Berit Kruger-Johnsen | Romantic Surrealist painter

Growing up in Oslo, Norway, nature has always played a major part in Berit Kruger-Johnsen's life.

She studied for a degree in biology and upon completion was accepted into the only graphic design school in Oslo at that time.

The only artist in my family was my grandfather, who never met. It was crazy during the Depression era and was institutionalized. I think it would be fair to say that whenever an artist or not entitled connotations in my family.

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema | The Roses of Heliogabalus, 1888

"The Roses of Heliogabalus" is an 1888 painting by the Dutch-born British artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912).

It is currently owned by the Spanish-Mexican billionaire businessman and art collector Juan Antonio Pérez Simón.

The painting measures 132.7 × 214.4 centimetres (52.2 × 84.4 in).

It shows a group of Roman diners at a banquet, being swamped by drifts of pink rose petals falling from a false ceiling above.

The Roman emperor Elagabalus reclines on a platform behind them, wearing a golden robe and a tiara, watching the spectacle with other garlanded guests.

Odilon Redon | Hommage a Goya, 1885 | The series

Homage to Goya (Hommage à Goya) is an portfolio of 6 lithographs on chine appliqué reveal Redon's admiration for the Spanish painter and printmaker, who died in 1828.

This series is one of many that Odilon Redon created throughout his career.

Nearly two-thirds of his lithographs took the form of portfolios - prints connected conceptually by a theme or narrative and physically by a folder or binding.

Odilon Redon | Hommage a Goya, 1885 | Scharf Gerstenberg Collection

Raffaello Gambogi | Post-Macchiaioli painter

Raffaello Gambogi (Livorno, 1874-1943) was an Italian painter, mainly of urban landscapes and genre scenes.

In 1891 Gambogi obtained a scholarship to the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, where he studied under Giovanni Fattori.

Jeffrey T. Larson, 1962 | Classical Realist painter

Jeffrey T. Larson was born in Two Harbors, Minnesota and grew up in the Twin Cities.

At the age of seventeen he began his classical studies with traditional atelier training under Richard Lack at the Atelier Lack in Minneapolis, MN.

Following his four- year training at Atelier Lack (1980-1984), Larson studied the work of the masters in the United States and abroad.

Mark Ashkenazi | Pop Art painter

Mark Ashkenazi is an Israeli photo artist based in New York City.

He loved art since childhood and everyone around him, including himself, knew that he would become an artist.

Starting artwork at such a young age provided him with the opportunity to learn a lot from other renowned artists.

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema | Spring / Primavera, 1894

A procession of women and children descending marble stairs carry and wear brightly colored flowers. Cheering spectators fill the windows and roof of a classical building.

Dutch-born British Classicist painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) here represented the Victorian custom of sending children into the country to collect flowers on the morning of May 1, or May Day, but placed the scene in ancient Rome.

Ricardo Sanz, 1957 | Figurative painter

Ricardo Sanz is a San Sebastián painter. His work is contemporary figurative style.

His artistic vocation was forged through his grandfather, owner of the Art Gallery La Perfecta in which he met the great artists of the painting: Sorolla, Zuloaga, Vázquez Diaz, etc.

At fourteen he began his training as a painter with José Camps, while he continued his studies until graduating in History from the University of Deusto and Art History in Madrid.

In Paris and Italy continues his apprenticeship with prominent painters of the time.

François Lassere, 1960 | Oppositionist Art

Born in Puy de Dôme, France, François Lassere is a self-taught painter who practices several techniques.

He was interested in hyperrealism for many years, then moved on to working in raw material, when a painter in Paris suggested to him to expand to new techniques.

Lassere then embarked on a new trend, which he calls “Oppositionism”. From this point on his work will mostly consist of highlighting heterogeneous styles to extract harmony from them.

Alda Merini | Alla tua salute, amore mio!

Sono folle di te, amore

che vieni a rintracciare

nei miei trascorsi

questi giocattoli rotti delle mie parole.

Ti faccio dono di tutto

se vuoi,

Pablo Picasso |The Embrace, 1900

Citazioni da Picasso: "Dipingere non è un'operazione estetica.."

