Vladimir Davidenko, 1966 | Genre / Landscape painter

Владимир Давыденко / Vladimir Davydenko is an Russian painter, born in Lipetsk.

Member of the Artists Trade Union of Russia.

Member of the Petrovsky Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The paintings of Davydenko are in private collections in England, Germany, Japan, Hungary.

Vladimir Davydenko is a realist artist.

Natasha Milashevich /Наталья Милашевич, 1967

Наталья Милашевич was born in Dushanbe in the former Soviet Union.

She started her studies locally, graduating from the Art College of Dushanbe in 1989.

She continued her studies in St. Petersburg in the studio of the renowned artist Vasili V. Sokolov at the Repin Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture - widely considered the finest art academy in Russia from which she graduated in 1995.

Susan Lyon, 1969 | Realist/Impressionist painter

Susan Lyon grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. Her initial interest in art was sparked by a PBS television show on Georgia O’Keeffe🎨 that inspired her to take drawing classes.

Lyon studied art at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and was an active participant in Chicago's Palette and Chisel Club. It is there she first began exhibiting and selling her work; at twenty-three she was the youngest winner of the prestigious Gold Medal🎨 which she won two consecutive years in the annual Oil Painting show plus a third place in the Silver Medal show. Medal Watercolor show.

She entered the Oil Painters of America show once and got 7th place. In 1998 and 2000 she won an artist choice award🎨 in the Northwest Rendezvous Show.

Alessandro Granata | Genre painter

Neapolitan artist🎨 Alessandro Granata was born in Salerno. He showed a strong passion for painting from an early age. He graduated at the Art High School in Naples.

He was awarded the "Alfonso Gatto" award🎨 the graphic and painting section, by the Province of Salerno.

The artist made large-scale sacred-themed paintings.

In 2020 he participated in the collective exhibition "Le Madonna di Raffaello" at the diocesan museum of Salerno, where he received the "Special Jury" award.

Mark Kostabi, 1960 | Pop Symbolism painter

Painter and Composer Mark Kostabi was born in Los Angeles to Estonian immigrants. Raised in Whittier, California, he studied drawing and painting at California State University, Fullerton.

Kostabi moved to New York in 1982, and by 1984, emerged as a leading figure in the East Village art scene where he cultivated a provocative media persona by publishing self-interviews reflecting on the commodification of contemporary art.

By 1987, his work was widely exhibited in New York galleries as well as prominently throughout the United States, Japan, Germany and Australia.

He inspired extensive international press coverage in 1988 when he founded Kostabi World, his Manhattan art studio, which employs numerous painting assistants and idea people.

Beginning in the early 1990s Kostabi's work has been widely exhibited throughout Italy. Kostabi established a second home in Rome in 1996. Dividing his time between Rome and New York enabled him to dramatically enhance his presence in the Italian art scene.

Antonietta Varallo, 1954 | Landscape painter

Born in Talsamo (Taranto province, Southern Italy) and a livornese adoptee, Antonietta Varallo approaches painting when she was just fifteen. Varallo, for one year, attended at the Free Academy "Trossi-Uberti" directed by Voltolino Fontani, then the maestro Luciano Torsi has been her guide up to her artistic maturity after eighteen years of teaching.

On 1976 Varallo won the first prize🎨 "Chimera" held in the city of Arezzo (Tuscany).

Nowadays she’s still a honorary professor of the Academy of "Machiavello" in Florence as well as in the Academy "G. Marconi" in Bologna.

Angelo Morbelli | For 80 cents!, 1895

Angelo Morbelli's work, one of the masterpieces of the Burgundy Museum, was purchased in 1912 at the Art Exhibition of the irrigated countryside held in Vercelli, a few years after the Museum opened to the public.

The painting, signed and dated 1895, underwent a long and tormented elaboration, as evidenced by the correspondence between the artist and his colleague Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo: begun in 1893, it was resumed before being exhibited in 1895 at the Venice Biennale.

