Robert Finale | Romantic scenery painter

Cuban painter Robert Finale is no stranger to struggles and adversity.

At the tender age of two, he along with his family fled the communist ruled country of Cuba for a life of freedom and opportunity in the United States.

Here Robert learned the value of hard work and discipline and realized his potential to pursue his passion for art.

This passion, Finale explains, began very early in life.

Shawn Mackey, 1984 | Abstract expressionist painter

Shawn Mackey was born in Edmonton, Canada.

Growing up in the long cold winters of Canada, he had ample time to draw and let his creativity flourish.

Mackey’s parents, who were both teachers, would bring home boxes of scrap photocopy paper for him to draw on.

He would cover hundreds of sheets with pictures of everything from Italian sports cars, to the elaborate floor plans of luxury mansions, to a variety of superheroes and cartoon characters pulled from his own imagination.

Pietro Magni | The Reading Girl / La Lettrice, 1856

Pietro Magni's marble statue The Reading Girl brought the Milanese sculptor international fame and recognition.

It was exhibited numerous times at international exhibitions throughout Europe and America, each time to great public and critical acclaim.

Stylistically it owes much to the artistic tradition of verismo or "realism" that characterized Italian art during the middle years of the nineteenth century, but it also recalls earlier aspects of Italian romanticism.

Amedeo Modigliani: "Happiness is an angel with a serious face"

When I know your soul, I will paint your eyes.

Quando conoscerò la tua anima, dipingerò i tuoi occhi.

It is your duty in life to save your dream.

Il tuo unico dovere è salvare i tuoi sogni.

Luca Postiglione | Genre painter

Luca Postiglione (Naples, 1876-1936) was an Italian painter, mainly of portraits, historic and genre subjects, in a Realist style.

Luca Postiglione was born in a family of painters. He was the son of the painter Luigi Postiglione.

His uncle, Salvatore Postiglione (1861-1906) was also a painter and his teacher.

Giovanni Panza | Impressionist /Genre painter

Giovanni Panza (1894-1989) was an Italian painter.

Born into a family of poets and painters, he was the nephew of Salvatore Postiglione and Luca Postiglione, sons of the painter Raphael Postiglione, who introduced him to painting.

Leonora Carrington | Surrealist painter

Leonora Carrington, (1917-2011), British-born Mexican Surrealist artist and writer, known for her haunting, autobiographical, somewhat inscrutable paintings that incorporate images of sorcery, metamorphosis, alchemy and the occult.

Carrington was raised in a wealthy Roman Catholic family on a large estate called Crookhey Hall.

Salvatore Postiglione | Genre painter

Salvatore Postiglione (1861-1906) was born to father Luigi (1812-1881), who was a painter of sacred subjects.

His brother, also named Luigi Postiglione and his nephew, and Luigi's son, Lucawere also painters. He studied at the Neapolitan Institute of Fine Arts under his uncle, Raffaele and Domenico Morelli.