Ben Goossens, 1945 ~ Surrealist photographer

Goossens worked for 35 years in his native Belgium as an ad agency art director. After retiring, Goossen's turned to creating photo montages with a distinctive Surrealism style reminiscent of his fellow countryman, René Magritte.

Graciela Rodo Boulanger, 1935

Her love of art was influenced by her mother, a concert pianist, and her father, a businessman and art connoisseur. She studied music and art throughout childhood, giving her first piano recital at age 15, and her first art exhibitions in Vienna and Salzburg at age 18. Pursuing her dream to be both a great artist and musician, Rodo soon found that time would not permit the necessary devotion to both her passions. At 22, she turned all of her energy to painting. She studied etching and printmaking along with René Carcan under Johnny Friedlaender in Paris.

Zayasaikhan Sambuu, 1975 | Magic Realism painter

Mongolian painter Zayasaikhan Sambuu, also known as Zaya was born in an isolated village in the Gobi Desert.

At fifteen he decided to become a Buddhist monk but the strict rules of the monastery were at odds with his irrepressible creativity.

By the time he was a teenager, communist Mongolia was becoming less oppressive, and freedom of religion returning.

Nikolai Shurygin

Shurygin was born in 1957 in Kimry, Russia. In 1979 he graduated from Moscow School of applied arts (design). During 10 years the painter has been studying multilayered painting which secrets were lost in the beginning of XIX. This unique technique was used by flemish painters as well as russian painters such Kiprensky, Levitsky, Borovikovsky and many others.

Michael Bergt, 1956 | Magic Realism painter

Michael Bergt was born in a small Nebraska farming community.

At the age of five, he decided he wanted to be an artist. When he was eight years old, his family moved to Denver.

At nineteen, Michael became friends with a group of artists, Beat poets and late-night coffee drinkers in lower downtown Denver.