John Frederick Lewis | Orientalist / Genre painter

John Frederick Lewis RA (London 14 July 1804 - 15 August 1876) was an British painter. He specialized in Oriental and Mediterranean scenes in exquisitely detailed watercolour or oils.

Lewis lived for several years in a traditional mansion in Cairo, and (after his return to England) painted highly detailed works showing both realistic Genre scenes of Middle Eastern life and more idealized scenes in upper class Egyptian interiors with no traces of Western cultural influence yet apparent.

Anna Ancher | Skagen painter

Anna Ancher (1859-1935) was in reality the only Woman painter among the Skagen artists, a fact that was mirrored in her paintings, which depict the world of women.

She painted many women - many more than men - and these women were often alone. A typical Anna Ancher motif was a single female figure in an interior setting - a bedroom or a living room - quietly occupied with a task or merely thoughtful and withdrawn.

This contemplation is a very characteristic trait in Anna Ancher’s female figures.

Their concentration is directed inward to their inner world, and there is almost never any eye contact with the beholder because the women look down, have their eyes closed or their backs turned.

Chidi Okoye, 1961 | Abstract painter / sculptor

Nigerian born painter Chidi A. Okoye graduated with a distinction in sculpture from the Institute of Management and Technology in Enugu, Nigeria, in 1988.

For the next six years he taught sculpture and drawing at Federal Polytechnic Oko Anambra State Nigeria. During this period, he created an outstanding collection, not only sculpting, but painting and writing as well.

In Nigeria, He had his national solo exhibition “Textures of Life” and launching of his book “Lamentation” at national museum Lagos in 1993 sponsored by Mobil Producing Nigeria.

Taras Loboda, 1961 | Pittore astratto

Taras Loboda è nato a Ivano-Frankovsk, Ucraina, nella famiglia di I.I.Loboda, famoso artista Ucraino.

Si è laureato presso l'Istituto d'Arte di Kiev (1979-1985).

Nel 1979 frequenta il noto Studio di Zaretsky.

Partecipa a molte mostre internazionali, repubblicane e dell'intera Unione Sovietica.

Dal 1993 vive e lavora a Praga (Repubblica Ceca).

Monet: "Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment!

This was clearly reflected in a letter that he wrote to his friend Gustave Geffroy in 1908, when he was still occupied with the same theme:

'You must know I'm entirely absorbed in my work. These landscapes of water and reflections have become an obsession. It's quite beyond my powers at my age, and yet I want to succeed in expressing what I feel. I've destroyed some... I start others... and I hope that something will come out of so much effort'.

Narcisse Diaz de la Peña | The Barbizon school of painters

Narcisse-Virgilio Díaz de la Peña (1808-1876) was born in 1808 in Bordeaux, of Spanish parents who had fled the Peninsular Wars.

After their early deaths, he grew up in foster care at Meudon.

At thirteen, an infection, caused by an insect sting or snake bite, necessitated the amputation of his left leg.

In 1823 he began an apprenticeship in painting on porcelain at a china factory in Paris, where he met Jules Dupré (1811-1889), who was to become his lifelong friend.

Théodore Rousseau | The Barbizon school of painters

Théodore Rousseau, in full Pierre-Étienne-Théodore Rousseau (born April 15, 1812, Paris, France-died December 22, 1867, Barbizon), French painter who was a leader of the Barbizon school of landscape painters.

His direct observation of nature made him an important figure in the development of Landscape painting.

Rousseau, the son of a tailor, began to paint at age 14.

Attilio Pratella | Landscape/Genre painter

Italian painter Attilio Pratella was born in Lugo, Italy in 1856, and died in Naples in 1949. Pratella began drawing in 1877, was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna through a scholarship and was inspired by the works of Fontanesi. By 1880 attended the Fine Arts Institute in Naples, during which time he earned livelihood as a ceramics decorator in the Cacciapuoti factory.