Van Gogh: "Disegnare a parole è anch'essa un'arte"

""Siamo tanto attaccati a questa vecchia vita perché, accanto ai momenti di tristezza, abbiamo anche momenti di gioia in cui anima e cuore esultano - come l'allodola che non può fare a meno di cantare al mattino, anche se l'anima talvolta trema in noi, piena di timori" - Vincent Van Gogh - Lettere a Theo, Amsterdam, 30 maggio 1877

Van Gogh | Figures study

"And my aim in my life is to make picture and drawings, as many and as well as I can, then, at the end of my life, I hope to pass away, looking back with love and tender regret, and thinking: "Oh, pictures I might have made!"

Theo, I declare I prefer to think how arms, legs, head are attached to the trunk, rather than whether I myself am or am not more or less an artist" - Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Drenthe, The Netherlands, Autumn 1883; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935

Van Gogh: "I call myself a peasant painter"

"When I call myself a peasant painter, that is a real fact, and it will become more and more clear to you in the future, I feel at home there" - Quote of Vincent, Summer 1885

Charmaine Olivia, 1988 | Abstract painter / illustrator

Charmaine Olivia is a self-taught fine artist from southern California. She was raised by spiritual parents who began teaching her in yoga and meditation since she was four. She began painting when she was 7 and started working as a professional artist at the age of 17.

Spirituality, mysticism and mythology are strong influences in her work and in her life.

Charmaine is aware that there is more to this physical world that we can see with our eyes, so she uses painting as a means to explore the other dimensions of mind and thought.

Pieter de Hooch | Baroque Era painter

Pieter de Hooch, Hooch also spelled Hoogh or Hooghe (baptized Dec. 20, 1629, Rotterdam, Neth-buried March 24, 1684, Amsterdam), Dutch genre painter of the Delft school, noted for his interior scenes and masterful use of light.

De Hooch was a pupil of Claes Berchem at Haarlem. From 1653 he was in the service of Justus de Grange and lived in Delft, The Hague, and Leiden. He was a member of the painters’ guild of Delft from 1654-1657, but after that date there are no traces of his career until about 1667, when his presence was recorded in Amsterdam.