Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore | Act 2: "Una furtiva lagrima"

"Una furtiva lagrima" (A furtive tear) is the romanza from act 2, scene 8 of the Italian opera L'elisir d'amore by Gaetano Donizetti.

It is sung by Nemorino (tenor) when it appears that the love potion he bought to win the heart of his dream lady, Adina, is working.

He loves Adina, but she is not interested in an innocent, rustic man such as he.

Ponziano Loverini | Portrait of Gaetano Doninzetti, 1877

Salvador Dali: "Give me two hours a day of activity, and I'll take the other twenty-two in dreams"!

• "I believe that the moment is near when by a procedure of active paranoiac thought, it will be possible to systematize confusion and contribute to the total discrediting of the world of reality".

• "If you understand a painting beforehand, you might as well not paint it".

• "We are all hungry and thirsty for concrete images. Abstract art will have been good for one thing: to restore its exact virginity to figurative art".

Ionut Caras, 1978 | Surrealist photographer

Romanian professional photographer and "photo mechanic" Ionut Caras was born and lives in Iasi, Romania.

Caras describes himself as a 'photo mechanic' and has created the series of mindboggling pictures using the computer program.

His passion for photography began seven years ago when Kara discovered the processing of photographs, artistic of composition.

Roberto Ferri, 1978 | Portrait of Pope Francis

Roberto Ferri devoted himself to Caravaggesque and academic painting - including Ingres, David, Gericault - but also by Surrealist painters.

Ferri's way of painting is elevated by a technique which is almost virtuosity, where the traditional tools of the surrealism are inserted onto the traditional iconographic elements.

His career took on greater notoriety for having been in charge of portraying Pope Francis.

There were two works commissioned from the Italian artist, which occupy privileged places in the Vatican.

Jacques Van Den Abeele, 1960 | Figurative sculptor

Jacques Van den Abeele, Belgian sculptor, is exhibited in galleries spread over Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States of America.

He realized also monumental sculptures for state orders.

For Jacques Van den Abeele, art is above all a quest for the essential foundations of existence, moving towards what lies behind appearances: feelings, emotions, fears.

Louis Aragon | Amor mio, non dire niente / Mon Amour ne dis rien

Amor mio non dire niente

lascia cadere queste due parole nel silenzio

Come una pietra a lungo lisciata fra i palmi delle mie mani

Una pietra veloce e pesante una pietra

Che cada nel profondo della nostra vita

DU Kun 杜昆, 1982 | Surrealist painter

DU Kun /杜昆 born in Sichuan, China.

Under the influence of his art teacher father DU began studying painting from the age of four, later graduating from Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts’ Oil Painting program.

Today he works between Tianjin and Beijing as his base, and is particularly widely renowned as a young Chinese artist for his creativity and the brilliance of his techniques.

Further, since his student days, in addition to his work as a painter DU Kun has been applying his talents in the field of music.

David Bowers, 1956 | Surrealist painter

David Michael Bowers was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and graduated from art school in Pittsburgh in 1979.

He began working as a staff artist at various studios in the Pittsburgh, PA area.

Two years later, David began teaching his craft at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where he lectured for ten years and was honored as the Keynote Speaker for the Class of 2003.

In 1991, David began his illustration career working mostly with book publishers in New York City in which he completed over one hundred book covers in the span of over ten years.

Salvador Dali: "Adoro i miei nemici quando sono intelligenti"

"Ho sfondato il muro della spudoratezza con una disciplina da caserma" - confidava Salvador Dalí in una intervista del 1961 alla giornalista e scrittrice italiana Oriana Fallaci (1929-2006), mentre, nelle successive riflessioni tuonava contro gli pseudo moralisti: "Non sono io il pagliaccio ma lo è questa società mostruosamente cinica e così ingenuamente incosciente che gioca a fingere di essere seria per meglio nascondere la propria follia".

Louis Aragon | Tutte le parole del mondo / Toutes les paroles du monde…

Quando tutte insieme le parole del mondo ti avrò dato

Tutte le foreste d’America e tutte le messi notturne del cielo

Quando ti avrò dato ciò che brilla e ciò che l’occhio non può vedere

Tutto il fuoco della terra come una coppa di lacrime

Il seme maschile delle specie diluviane

E la mano di un bambino

Sergey Shenderovsky

Marc Chagall's America Windows, 1977

The America Windows are a stunning display of the iconic style of one of the world’s most prolific and expressive artists.

They capture Marc Chagall’s unique vision as he reflected, late in his career, on the resilience and freedom of the creative spirit.

