Yarek Godfrey | Figurative painter

Yarek Godfrey (real name Jaroslaw Pawel Nowicki, 1957-2014) was a Polish artist of French, British and Austrian origins.

Godfrey received numerous awards for his work: The Gold Medal of the XXXVIII Salon of Young Artists, Grand Palais, Paris, 1987; Grand Prix of the XXVI International Salon of Art Côte d'Azur, Cannes, 1990.

He presented his works at numerous group and solo exhibitions, primarily in the United States and France, but also in Belgium, Monaco and Italy.

Paul Cézanne: "Esiste una sola maestra: la Natura!"

Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), così come gli altri pittori vissuti durante gli ultimi decenni dell'Ottocento, all'inizio della sua carriera non esitò a far riferimento alla rivoluzione impressionista.

Gli alfieri dell'Impressionismo - pensiamo a Monet e al primo Renoir - per ritrarre la realtà in maniera più realistica, si affidavano ai fenomeni percettivi della luce e del colore, rapportandosi a quello che volevano dipingere in maniera soggettiva, ovvero basandosi esclusivamente sull'impressione fuggevolissima e irripetibile suscitata nei loro sensi.

Georges Rochegrosse | Pittore accademico orientalista

Georges-Antoine Rochegrosse (1859-1938) è stato un pittore ed illustratore Francese.

Studiò pittura con Alfred Dehodencq e poi entrò nell'Académie Julian, negli atelier di Jules Joseph Lefebvre e Gustave Boulanger, passando infine all'École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.

Chopin | Prelude in E minor, Op 28, No. 4

The Prelude Op. 28, No. 4 by Frédéric Chopin is one of the 24 Chopin preludes.

By Chopin's request, this piece was played at his funeral, along with Mozart's Requiem.

The piece is only a page long and uses a descending melody line.

The melody starts with the dominant B and works its way to the tonic E, but halfway through the piece the descending line is interrupted and the melody starts over again.

Only in the last bars does the melody dissolve in the tonic and go through a chord progression to the soothing and satisfying.

Paul Seignac | Niente ciliegie per te..

Il pittore Francese Paul Seignac (1826-1904) si specializzò in dipinti di genere che raffiguravano bambini, vita rurale e scene di vita quotidiana.

Nato a Bordeaux nel 1826, Seignac divenne allievo di Édouard Picot (1786-1868) a Parigi.

Molte delle opere di Seignac raffigurano bambini in ruoli teneri, a volte birichini, a volte intenti a giochi innocenti.

Coppélia, The Girl with the enamel eyes

Dr. Coppélius is a doctor who has made a life-size dancing doll.

It is so lifelike that Franz, a village youth, becomes infatuated with it and sets aside his heart's true desire, Swanhilda.

She shows him his folly by dressing as the doll, pretending to make it come to life and ultimately saving him from an untimely end at the hands of the inventor.

Edgar Degas | Woman Ironing, 1876-1887

Women at work provided inspiration for Degas.

In addition to ballet dancers and cabaret singers, he also painted milliners and dressmakers, laundresses and ironers-such as the young woman here.

Writer Edmond de Goncourt described a visit to Degas' studio when the artist showed him "washerwomen and still more washerwomen...."

Degas was interested in their movements and postures, the patterns and rhythms of their work.

Degas, de Goncourt continued, had gone about "speaking their language, explaining to us technically the downward pressing and circular strokes of the iron, etc...."

Edgar Degas | Woman Ironing, 1876-1887 | National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Paul Verlaine | The Art of Poetry, 1882

A French poet of the 19th century, Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) is known for his major role in the symbolist movement and for his lyrical and melancholic poetry.

The Art of Poetry / Art poétique, dedicated to Charles Morice and published by the publisher Léon Vanier, in 1882, in the literary and artistic review Paris moderne, then in 1884 in the collection Jadis et Naguère - is one of his most famous works and serves as a true manifesto of his artistic vision.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard | Young Girl Reading, 1776 | National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC