States.

Died: March 9, 1924, Paris, France.

On view: Huntington Museum of Art, Berkshire Museum, High Museum of Art.

Periods: American Realism, Realism.

Art forms: Painting.

Children: Louis Aston Knight🎨.

Louis Aston Knight (1873-1948)

Louis Aston Knight was a French-born American🎨 artist noted for his paintings of landscapes. One of his paintings, The Afterglow, was purchased by U.S. President Warren G. Harding in 1922 to hang in the White House.

Aston Knight, the son of Daniel Ridgway Knight🎨 and Rebecca Morris Webster Knight, was born in Paris in 1873.

He was raised in Europe and received his early training with his father. He later continued his studies with Tony Robert-Fleury and Jules Lefebvre🎨.

Fyodor Antonovich Moller | Academic painter

Фёдор Антонович Моллер (1812-1874) was at one time a very famous painter.

Born to a German Otto Friedrich, Russian artist Fyodor Antonovich Moller did not get lost in a generous talent for national culture of the mid XIX century.

Son of a sailor high rank (and later Secretary of the Navy) by F. Moller and he was preparing for a naval career.

The pupil of the Sea Cadet Corps already in 1826 was made an officer.

But the awakened interest in painting and undoubted talent of the young naval officer "forced" him to attend the Academy of Fine Arts, where he soon becomes one of the favorite students Bryullov.

Henry H. La Thangue RA (1859-1929)

Henry Herbert La Thangue RA🎨 was an English🎨 realist rural landscape painter associated with the Newlyn School.

Early life

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La Thangue was born in Croydon, Surrey, a suburb of London, and was schooled at Dulwich College where he met fellow painters Stanhope Forbes🎨 and Frederick Goodall. He studied painting first at the Lambeth School of Art and then, from 1874-79, at the Royal Academy, London, winning a gold medal for his work in 1879.

Renoir at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Famed for his sensual figures and charming scenes of pretty women, Pierre Auguste Renoir was a far more complex and thoughtful painter than generally assumed.

He was a founding member of the Impressionist movement, nevertheless he ceased to exhibit with the group after 1877.

From the 1880s until well into the twentieth century, he developed a monumental, classically inspired style that influenced such avant-garde giants as Pablo Picasso.

Pat Erickson | Figurative / Wildlife painter | Page 1

American fine artist Pat Erickson🎨 from Everett, WA, grew up in Northern California. Since childhood her interests were equally divided between wildlife biology and art.

She entered college as a zoology major, but after a couple years the pull of her creative side led her to a Bachelors in Fine Art. She left California for Colorado in 1989 and started concentrating on both wildlife and western subjects for her pieces.

She has since re-located to the Desert Southwest. She is well known for her highly detailed portrayal of both horses and other wildlife in watercolor and prismacolor pencil.

Nick Alm, 1985 | Figurative painter

Swedish painter Nick Alm started out as an illustrator in 1999, but changed course when he discovered the joy of painting. In 2007 he got accepted to the Florence Academy of Art🎨 to study the figure from life in the classical manner. Here he also became a teaching assistant.

After graduation Nick received a scholarship to join The Hudson River Fellowship to paint landscapes. During the stay he also explored the great art museums in New York City. A big part of 2011 was spent together with Odd Nerdrum🎨 in Norway and France before moving back to Sweden.

Giovanni Segantini | Divisionist painter

Giovanni Segantini (1858-1899) was an Italian painter known for his large pastoral landscapes of the Alps.

He was one of the most famous artists in Europe in the late 19th century, and his paintings were collected by major museums.

In later life he combined a Divisionist painting style with Symbolist images of nature.

He was active in Switzerland for most of his life.

Alesya von Meer, 1983

German painter Alesya von Meer was born in the city of Almaty. She graduated in 2005 in Odessa - architecture and business administration at the State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture.

The creations of the artist are constructed with colored pencil and gouache, and are often decorated with gold colors. In a fascinating miniature art she creates small areas and then combines them into one whole.

Luxuriant vines and flowers appear on the images, which often represent mystical beings in intoxicating sensuality and capture the attention of the audience quickly.

David Graeme Baker, 1968 | Figurative painter

David Graeme Baker was born in South Africa, the son of a surgeon and a very creative mother. Her talents as a crafter inspired in David the attitude that if one wants something, one can easily make it oneself.

In other words, he was raised in a house that valued attention to small details and excellent work. While it’s now easy to see this in his paintings, there were no distinct signs when David was young that he would grow up and be an artist.

As a child he doodled a lot, borrowed figure drawing books from the library, and loved his grade school art class however, his high school had no art program, so it took a while at university to come back around to art making.

Robert Henri: "Art cannot be separated from life"

"Art, when properly understood, is the province of every human being. It is simply a question of doing things, anything well".

"L'arte, se correttamente intesa, è la provincia di ogni essere umano. È semplicemente una questione di fare cose, tutte belle".

Vincent Xeus, 1981 | Figurative painter

Vincent Xeus is a torrential force on the international art scene that permeates and defines our contemporary culture. His relentless pursuit on re-evaluating and re-inventing fresh aesthetic visions is one of the most vital and remarkable characteristics of his creation.

Oscillating between figuration and abstraction, his work embraces, yet challenges the traditions of painting with an exploration of contemporary practices and observations. Xeus reminds the audience to continually adjust perceptions and to formulate new syntheses built upon the past.