At eight feet high and thirty feet across, these stained glass windows are a vast arrangement of colors of the highest intensity - bright reds, oranges, yellows, and greens - placed against brilliant shades of blue. Representations of people, animals, and items such as writing implements, musical instruments, and artists’ tools float above a skyline of buildings and trees.

Louis Aragon | Non esistono amori felici / There is no happy love, 1943

Nulla appartiene all’uomo. Né la sua forza

Né la sua debolezza né il suo cuore E quando crede

Di aprire le braccia la sua ombra è quella di una croce

E quando crede di stringere la felicità la stritola

La sua vita è uno strano e doloroso divorzio

Non esistono amori felici.

Marc Chagall

Giuseppe Modica, 1953 | Metaphysical painter

Giuseppe Modica, born in Mazara del Vallo (TP- Italy), is among the main exponents of Italian Metaphysical painting in the second half of the twentieth century.

He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.

In 1986 he moved to Rome, where he currently lives and works and holds the chair of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts.

Author "metaphysically new" (D. Micacchi), he occupies a very specific place in contemporary artistic culture.

Erzsébet Furmen | Pebble Artist

The Hungarian artist Erzsébet Furmen (Erzsébet Szilajka) brings stones to life in her charming Pebble Art.

She has loved stones since her childhood. She enthusiastically collected pebbles and made of them pieces of her life out like a mosaic.

Just as in her childhood, today Erzsébet can also spend a few hours on a gravel road or on a beach, choosing the most interesting, textured and ribbed stones for her work.

Now the artist tells stories about couples, family and love for animals.

The Italian painter Bruno di Maio died at the age of 80!

Bruno di Maio (1944-2024), one of the Italy's best Figurative artists, passed away in December 2024, at the age of 80!

Di Maio was born in North Africa in 1944 to Italian parents.

Artist, graphic designer, excellent watercolourist, di Maio has worked mainly for an international clientele, as well as in the main cities of Italy, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Tokyo and Madrid.

René Magritte | The Blank Signature, 1965

"Everything that is visible hides something that is invisible" - René Magritte

In The Blank Signature, René Magritte (Belgian surrealist artist, 1898-1967) does what he does best: he takes our familiar world, breaks it into pieces, and then reassembles it…

As one of the leading figures of the surrealist movement in 1920s Paris, Magritte's approach mirrors one of the group’s fundamental principles.

The surrealist manifesto, a multi-page written declaration drawn up by André Breton in 1924, states their aim was to "liberate the mind by subverting rational thought and giving free reign to the unconscious".

René Magritte | The Blank Signature, 1965 | National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Tetsuya Ishida | Surrealist painter

Tetsuya Ishida / 石田 徹也 (1973-2005) was a Japanese painter, best known for his surreal portrayal of an ordinary Japanese life.

He was born in Yaizu, Shizuoka, as the youngest of four sons.

His father was a member of parliament and his mother, a housewife.

He attended Yaizu Central High School until his graduation in 1992.

Ishida stated in interviews that it was during this period that his parents, and his principal, applied pressure on him to thrive academically well enough to develop a teaching or chemist career.

Sarah Jarrett | Pop Surrealism painter

Sarah Jarrett is a collage artist and illustrator based in Norfolk, UK.

She is fascinated and inspired by the human relationship with nature and the natural world.

She loves plants, flowers, and color.

Jarrett's ladies are frequently surrounded by flowers, birds and branches, which gives them a lovely surrealistic impression.

Jacek Yerka, 1952 | Il sogno Surrealista

Jacek Yerka, pittore surrealista Polacco, nato a Torun, vive e lavora con la sua famiglia, in un enclave rurale della sua nativa Polonia.

Inizia con lo studiare Storia dell'Arte e segue corsi di grafica, poi si dedica alla pittura nel 1980.

Dipinge (dapprima solo su tela con olio e acrilico) con meticoloso realismo stile fiammingo.

Nei suoi lavori s'intravvede la pastorale atmosfera della campagna polacca, che però fa da base non strutturale, difatti la magia sognante di Yerka s'ispira ai pittori e personaggi del 15°-16° secolo: Cagliostro. Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel, Hugo van der Goes e Jan van Eyck ed anche il moderno Magritte: una magia che in lui è fatta di cultura, grande immaginazione e simbolismo.

Anne Bachelier, 1949 | Surrealist /Visionary painter

French painter and illustrator Anne Bachelier, was born in Louvigne du Desert, France.

Metamorphosis, transition, and evolution provide the common threads of the art of Anne Bachelier.

The artist captivates her audience with compelling, highly imaginative images that are distinct, unique, inventive and immediately recognizable.