Jimmy Law, 1970 | Abstract portrait painter

Jimmy Law is a self-taught artist and painter of expressive portraits and resides in Cape Town, South Africa.

'- I was born in Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State on 26 September 1970. I matriculated in 1989.

In 1990 I enrolled to study a three year Graphic Design Diploma course at the Technicon of the Orange Free State.

After my studies I was conscripted for National Service in the South African National Defence Force for one year'.

George Bodine | Figurative / Cityscape painter

George Bodine paints landscapes, cityscapes and people.

Recently, he has been travelling extensively in Europe, and his paintings reflect his unique vision here and abroad.

He paints almost exclusively in oils, many of which are from small, niche manufacturers.

George often hand stretches Belgian linen sized with rabbit-skin glue and primed with white lead, techniques dating from the 16th. century.

Dmitri Spiros, 1971 | Impressionist painter

Dmitri Spiros is a Russian contemporary Impressionist artist. Dmitri comes from a family with Greek roots.

From ancient times onward there has formed a small Greek population in the Southern part of Russia on the shores of the Black Sea.

Spiros was born in Tashkent, in one of the former USSR republics, and lived there until 1998.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Bal du moulin de la Galette, 1876

Author: Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Title: Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette
Date: 1876
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: H. 131; W. 175 cm
Current location: © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d'Orsay) / Jean-Gilles Berizzi

Bal du moulin de la Galette [Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette] is doubtless Renoir's* most important work of the mid 1870's and was shown at the Impressionist* exhibition in 1877.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | La Balançoire / L'altalena, 1876

Renoir gives us the impression of surprising a conversation - as if in a snapshot, he catches the glances turned towards the man seen from the back. The young woman is looking away as if she were embarrassed. The foursome in the foreground is balanced by the group of five figures sketchily brushed in the background.

The Swing has many points in common with The Ball at the Moulin de la Galette. The two pictures were painted in parallel in the summer of 1876.

The models in The Swing, Edmond, Auguste Renoir's brother, the painter Norbert Goeneutte and Jeanne, a young woman from Montmartre, figure among the dancers in The Ball. The same carefree atmosphere infuses both pictures. As in The Ball, Renoir is particularly trying to catch the effects of sunlight dappled by the foliage.

Author: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)*
Title: La balançoire [The Swing]
Date: 1876
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: H. 92; W. 73 cm
Current location: © Musée d'Orsay, dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt

A young man seen from the back is talking to a young woman standing on a swing, watched by a little girl and another man, leaning against the trunk of a tree.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1881

Luncheon of the Boating Party by Pierre-Auguste Renoir remains the best known and most popular work of art at The Phillips Collection, just as Duncan Phillips imagined it would be when he bought it in 1923.

The painting captures an idyllic atmosphere as Renoir's friends share food, wine, and conversation on a balcony overlooking the Seine at the Maison Fournaise restaurant in Chatou. Parisians flocked to the Maison Fournaise to rent rowing skiffs, eat a good meal, or stay the night.

The painting also reflects the changing character of French society in the mid- to late 19th century. The restaurant welcomed customers of many classes, including businessmen, society women, artists, actresses, writers, critics, seamstresses, and shop girls. This diverse group embodied a new, modern Parisian society.

Rabindranath Tagore | Stay in front of my eyes / Rimani davanti ai miei occhi

Laurie Blank

Stay in front of my eyes, and let
that your eyes inflame my songs.
Remains one of your stars, and their light
let me turn on my worship.
The land remains on hold
the roadside of the world;

Claude Monet | The Houses of Parliament, 1900-1905 | Painting series

Claude Monet* painted a series of oil paintings of the Palace of Westminster, home of the British Parliament, in the fall of 1899 and the early months of 1900 and 1901 during stays in London. All of the series' paintings share the same viewpoint from Monet's window or a terrace at St Thomas' Hospital overlooking the Thames and the approximate canvas size of 81 cm x 92 cm (32 in x 36 3/8 in). They are however painted during different times of the day and weather circumstances.