• "Quando uno inizia un ritratto e cerca per successive eliminazioni di trovare la forma pura... si finisce inevitabilmente con un uovo.."

• "La pittura non è fatta per decorare gli appartamenti. È uno strumento di guerra offensiva e difensiva contro il nemico".

Peregrine Heathcote, 1973 | Academic Realism painter

Born in London, Peregrine Heathcote spent his childhood living in both Britain and Dubai where his imagination was free to flourish as he witnessed an international jet set culture.

Hence it is no surprise that the artist's imagery reflects a provocative Silver Screen theatrical quality.

In 1995, Peregrine Heathcote graduated from the Florence Academy of Art and since that time he has been profiled by the BBC in a documentary about his portraits resulting in international exposure.

Paul Gauguin | Post-Impressionist painter

Paul Gauguin, in full Eugène-Henri-Paul Gauguin (born June 7, 1848, Paris, France-died May 8, 1903, Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia) French painter, printmaker and sculptor who sought to achieve a "primitive” expression of spiritual and emotional states in his work.

The artist, whose work has been categorized as Post-Impressionist, Synthetist and Symbolist, is particularly well known for his creative relationship with Vincent van Gogh as well as for his self-imposed exile in Tahiti, French Polynesia.

His artistic experiments influenced many avant-garde developments in the early 20th century.

Pablo Picasso | Periodi artistici

Periodo blu

Partendo dal 1901 lo stile pittorico di Picasso incominciò a presentare tratti originali e nuove soluzioni artistiche; in quell'anno, infatti, ha inizio il cosiddetto «periodo blu», che si protrae sino alla primavera del 1904.

Questa fase artistica picassiana, come già accennato, scaturì in seguito alla morte suicida dell'amico Carlos Casagemas, come affermato dallo stesso maestro andaluso:

«Quando mi resi conto che Casagemas era morto, incominciai a dipingere in blu» - Pablo Picasso

Ivan Pili, 1976 | Figurative painter

Ivan Pili, concert musician, composer and visual artist, was born in Cagliari, Italy.

His artistic skills emerged from the earliest age, first on the kindergarten benches and then manifested themselves in his early portraiture works at the age of 9 years.

From 1986-1990 he attended painters in Cagliari asking for his presence in their labs to try to improve the technique of the little boy.

Eric Wallis, 1968 | Ballet dancers

"I love the movement and anatomical definition that dancers have characteristically.

There is power in their bodies that they use to convey beautiful grace and emotional verbiage.

It is difficult to capture that in a 2 dimensional work and therefore it embodies a challenge that I enjoy" - Eric Wallis.

Victor Gilbert | Belle Époque painter

The mid-nineteenth and early twentieth century saw the introduction of art based on daily life, a depiction of everything from the street vendors to the homeless in and around France.

Artists were often deeply embroiled in the social issues of the time and sought to free themselves from the imposing historicism that had stifled art production for decades.

Leo Putz | Impressionist painter

Leo Putz (1869-1940) was a Tyrolean painter. His work encompasses Art Nouveau, Impressionism and the beginnings of Expressionism. Figures and landscapes are his predominant subjects.

Leo Putz was born in Merano in South Tyrol, Italy, in 1869.

His artistic career began in 1885 under the aegis of his stepbrother.

This was Robert Poetzelberger (1856-1930) who was a professor at the Munich Academy and who taught him drawing.

Raymond Leech, 1949 | Impressionist painter

Raymond Leech was born at Great Yarmouth in East Angila and spent his childhood by the seaside.

He was influenced to take up an artistic career by his father, who taught him to draw.

In particular, he was inspired by the work of the Newlyn School, the french impressionists, Edgar Degas 1834-1917, Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1841-1919 and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 1864-1901.

Renoir: "Irregularity is the basis of all art"

• "They tell you that a tree is only a combination of chemical elements. I prefer to believe that God created it, and that it is inhabited by a nymph".

• "Ti dicono che un albero è solo una combinazione di elementi chimici. Io preferisco credere che sia stato Dio a crearlo e che sia abitato da una ninfa".