Irene Sheri Vishnevskaya, 1968 | Romantic ainter

The daughter of a bulgarian mother and french father, Irene Sheri Vishnevskaya was born in the Ukraine in 1968.

Her art career began when Irene’s older brother, Vasily, was given a set of paints for his 9th birthday.

Told not to touch the paints, they became an obsession.

Irene stole them, mixed them, and painted on paper, walls, her dress, and the bodies of her friends.

She was 4 years old.

Alain Picard, 1974 | Figurative /Landscape painter

Alain J. Picard is an award-winning artist, instructor, author and speaker. His acclaimed pastel and oil paintings have been exhibited throughout the US, Europe, China and the UK.

Alain travels internationally as an art instructor, demonstrator, speaker and artistic advocate for the vulnerable.

Alain Picard earned a BA in illustration from Western CT State University and went on to study at the Art Student's League in New York City. Picard cites Sargent, Degas, and Sorolla among his artistic influences. A love of light and beauty are immediately apparent in his pastel and oil paintings.

Claude Monet and Impressionism

When Durand-Ruel's previous support of Monet and his peers began to decline, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, and Berthe Morisot exhibited their work independently; they did so under the name the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers for which Monet was a leading figure in its formation.

He was inspired by the style and subject matter of his slightly older contemporaries, Pissarro and Édouard Manet.

The group, whose title was chosen to avoid association with any style or movement, were unified in their independence from the Salon and rejection of the prevailing academicism.

Monet gained a reputation as the foremost landscape painter of the group.

Claude Monet | L'idillio di Giverny: tra covoni, giardini e cattedrali

Dopo la mostra organizzata da Petit, Monet poté godere del sostegno economico e morale di un pubblico finalmente svincolatosi dalle pastoie della pittura accademica.

La gloria, tuttavia, non offuscò né la sua umiltà né le sue ambizioni pittoriche, finalizzate a rendere «l'immediatezza, l'atmosfera soprattutto e la stessa luce diffusa ovunque».

Volendo indagare in maniera più accurata i problemi della luce e dalle sensazioni di colore, dunque, Monet intraprese le cosiddette serie, nelle quali uno stesso soggetto viene ripreso in decine e decine di tele, in modo tale che l'unico fattore cangiante è proprio la luce: si trattava di una escogitazione pittorica ottimale per dimostrare come la sola luce riuscisse a generare percezioni visive sempre mutevoli e stimolanti.

Denis Nolet, 1964 | Night Tango in Paris

Denis Nolet, Canadian painter, was born in Quebec.

Beginning his study of art at the age of nine, Nolet was able to experiment with various styles of painting early on, finding his own unique genre in a fusion of his influences and establishing himself as an artist by the time he was only twenty.

Ousmane Sow | The Auguste Rodin of Senegal

Ousmane Sow, Sculptor of Larger-Than-Life Figures, Dies at 81

By William Grimesdec. 1, 2016 © The New York Times, December 2, 2016

Ousmane Sow, often called the Auguste Rodin of Senegal, who earned an international reputation for his expressive sculptures of the Nuba, Masai and other African peoples, died on Thursday in Dakar, Senegal.

He was 81.

Mr. Sow (pronounced So) spent much of his life as a physical therapist but in his 50s became a full-time sculptor.

La Mano del Desierto / The Hand of the Desert, 1992

The "Mano de Desierto", or "Hand of the Desert", or "Mano del Desierto" is a large-scale sculpture of a hand located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, 75 km to the south of the city of Antofagasta, on the Panamerican Highway. The nearest point of reference is the "Ciudad Empresarial La Negra", La Negra Business City.

The sculpture was constructed by the Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal* at an altitude of 1,100 meters above sea level. Irarrázabal used the human figure to express emotions like injustice loneliness, sorrow and torture.

Its exaggerated size of is said to emphasize human vulnerability and helplessness. The work has a base of iron and cement, and stands 11 metres (36 ft) tall.

Funded by Corporación Pro Antofagasta, a local booster organization, the sculpture was inaugurated on March 28, 1992.

Winslow Homer | The Poet of the Sea

American painter Winslow Homer (1836-1910) is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in american art.

Largely self-taught, Homer began his career working as a commercial illustrator.

He subsequently took up oil painting and produced major studio works characterized by the weight and density he exploited from the medium.

He also worked extensively in watercolor, creating a fluid and prolific oeuvre, primarily chronicling his working vacations.

Some major artists create popular stereotypes that last for decades; others never reach into popular culture at all.