The canvas assumes an important role for the collection, not only for its belonging to the pictorial current of Divisionism, but above all for the subject strongly connected to the Vercelli area.

Franz Liszt: "Truth is a great flirt"

• Music embodies feeling without forcing it to contend and combine with thought, as it is forced in most arts and especially in the art of words.
• I conclude that the Wagnerian operas which are already in the repertoire, and other master works as well, stand in no further need of my services.
• I did not compose my work as one might put on a church vestment… rather it sprung from the truly fervent faith of my heart, such as I have felt it since my childhood.
• I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill.
• I foster a sorrowful conception of affection. Make no sacrifices.
• In Hungary all native music, in its origin, is divided naturally into melody destined for song or melody for the dance.
• Inspiration is enough to give expression to the tone in singing, especially when the song is without words.
• It is impossible to imagine a more complete fusion with nature than that of the Gypsy.
• It is my fervent wish and my greatest ambition to leave a work with a few useful instructions for the pianists after me.

Franz Liszt Fantasizing at the Piano, 1840 (detail) by Josef Danhauser ▪ Alte Nationalgalerie ▪

Joanna Zjawinska, 1950 | Figurative painter

Joanna Zjawinska began to paint at the early age of six. She earned her B.A. degree in 1972 from the School of Architecture in Warsaw.

To follow her own dream of being an artist, Joanna then studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts where she perfected her unique style of oil and watercolor painting.

In 1978 she was awarded a masters degree in Graphic Design with honors in painting from the academy which is one of the most prestigious school in Europe.

Bryce Liston, 1965 | Plein air / Figurative painter

Liston’s artistic inspiration comes largely from the late-19th century; he lists John William Waterhouse, John Singer Sargent, Joaquin Sorolla, Anders Zorn and William Bouguereau among his strongest influences.

“As an artist my career is dedicated to the integrity and quality of representational fine art”, says Liston. “My goal is to regain the traditions of the past along with the standards of craftsmanship and training. By studying the great artists of the past, we artists of today can once again regain a full command of proficiency to create great works of art… art about life”.

Louise Glück, 1943 | Nobel Prize for Literature

© BBC - This year's Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to the US poet Louise Glück.

Glück was recognised for "her unmistakable poetic voice, that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal" said the Swedish Academy, which oversees the award.

The Academy added she was "surprised" when she received their phone call.

Glück, born in New York, lives in Massachusetts and is also professor of English at Yale University.

The Academy's permanent secretary Mats Malm said he had spoken to Glück just before making the announcement.

"The message came as a surprise, but a welcome one as far as I could tell" - he said.

Louise Gluck / Fabian Perez | Retreating Wind / Vento calante

When I made you, I loved you.

Now I pity you.

I gave you all you needed:

bed of earth, blanket of blue air -

As I get further away from you

I see you more clearly.

Your souls should have been immense by now,

not what they are,

small talking things--

Nino Chakvetadze, 1971 | Kid's Book illustrator

Nino Chakvetadze in an Georgian painter and Kid’s Book illustrator.

She draws inspiration from everyday moments and her paintings depict love, friendship, human relationships, and peace.

According to the artist, she found her particular style in 2010 and her nostalgic paintings are based on memories that are relatable for many viewers.

El Greco | L'eredità artistica

El Greco (1541-1614) fu molto poco considerato dalle generazioni immediatamente successive, perché il suo lavoro sotto molti aspetti era opposto ai principi del primo stile barocco che iniziò ad imporsi verso gli inizi del XVII secolo e che presto finì per soppiantare gli ultimi fuochi del manierismo del XVI secolo.

El Greco fu giudicato incomprensibile e non ebbe seguaci di rilievo.

Solo suo figlio e alcuni altri sconosciuti pittori realizzarono delle poco valide imitazioni dei suoi lavori.

Tra la fine del XVII secolo e l'inizio del XVIII dei critici spagnoli iniziarono a lodare la sua abilità, criticando però al contempo il suo stile anti-naturalistico e la sua complessa iconografia.

