Albert Bloch (1882-1961) | Expressionist painter

Albert Bloch was the only American artist associated with Der Blaue Reiter - The Blue Rider, a group of early 20th-century European modernists.

He was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He first studied art at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts. In 1901-03 he produced comic strips and cartoons for the St. Louis Star newspaper.

Noè Bordignon | Genre painter

Italian painter Noè Bordignon (1841-1920)  was born in Salvarosa near Castelfranco, Veneto.

He began studies in 1859 at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Venice, where he was a pupil of Michelangelo Grigoletti, Carlo De Blaas and Pompeo Marino Molmenti.

In 1865, he won a stipend to study in Rome. He later formed a strong friendship with Tranquillo Cremona.

Tran Nguyen, 1987 | Surrealist painter / illustrator

Tran Nguyen is an award-winning illustrator and fine artist. Born in Can Tho, Vietnam, she currently resides in the peachy state of Georgia.

Nguyen's paintings are created with a soft, delicate quality using colored pencil and acrylic on paper.

She’s most known for her paintings of whimsical women and their melancholic landscapes, which often possess an air of fantasy and surrealism.

She creates illustrations for published media such as magazines, books, wine and beer packaging, animation, advertising, and mural work. Her clients include VH1, Tiger Beer, World Wildlife Fund, and she has showcased with galleries across the world.

Claude Monet | The Parc Monceau, 1878

Monet painted six views of the Parc Monceau: three in 1876 and three in 1878.

In this canvas, the disposition of light and shade in the foreground, the patterns of the leaves, and the broad contours beginning to develop in areas of strong contrast suggest that Monet had already begun to experiment with the boldly two-dimensional motifs that would characterize his work of the 1880s and 1890s. | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Claude Monet | The Parc Monceau, 1878 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ginette Beaulieu, 1954 | Hyperrealist painter

Ginette Beaulieu was born in Amqui, Quebec. She was always passionate about drawing and in particular, was drawn to the techniques of the Renaissance masters, of which she completed formal training from 1979-1980.

She has shown an interest in various mediums but she prefers to use charcoals and oils.

She studies the old techniques and integrates in its art the use of the natural pigments and the oils elutriated while undertaking a search deepened on the technique of the funds.

John Keats's Love Letter to Fanny Brawne

A Fanny Brawne, 13 ottobre 1819

Mia cara ragazza,

In questo momento mi sono messo a copiare dei bei versi.

Non riesco a proseguire con una certa soddisfazione. Ti devo dunque scrivere una riga o due per vedere se questo mi concede di escluderti dalla mia mente anche per un breve momento. Dentro la mia anima non so a pensare a null'altro.

Tempo fa avevo la forza di ammonirti contro la poco promettente mattina della mia vita.

Il mio amore mi ha reso egoistico.

Tomasz Alen Kopera

Hugues Merle (1822-1881) | Genre painter

From National Gallery of Art:

Born in 1823 at Saint-Marcellin (Isère), Hugues Merle le studied in Paris with the history painter Léon Cogniet (1794-1880) and devoted himself to a wide range of subjects, from religious themes and historical anecdotes to incidents from contemporary life, particularly of the urban and rural poor.

His greatest popular successes, however, were won by scenes of maternal affection and childhood innocence that he sought to imbue with impish sweetness and sentimentality.

A frequent exhibitor at the Paris Salons from 1847 until 1880, rarely noticed by the more serious critics but cherished all the more by the broad public, he enjoyed the favor of the imperial government, which made him chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1866, at the relatively young age of forty-three.

His work, greatly appreciated by American audiences, was strongly represented in American collections during the last decades of the nineteenth century. | © National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Thomas Couture | History / Genre painter

Thomas Couture (21 December 1815 - 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher.

He taught such later luminaries of the art world as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Karel Javůrek and J-N Sylvestre.

Couture was born at Senlis, Oise, France.

When he was 11 his family moved to Paris, where he would study at the industrial arts school (École des Arts et Métiers) and later at the École des Beaux-Arts.