Hatshepsut | The first woman Pharoah / La prima donna Faraone

Hatshepsut (Hat-shep-soot) (1507–1458 BCE), the first important female ruler known to history, lived a thousand years after the pyramids were built and seventeen centuries after the Egyptians had begun writing their language in hieroglyphs.

She ruled Egypt for two decades (ca. 1473-1458 B.C.) during Egypt's Dynasty 18. Although less familiar to modern audiences than her much later successor, the notorious Cleopatra (51–30 B.C.), Hatshepsut's achievements were far more significant.

Ruling first as regent for, then as co-ruler with, her nephew Thutmose III (who ruled for another thirty-three years after her death), Hatshepsut enjoyed a relatively peaceful reign, at the beginning of the New Kingdom.

Howard Rogers, 1932 | Sculptures

Howard Rogers began his fine art career as a highly successful illustrator on the East Coast, working on projects for national magazines and book publishers. He eventually moved west to paint full time, greatly inspired by the landscapes and cowboy lifestyle.

Today, he is nationally recognized for his western paintings, although his subjects include figuratives, florals and wildlife.

He is also highly sought after for his lyrical figurative bronzes.

Ana Mutavdzic | Abstract Cityscape painter

Ana Mutavdzic is an Serbian painter, known for working in the Abstract style*.

Mutavdzic was born in Kragujevac, Serbia - Yugoslavia.

I am driven by the feeling that with my brush I can convey my own understanding of the world to the canvas, the colours of my soul, my feelings and the way of life. It's one of the things which make me paint all over again.

Istvan Sàndorfi | Drawing

István Sándorfi was born in Budapest in 1948 and died in 2007. His father was director of the American company, IBM, in Hungary.

Because of this association he served five years in Stalinist prisons during the Communist regime and his family was deported to an isolated Hungarian village.

At the time of the 1956 uprising the Sandorfi family fled the country and became expatriates, first in Germany, then in France.

Greatly affected by the violence of the revolution and by the aberration of political systems in general, Istvan took refuge in drawing, and then, at the age of 12, in oil painting.

Jorge Luis Borges | A Poem to Friends | L'Amicizia

Pablo Picasso* - Friendship, 1908

I cannot give you solutions to all life’s problems,

Nor do I have answers to your doubts or fears

But I can listen to you and share it with you

I cannot change neither your past nor your future.

But when you need me I’ll be by your side.

I cannot prevent you from stumbling

I can only offer you my hand to hold on to you so you won’t fall.

Anita Magsaysay-Ho | Cubist painter

Anita Magsaysay-Ho (May 25, 1914 - May 5, 2012) was a Filipino painter. She was the only female member of the Thirteen Moderns, a standing group of Filipino modernist artists and in 1958 was chosen by a panel of experts at the six major painters of the country. The most famous work of Magsaysay-Ho are subject to the beauty of Filipino women dealing with everyday issues.

Vally Nomidou / Βαλλυ Νομιδου, 1959 | Figurative sculptor

G reek artist* Vally Nomidou / Βαλλυ Νομιδου was born in Thessaloniki. She graduate of the Athens School of Fine Arts, and of the Saint Martin’s School of Art of London.

Recipient of scholarship for the Greek graduate program of IKY.

Vally Nomidou makes life-size sculptures of human figures using only paper and cardboard.

The construction of her paper sculptures is a labour of layering newspaper, paper towel, and other recycled papers by cutting, sewing and rubbing to produce beautiful forms.

Jesus Navarro, 1952 | Hyperrealist painter

Jesús Navarro was born in Jerez, Cadiz, located in southern Spain.

By the age of twelve his artistic talents led him to the local school of arts and crafts -Escuela de Artes y Oficios de Jerez- where he studied painting and sculpture.

At this time He also became the apprentice of locally renowned painter, Ramírez Toro, under which Navarro learned the complex techniques of classical painting.

In 1971, Navarro moved to Barcelona where he began a phase of self-teaching, focusing on combining classical techniques along with his newly discovered self interests in detailed formation of compositions.

George Grie / Джордж Грие, 1962 | Neo-Surrealist painter

George Grie / Джордж Грие or Юрий Грибановский is a Russian-Canadian artist.

One of the first digital surrealism artists, Grie is known for numerous 3D, 2D, and matte painting images. Born in the USSR during the Soviet regime he did not adopt the conventional and politically correct socialist realism art style.

• Style

Grie's artistic style has been heavily influenced by famous surrealists such as René Magritte and Salvador Dalí, fantastic realists Zdzisław Beksiński and Wojciech Siudmak, and surreal photomanipulation artist Jerry Uelsmann. His neo-surrealist artwork is a combination of classic surrealist symbolism with modern fantasy, gothic and visionary arttendencies.