Sir Alfred Munnings | Romantic Equestrian painter

Sir Alfred James Munnings, KCVO, PRA (8 October 1878 - 17 July 1959) was known as one of England's finest painters of horses, and as an outspoken critic of Modernism.

Engaged by Lord Beaverbrook's Canadian War Memorials Fund, he earned several prestigious commissions after the Great War that made him wealthy.

Munnings was elected president of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1944.

Adam Styka | Under the African Sun

Polish-born French painter Adam Styka (1890-1959) completed his education at the French Academy of Fine Arts, Academie des Beaux-Arts, and painted closely under the tutelage of his father, Jan Styka.

Each year Adam exhibited his paintings in the Paris' most prestigious galleries such as Salon de Paris, Champs Des Elysees and others in Europe and countries of both Americas, where he constantly was awarded highest accolades.

Edna St. Vincent Millay / Edward Steichen | Night is my sister / La notte è mia sorella

Edward Steichen (American🎨 photographer, painter, and curator, 1879-1973)| Greta Garbo

Night is my sister, and how deep in love,

How drowned in love and weedily washed ashore,

There to be fretted by the drag and shove

At the tide's edge, I lie - these things and more:

Whose arm alone between me and the sand,

Whose voice alone, whose pitiful breath brought near,

Could thaw these nostrils and unlock this hand,

She could advise you, should you care to hear.

André Martins De Barros, 1942 | Fantastic Realism painter

André Martins de Barros: "The conflict of man fighting his fellow man, the role of nature, and the struggle for existence are all constant themes in my imaginative paintings: from simple joys and beauty to troubling scenes of apocalyptic proportions.

Yet, in each piece, a sense of optimism and even whimsy is readily apparent".

André Martins de Barros was born in Pau, a small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees near the Spanish border.

He started to paint from the age of 15 and just after completing his military service decided to devote all his time to passion- Painting.

George Hitchcock | Genre painter

George Hitchcock (1850-1913) was born in Providence, Rhode Island. George Hitchcock attended Brown University and then Harvard Law School.

He became disenchanted with the practice of law, however, and at age 29 left for Paris to study at the Académie Julian.

One of a generation of American expatriate painters, Hitchcock travelled extensively throughout Europe, studying in London, The Hague, and Munich.

He finally settled permanently in Holland during the 1880s.

Gyuri Lohmuller, 1962 | Surrealist painter

Gyuri Lohmuller was born in Gataia, Romania.

Self-educated painter, having exhibitions in Austria, Germany, France and Hungary, is willing to share his inner world.

His paintings reflect his deepest emotions.

"The emotion", he says, "Is Art".

He prefers the surrealist themes.

Alexander Gunin, 1969 | Impressionist painter

Russian🎨 Modern Artist Alexander Aleksandrovich Gunin was born in Omsk, and today he lives and continues his career in the cultural capital of Russia - St. Petersburg.

A talented artist does not stop in one direction and tries himself in different genres.

His paintings occupy a worthy place in private collections around the world.

Jim Tsinganos | Surrealist / Conceptual painter / Illustrator

Jim Tsinganos is a Sydney🎨 based Illustrator with over 20 years experience who has had 2 working stints in Amsterdam.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, both locally and internationally and is represented in the UK and the US. Working primarily with pastels and watercolor, he is interested in creating work with a strong conceptual basis.

Camillo Rusconi | Baroque sculptor

Camillo Ruscóni (14 July 1658 - 8 December 1728) was an Italian sculptor of the late Baroque in Rome.

His style displays both features of Baroque and Neoclassicism. He has been described as a Carlo Maratta in marble.

Initially trained in his hometown of Milan with Giuseppe Rusnati.

By 1685-1686, he had moved to Rome and into the studio of Ercole Ferrata, who died within a year or two of his arrival.

Francis Picabia (1879-1953)

From: MoMa - The Museum of Modern Art

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In 1922, Francis Picabia wrote, "If you want to have clean ideas, change them like shirts".

