Sir Edward John Poynter | Classicist painter

Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet GCVO, PRA (1836-1919) was an English painter, designer and draughtsman who served as President of the Royal Academy.

Poynter was the son of architect Ambrose Poynter.

He was born in Paris, though his parents returned to Britain soon after.

He was educated at Brighton College and Ipswich School, but left school early for reasons of ill health, spending winters in Madeira and Rome.

In 1853, he met Frederick Leighton in Rome, who made a great impression on the 17-year-old Poynter.

Lovers Paintings

Howard Pyle🎨 | The mermaid (detail)

"Blessed are those who will kiss always beyond the lips,

crossing the border of the pleasure,

to feed on dreams".

Alda Merini🎨

José Jiménez Aranda (1837-1903) Genre painter

Luis Jiménez Aranda was a Spanish🎨-born French painter🎨 of genre scenes🎨; many in costumbrista style. His brothers, José and Manuel also became painters.

His first art lessons came from his older brother, José, followed by classes at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría under the direction of Eduardo Cano and Antonio Cabral Bejarano.

In 1868, thanks to a four year stipend from a wealthy patron, he went to Rome to see the Old Masters and complete his studies with Marià Fortuny🎨.

Anders Zorn's palette

Anders Zorn (1860-1920) was known to use a basic color palette consisting of Lead White (Flake White), Yellow Ochre, Vermilion and Ivory Black.

This limited color palette shows tremendous range in terms of color mixing.

A large variety of tonal ranges is possible using this palette, a very important development for portrait painting.

Francisque Duret | Academic sculptor

Francisque Joseph Duret (1804-1865) was a French sculptor, son and pupil of François-Joseph Duret (1732-1816).

Before becoming a sculptor, Francisque Duret had shown interest in pursuing a career in theater.

He studied for a brief time at the Conservatoire and his friend Charles Blanc (1813-1882), in an article which he dedicated in 1866, attested to the quality of observing human behavior which Duret had acquired outside his studies of drama: "His continual studies of the pantomime led him to pin down the language of gesture and the meaning of each disposition".

Suzanne Valadon | Post-Impressionist painter

Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) was a French painter and artists' model who was born Marie-Clémentine Valadon at Bessines-sur-Gartempe, Haute-Vienne, France.

In 1894, Valadon became the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

She was also the mother of painter Maurice Utrillo.

Valadon spent nearly 40 years of her life as an artist. The subjects of her drawings and paintings, such as" Joy of Life" (1911), included mostly female figures, still lifes and landscapes.

Kitty Meijering, 1974 | Ballet dancers

Kitty Meijering studied at the Amsterdam University. At this University she followed a visual arts education, which she completed in 1998.

At this moment dance and specifically ballet is the main theme Kitty dedicates her time to.

This stunning new serie shows paintings of dancers in full movement and emotion. The dancers defined in warm colours seems to dance right of the paintings!

Mark Olich, 1974 | Ballet dancers photographer

"For me, ballet is movement and music, and if there is movement in the frame, if music is heard, it's a good shoot, it rarely happens"

- Mark Olich.

Mark Olich is a Russian photographer🎨 whose works are entirely focused on the worlds of theatre and dance.