Vincent van Gogh | Studies of heads

Van Gogh considered the modern portrait to be the most important genre for painters.

"What I’m most passionate about, much more than all the rest in my profession - is the portrait, the modern portrait.

I seek it by way of colour, and am certainly not alone in seeking it in this way’, wrote Vincent to this sister Willemien in 1890.

Vincent van Gogh | Head of a woman | Van Gogh Museum

Rosa Schweninger | Genre painter

Rosa Schweninger (1849-1918) was an Austrian painter.

She came from a Viennese artist family; she was the daughter of the painter Carl Schweninger the Elder (1818-1887) and sister of the painter Carl Schweninger the Younger (1854-1903).

After her first painting lessons with her father, she studied painting from 1869 to 1871 at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, under Friedrich Sturm (1822-1898).

Aimé-Jules Dalou | La Belle Époque sculptor

Aimé-Jules Dalou (1838-1902) was a 19th-century French sculptor, admired for his perceptiveness, execution, and unpretentious realism.

He was one of the founders of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and was the first president of the sculpture section.

Kobayashi Noriyuki, 1986 | Nihonga style painter

Kobayashi Noriyuki / 小林範之, a contemporary Nihonga (Japanese-style) painter from Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

Working from the belief that one thread connects all life, Noriyuki Kobayashi forms his subject matter with thin gold lines that intersect to create a woven pattern full of life.

The geometrically sublime results are graceful landscapes and dynamically posed animals that race across the sky.

Kobayashi's utilization of traditional materials and techniques mixed with vibrant subjects celebrates the brilliance and interconnected nature of all living things.

Kehinde Wiley, 1977 | Symbolist painter

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco describe Kehinde Wiley:

An Archaeology of Silence as "the senseless deaths of men and women around the world... transformed into a powerful elegy of resistance".

Kehinde Wiley is an American portrait painter based in New York City, who is known for his highly naturalistic paintings of Black people, frequently referencing the work of Old Master paintings.

He was commissioned in 2017 to paint a portrait of former President Barack Obama for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, which has portraits of all previous American presidents.

Zygmunt Bauman | Amore liquido / Liquid Love

"Amore liquido: Sulla fragilità dei legami umani" è un libro del 2003 di Zygmunt Bauman (Sociologo e filosofo polacco, 1925-2017) che discute le relazioni umane nel mondo liquido moderno (postmoderno).

Il libro fa parte di una serie di libri scritti da Bauman, come Liquid Life e Liquid Times.

Joe Webb | Embrace blue

Mary Whyte, 1953 | Watercolor painter

Mary Whyte is an American figurative artist known internationally for her watercolors of contemporary people.

Her works are in private, corporate, university and public collections nationwide, and have been featured in numerous media outlets including CBS Sunday Morning, PBS and NPR.

The author of seven books including We the People: Portraits of Veterans in America, Whyte’s work has also been featured in many international publications, including periodicals and books in China, Russia, France, Germany, Canada and Taiwan.

Elizabeth Okie Paxton | Modern still life / Interior painter

Elizabeth Okie Paxton (1878-1972) was an American painter, married to another artist William McGregor Paxton (1869-1941).

The Paxtons were part of the Boston School, a prominent group of artists known for works of beautiful interiors, landscapes, and portraits of their wealthy patrons.

Her paintings were widely exhibited and sold well.