Throughout his audacious and inventive career, which spanned almost 50 years and encompassed painting, performance, poetry, publishing, and film, Picabia lived out that prescription.

Although he remains best known as a Dadaist, his work ranged from Impressionist painting to radical abstraction, from iconoclastic provocation to pseudo-classicism, and from photo-based painting to Art Informel.

He relished courting controversy, making regular engagements with the press a part of the construction of his artistic persona.

Jules-Alexis Muenier (1863-1942) | Genre painter

Jules-Alexis Muenier was a French painter🎨 and photographer.

In 1880, Jules-Alexis Muenier entered the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts where he studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme🎨, now considered one of the most important academic painters of his age.

In the latter half of that same decade Muenier began exhibiting his work, first at the Paris Salon🎨 with the painting "Le Bréviaire", which brought him much acclaim.

Gianni Strino (1953-2023) | Figurative painter

Italian painter Gianni Strino studied fine art at the acclaimed Naples Art Institute winning the medal for the best graduate artist in 1970.

He taught art and art history until the demand for his work allowed him to become a full time artist.

In his striking portraits Strino not only captures the beauty of his sitters but also the reality of the everyday. He does not restrict his models to beautiful young women as many portraitists do.

Francesca Strino, 1979 | Figurative painter

Francesca Strino was born in Naples, Italy. Francesca Strino’s powerful paintings reflect the influence of her father, Maestro Gianni Strino🎨.

She graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli with specialisation in sculpture and portraiture.

She was a pupil of the great master G. Di Fiore. Her potential as an artist was soon recognised and she was invited to submit her work for an exhibition held in 2002 celebrating the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli.

René Xavier Prinet | Impressionist / Genre painter

René François Xavier Prinet (1861-1946) was a French painter and illustrator who drew his subjects from middle-class society.

He was born to Henri Prinet, an Imperial Prosecutor in Vitry-le-François.

A promotion led to him being posted in Paris, where they lived in a home not far from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts.

His father painted as a hobby and was supportive of his desire to study art, having him seek the advice of Louis Charles Timbal, a well-known church painter and friend of the family.

René Xavier Prinet | The Kreutzer Sonata inspired by the story by Tolstoy

Pol Ledent, 1952 | Abstract painter

Belgian painter🎨 Pol Ledent, self-taught painter, was born in Wallonie, french speaking part of Belgium.

He came to painting in 1989. He started with watercolor but felt rapidly that oil painting would make him progress more efficient in his search for light.

After a few years, because he was disappointed by the fact that he didn't succeed in painting good watercolors, he went to work again.

Rabindranath Tagore / Pol Ledent | Flower quotes

"By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower".

"Strappando i suoi petali, non raccogli la bellezza del fiore".

"Il fiore si nasconde nell'erba, ma il vento sparge il suo profumo..."

Rabindranath Tagore / Dorian Florez

"Il Grande cammina con il Piccolo. Il mediocre si tiene a distanza... "

"The Great walks with the Small without fear. The Middling keep aloof... "

"Ogni bambino che nasce ci ricorda che Dio non è ancora stanco degli uomini".

Gustave Caillebotte | Il ponte dell'Europa, 1876

Le Pont de l'Europe / Il ponte dell'Europa è un dipinto del pittore Francese Gustave Caillebotte, realizzato nel 1876 e conservato al Museo del Petit Palais di Ginevra.

In questo dipinto il pennello solerte e affettuoso di Caillebotte si rivolge alla sua città natale, Parigi, raffigurandone una delle piazze più moderne e vibranti, ovvero Place de l'Europe.

Si tratta di un mastodontico ponte ferroviario, inaugurato nel 1868, che si estende sul parco binari della stazione di Saint-Lazare raccordando ben sei strade, ciascuna delle quali prende il nome di una specifica capitale europea.

