Winslow Homer and the Sea

Winslow Homer 1836-1910, American painter, was one of the most authentic and important American artists of the nineteenth century.

He is remembered for his landscapes, many featuring scenes of the sea, boats, and coastlines. His mastery of sketching and watercolor lends to his oil paintings the invigorating spontaneity of direct observation from nature.

His subjects, often deceptively simple on the surface, dealt in their most serious moments with the theme of human struggle within an indifferent universe.

Agostino Arrivabene, 1967 ~ Visionary Surrealist painter

Agostino Arrivabene, a very talented Italian painter, is a painter of decadence, dream and ancient symbologies who uses his own homemade pigments and colors and tries to revive ancient pictorial techniques. Arrivabene was born in Rivolta d’Adda, in the province of Cremona, Italy in 1967. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in 1991. He then travelled to various Italian and international cities seeking out the work of the Old Masters, deepening his knowledge of his craft, and bringing to bear a great influence upon the future development of his own artwork.

Derek Kinzett, 1966 ~ Wire sculptor

British sculptor Derek Kinzett spent his childhood living in Dodington Park, Gloucestershire - England, a breathtaking estate designed and laid out by Capability Brown in 1764. Derek moved with his family to Wiltshire in 1977, and completed his studies in Art and Design at Wiltshire College in 1984. In 2007 he launched 'The Inner Spirit Collection' of hand crafted life size wire sculptures, which has continued to grow in size and content. Described as beyond beautiful, stunning and spiritual, Derek's work has gained recognition and respect for its intricacy and detail, and can be found within private collections throughout the UK, America, Russia and France.

Renata Domagalska ~ Rainy street

Pure colour, movement, expression, strong brushstrokes, strength and subtlety are the characteristics of Renata Domagalska's painting in which the Dance of Colors and Energy of every Blotch make its figures alive. The favorite theme of this Figurative Art is Flamenco Dancing, a Nude Woman and a City Throbbing with Life.

Annette Schmucker, 1957 ~ Abstract painter

Annette Schmucker, German painter, was born in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Bavaria and is a self-taught artist. Schmucker's paintings are bursts of vibrant colours like bright red, blue, yellow and violet mixing together to create dynamic compositions. The earth and space communicate with each other in her extraordinary paintings and invite the viewer to feel the balance. Fire and ice. She creates works of particular brilliance in terms of colour. Annette's colour intensive works are real bundles of energy reflecting the presence of the things in the past or coming in the future.

Gregory Colbert, 1960 ~ Canadian photographer

Born in Toronto, Canada in 1960, Gregory Colbert, Canadian photographer, is a film-maker and photographer best known as the creator of Ashes and Snow, an exhibition of photographic artworks and films housed in the Nomadic Museum.

Paolo and Francesca | Inferno, Canto V | The Divine Comedy

Francesca da Rimini or Francesca da Polenta (1255 - ca. 1285) was the daughter of Guido da Polenta, lord of Ravenna.

She was a historical contemporary of Dante Alighieri, who portrayed her as a character in the Divine Comedy.

Paolo Malatesta (c. 1246-1285) was the third son of Malatesta da Verucchio, lord of Rimini.

He is best known for the story of his affair with Francesca da Polenta, portrayed by Dante in a famous episode of his Inferno (Canto V). He was the brother of Giovanni (Gianciotto) and Malatestino Malatesta.

Auguste Rodin - Paolo e Francesca

Monumento a Dante in Piazza Santa Croce a Firenze, 1865

Dmitri Danish, 1966 | Venice Evening

Дмитрий Даниш, Ukrainian painter, known for working in the Impressionist style, was born in Kharkiv.

He was a natural artist from the start.

His mother, an artist herself, was the first to discover Dmitri's talent and began to teach him to draw and paint.

At age 12 he was accepted into a Kharkiv Art School, and by age 15 he was enrolled at the Kharkiv State Art College.

Rogier Van Der Weyden | Northern Renaissance painter

Rogier van der Weyden, original name Rogier de la Pasture (1399/1400, Tournai [Belgium] - 1464, Brussels), Northern Renaissance painter who, with the possible exception of Jan van Eyck, was the most influential northern European artist of his time.

Though most of his work was religious, he produced secular paintings (now lost) and some sensitive portraits.

Rogier was the son of a master cutler, and his childhood must have been spent in the comfortable surroundings of the rising class of merchants and craftsmen.