Nikolo Balkanski, 1957 | Impressionist painter

Nikolo Balkanski began painting at very early age and graduated from the Medium Special Arts School in Sofia, Bulgaria, when he was 18.

At just 21, he held his first solo exhibition, “Time and People“, featuring portraits of some of the country's leading actors, poets and politicians, organized by his father, who is attorney, writer and poet.

This unique show garnered a lot of attention for the young artist, and he soon continued his studies at the art academy in Sofia, specializing in paintings.

After moving to Finland with his parents, he studied at the University of Helsinki.

Post-Impressionism | Art History and Sitemap

Breaking free of the naturalism of Impressionism in the late 1880s, a group of young painters sought independent artistic styles for expressing emotions rather than simply optical impressions, concentrating on themes of deeper symbolism.

Through the use of simplified colors and definitive forms, their art was characterized by a renewed aesthetic sense as well as abstract tendencies.

Vincent van Gogh | The Starry Night, 1889 | MoMA, Museum of Modern Art

Johannes Brahms: "Studiate Bach: lì troverete tutto quello che cercate"

• "On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind".

• "Su un pentagramma, per un piccolo strumento, l'uomo scrive un intero mondo dei pensieri più profondi e dei sentimenti più potenti. Se avessi immaginato che avrei potuto creare, persino concepito il pezzo, sono abbastanza sicuro che l’eccesso di eccitazione e l’esperienza sconvolgente mi avrebbe mandato fuori di testa".

Johann Strauss Jr e Johannes Brahms, 1894

Vera Kavura / Віра Кавура, 1978 | Pastel flower painter

In Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine, Vera Kavura / Віра Кавура can be found painting her favorite subject: flowers, which she describes as "natural, beautiful, and diverse".

Kavura began drawing as a child and over the years experimented with different techniques until, in 2016, she discovered painting with pastels.

"The pastel medium allows me to work quickly and catch all the color nuances", she says.

"A single photo cannot reflect the shine of a flower’s petals; by painting a bouquet with pastel, I’m able to catch changes in the light and shadows, and even the movement of the petals".

Aron Wiesenfeld, 1972 | Allegorical figurative painter

Aron Wiesenfeld is an American painter, illustrator and comic book artist based in San Diego, California.

He is known for painting disquieting scenes of lonely youths.

His works have been shown at several exhibitions in the United States and Europe including those at Arcadia Contemporary in New York City, Unit London, Long Beach Museum of Art and the Bakersfield Museum of Art.

Wiesenfeld has created illustrations for various comics publishing companies including Marvel Comics, Continuity Comics and WildStorm.

He was nominated for an Eisner award in 1997 for his work on Marvel Comics' limited series, Deathblow/Wolverine.

Edita Broglio | Magic Realism painter

Edita Broglio (1886-1977) was a Latvian artist known for her paintings in the genre of Magic Realism.

She was born Edita Walterowna von Zur Muehlen in the town of Smiltene, northeast of Riga.

From 1908 to 1910 she studied at the Konigsberg Art Academy in East Prussia and in Paris since 1910.

In 1912 she settled permanently in Rome, coming into contact with Olga Resnevic Signorelli who introduced her to her living room, frequented by Melli, Spadini, Ferrazzi, Ivan Mestrovic.

Antonio Donghi | Magic Realism painter

Antonio Donghi (March 16, 1897 - July 16, 1963) was an Italian painter of scenes of popular life, landscapes, and still life.

Born in Rome, he studied painting at the Instituto di Belle Arti from 1908 to 1916.

After military service in World War I he studied art in Florence and Venice, soon establishing himself as one of Italy's leading figures in the neoclassical movement that arose in the 1920s.

Possessed of an extremely refined technique, Donghi favored strong composition, spatial clarity, and populist subject matter.

Julio Romero de Torres | Symbolist painter

Julio Romero de Torres (1874-1930) was the son of Rafael Romero Barros, a painter and curator of what was then called the Museum of Painting in Cordoba.

He would be marked by family life which revolved around his father’s studio, the classrooms of the School of Fine Arts and Music Conservatory and the galleries of the museum, located in the same grounds as the family home.

This indisputably conditioned his future and was the backdrop to his first steps as a painter.

At the age of ten he began studying music and painting and was only fourteen and fifteen when he received prizes in the competitions organised by the Provincial School and the Athenaeum.