La visuale colta dall'opera, in particolare, è quella che si apre da rue de Vienne, guardando verso il centro della piazza.

Dan Beck, 1955 | Impressionist painter

Dan Beck🎨 -American painter- is an award winning artist🎨 and sought after teacher.

His paintings have found collectors in both the private and corporate world on a national level as well as from such diverse places as Canada, Japan and the Middle East.

He is in the permanent collection of the Littleton Historical Museum and has exhibited with the Phippen Museum, Prescott, Arizona.

Sir Edward John Poynter | Classicist painter

Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet GCVO, PRA (1836-1919) was an English painter, designer and draughtsman who served as President of the Royal Academy.

Poynter was the son of architect Ambrose Poynter.

He was born in Paris, though his parents returned to Britain soon after.

He was educated at Brighton College and Ipswich School, but left school early for reasons of ill health, spending winters in Madeira and Rome.

In 1853, he met Frederick Leighton in Rome, who made a great impression on the 17-year-old Poynter.

Lovers Paintings

Howard Pyle🎨 | The mermaid (detail)

"Blessed are those who will kiss always beyond the lips,

crossing the border of the pleasure,

to feed on dreams".

Alda Merini🎨

José Jiménez Aranda (1837-1903) Genre painter

Luis Jiménez Aranda was a Spanish🎨-born French painter🎨 of genre scenes🎨; many in costumbrista style. His brothers, José and Manuel also became painters.

His first art lessons came from his older brother, José, followed by classes at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría under the direction of Eduardo Cano and Antonio Cabral Bejarano.

In 1868, thanks to a four year stipend from a wealthy patron, he went to Rome to see the Old Masters and complete his studies with Marià Fortuny🎨.

Anders Zorn's palette

Anders Zorn (1860-1920) was known to use a basic color palette consisting of Lead White (Flake White), Yellow Ochre, Vermilion and Ivory Black.

This limited color palette shows tremendous range in terms of color mixing.

A large variety of tonal ranges is possible using this palette, a very important development for portrait painting.

Francisque Duret | Academic sculptor

Francisque Joseph Duret (1804-1865) was a French sculptor, son and pupil of François-Joseph Duret (1732-1816).

Before becoming a sculptor, Francisque Duret had shown interest in pursuing a career in theater.

He studied for a brief time at the Conservatoire and his friend Charles Blanc (1813-1882), in an article which he dedicated in 1866, attested to the quality of observing human behavior which Duret had acquired outside his studies of drama: "His continual studies of the pantomime led him to pin down the language of gesture and the meaning of each disposition".

Suzanne Valadon | Post-Impressionist painter

Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) was a French painter and artists' model who was born Marie-Clémentine Valadon at Bessines-sur-Gartempe, Haute-Vienne, France.

In 1894, Valadon became the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

She was also the mother of painter Maurice Utrillo.

Valadon spent nearly 40 years of her life as an artist. The subjects of her drawings and paintings, such as" Joy of Life" (1911), included mostly female figures, still lifes and landscapes.

Kitty Meijering, 1974 | Ballet dancers

Kitty Meijering studied at the Amsterdam University. At this University she followed a visual arts education, which she completed in 1998.

At this moment dance and specifically ballet is the main theme Kitty dedicates her time to.

This stunning new serie shows paintings of dancers in full movement and emotion. The dancers defined in warm colours seems to dance right of the paintings!

Mark Olich, 1974 | Ballet dancers photographer

"For me, ballet is movement and music, and if there is movement in the frame, if music is heard, it's a good shoot, it rarely happens"

- Mark Olich.

Mark Olich is a Russian photographer🎨 whose works are entirely focused on the worlds of theatre and dance.

Gustave Flaubert | Quotes / Aforismi

James Tissot (1836-1902)🎨 | Young Lady in a Boat

"The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe".

"L'arte di scrivere è l'arte di scoprire ciò in cui credi".
"Fate attenzione alla tristezza. È un vizio".

"Pleasure is found first in anticipation, later in memory".
"I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings".

"Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times".
"La nostra ignoranza della storia ci porta a calunniare i nostri tempi".

Henri Chapu | Neoclassical sculptor

Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu (1833-1891) was a French sculptor in a modified Neoclassical tradition who was known for his use of allegory in his work.

Born in Le Mée-sur-Seine into modest circumstances, Chapu moved to Paris with his family and in 1847 entered the Petit École with the intention of studying drawing and becoming an interior decorator.

Henri Chapu | Mercure inventant le caducée | Musée-d'Orsay

Lynn Sanguedolce, 1959 | Figurative painter

American painter🎨 Lynn R. Sanguedolce is an award-winning🎨 artist who has been represented by prestigious galleries across the country. A professional artist for over thirty years, her work may be found in collections throughout the United States and abroad.

The inspiration for Lynn's work stems from her appreciation of the beauty of nature and the human form. Portraiture and figurative painting are particularly rewarding to Lynn, since they allow her to translate the essence of a subject's personality into a piece of fine art.

Vassilis Solidakis, 1948 | Figurative Expressionist painter

Βασίλης Σολιδάκης was born in Sitia of the Island of Crete, Greece. He boasts to be an 'Eteocris', who is considered to be the indigenous people of Crete with roots in the Minoan period.

Solidakis received training in painting since 1968 and continued his studies in the period 1973-1985 with Dimitris Perdikidis in Madrid, Spain.

He had his first solo exhibition in 1978 in Athens. More one-man and group shows followed in Greece and abroad.

Jonathan Wolstenholme, 1950 | The Surreal books

Jonathan Wolstenholme is an British painter and illustrator best known for his amazingly detailed works deriving from a love of old books.

Books on Books is a series of illustrations in which the book world is being described by… the books. Jonathan has had three one-man shows in London and has exhibited at the Singer and Friedlander Exhibition several times, also at the Discerning Eye Competition at the Mall Galleries winning a prize in 2002.

In 1997 an exhibition of Jonathan’s work was shown in New York at the ‘Works on Paper’ fair. In 2003 he had a joint show with fellow Portal artist George Underwood, this was a great success, Jonathan also took part in an exhibition of Idiosyncratic Portal Artists in Tanglewood, near Boston in 2004 and Portal painters at the Edinburgh Festival in the same year.

Wolstenholme regularly exhibits with Portal at all the major Art Fairs in London and Glasgow.

Cesare Lapini (1848-1893) | Figurative /Allegorical sculptor

Cesare Lapini (1848-1893) was born in Florence. He became one of the leading sculptors of his generation producing works in marble including allegorical works, copies after the Antique, genre subjects and portrait busts.

These he sold with great success along with works by his contemporaries in his gallery in Florence, to travellers on the Grand Tour, which, from having been limited in the 18th Century to the aristocracy and minor royalty now included the wealthy bourgeois from Britain, Germany, Russia, France and of course the United States.

Brian Scott [Briscott] | Portrait painter

Brian Scott [Briscott] British painter, a self-taught, uses colored pencils, unique perspective and captivating subjects to create stunning work.

Brian Scott is a self-taught artist and feels that it shouldn’t matter what your artistic history or education is, but that you love what you are doing. He has always been interested in art and took classes at night school, but found he did not enjoy the strict, regimented routine.

At first, Brian tried oils and acrylics but didn’t feel that he was successful in those mediums. In 2009 he turned to colored pencils where he found his niche and never looked back.

Miriam Briks, 1957 | Figurative painter

Polish-born American painter Miriam Briks was born in Wroclaw, Poland. Raised in New York, she graduated from the School of Art and Design and studied figurative painting and drawing extensively at the Art Students League of New York.

For the next six years she worked as an illustrator and art teacher in Los Angeles and Florence, Italy. She also continued her studies at the Academy of Art in Siena. Originally trained in classical art, she began exhibiting her work in Paris, Italy and England. Upon her return to the Untied States, she took up residence in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas.