Berthe Morisot | Style and technique

Because she was a female artist, Morisot's paintings were often labeled as being full of "feminine charm" by male critics, for their elegance and lightness.

In 1890, Morisot wrote in a notebook about her struggles to be taken seriously as an artist: "I don't think there has ever been a man who treated a woman as an equal and that's all I would have asked for, for I know I'm worth as much as they".

Her light brushstrokes often led to critics using the verb "effleurer" (to touch lightly, brush against) to describe her technique.

In her early life, Morisot painted in the open air as other Impressionists to look for truths in observation.

Marianne von Werefkin | Expressionist painter

Marianne von Werefkin (1860-1938), Russian-German-Swiss painter, a member of ancient russian nobility, was born in the Russian town of Tula.

She was well educated according to western standards and the young girl's artistic talents were recognised early and encouraged.

She had her first private academic drawing lessons at the age of fourteen.

She was introduced to Illarion Michailowitsch Prjanischnikow, a member of the "Peredwischniki", where she began her studies, by the Repin family.

When her family moved to St. Petersburg in 1886 Marianne von Werefkin took private lessons under Repin.

Antonio Nunziante, 1956 | Metaphysical art

Italian painter Antonio Nunziante is one of the most important and celebrated painters in Italy today. He was born in Naples 1956, considered an artistic prodigy, having repeatedly experimented with oil paintings at 8 years old. After attaining a secondary school Art diploma in Asti, while demonstrating the maturity of his own painterly hand, he entered at the Fine Arts Academy for two years.

In 1975 his career began to flourish as a professional painter and he returned to Turin, where he completed restoration techniques in Florence. His visits to Italian and Europeans museums enriched his experience bringing him in contact with masterpieces of distinguished painters like Rembrandt and Vermeer.

Adriano Bonifazi | Romantic genre painter

Adriano Bonifazi (1858-1914) was an Italian painter who worked in Capri and Rome and primarily produced idealised or Romantic 'portraits' of young boys and girls, often in rustic dress.

Rather than naturalistic identifiable portraits, Bonifazi often painted pendants, that is paired paintings, depicting a young girl and a young boy, in an Romantic vein, offering flowers to their beloved or looking whistfully out of the picture space.

HongNian Zhang, 1947 | Realist painter

HongNian Zhang 张红年 is an Chinese painter🎨, who works in the Western academic tradition. Works by this gifted artist have been exhibited and acquired by museums, galleries, corporations and private collectors across the globe.

Growing up in China, Mr. Zhang became accomplished in art at a young age. He was one of the top students at the highly selective and prestigious Central Art Academy’s Affiliated High School in Beijing.

The instruction there was rigorous, paving the road for his future success. Unfortunately, the Cultural Revolution broke out and temporarily forestalled his art career. In 1970, Zhang and his classmates were sent to a forced labor camp in the remote countryside. He labored there for 4 years and creating art was prohibited.

Beatriz Martin Vidal, 1973 | Surrealist illustrator

Beatriz Martin Vidal was born in Valladolid, Spain.

After studying law for a time and then Fine Arts and Illustration in Bologna, Italy, she now works in her home city as a prize-winning fine artist and illustrator.

She has had several exhibitions of painting and has recently illustrated Ovid s Metamorphoses and a book of classic Russian tales, published in Spain.

Gernot Rasenberger, 1943 | Cityscape painter

Gernot Rasenberger was born in Frankfurt Germany, the grandson of the great 19th Century painter Alfred Rasenberger. Gernot studied at the Fine Art Academy in Dusseldorf where he graduated with honors.

He painted in the traditional “Dusseldorfer” school, a style that his grandfather was one of the founders.

Rasenberger traveled extensively throughout Europe and America and has had many exhibitions throughout the world.

He is well known in Europe for his paintings of Landscapes and river scenes. Today the artist lives with his family on the island of Majorca off the coast of Spain.

Felix Vallotton (1865-1925) | Nabi Painter

Félix Vallotton was a Franco-Swiss painter of portraits, figures, interiors and landscapes, wood-engraver, lithographer, sculptor and writer.

Born in Lausanne. Went to Paris in 1882 and studied at the Académie Julian under J. Lefebvre. Repaired and copied Old Master paintings; admired Holbein, Poussin and Ingres.

Concentrated mainly on wood-engraving 1891-1897, primarily portraits and scenes from everyday life treated with sardonic humour.