Claude Monet | The Bridge at Argenteuil, 1874

Claude Monet | The Bridge at Argenteuil, 1874 | National Gallery of Art, Washington-DC

From a distance of ten feet or so, Monet's brushstrokes blend to yield a convincing view of the Seine and the pleasure boats that drew tourists to Argenteuil.

Up close, however, each dab of paint is distinct, and the scene dissolves into a mosaic of paint-brilliant, unblended tones of blue, red, green, yellow.

In the water, quick, fluid skips of the brush mimic the lapping surface.

In the trees, thicker paint is applied with denser, stubbier strokes.

The figure in the sailboat is only a ghostly wash of dusty blue, the women rowing nearby are indicated by mere shorthand.

Claude Monet | Lilacs, grey weather, 1873

'Lilacs, Grey Weather' was created in c.1873 by Claude Monet in Impressionism style. It is kept in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

In Lilacs, Grey Weather, Monet used muted colors for the characters, merging them into the background. Where are the legs of the man leaning on the right ? The only thing that catches the eye is the white dress of a woman.

Then, a closer look enables to distinguish the three people thanks to the black and white contrast.

The process is different in Lilacs in the Sun. Spots of light play on the dresses of the two models. Monet applied this effect in several paintings (The Luncheon, Women in a Garden, the Reader...).

Camille Monet, la musa di Monet

Camille Doncieux (15 January 1847 - 5 September 1879) was the first wife of French painter Claude Monet.

She was the subject of a number of paintings by Monet, as well as Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Édouard Manet. She was mother to two sons with Monet.

She modeled for her husband on several occasions, including for the painting Camille (The Woman in the Green Dress), which received critical acclaim at the Paris salon and earned him 800 francs when sold to Arsène Houssaye.

In addition to being Monet's favoured model, she also modelled for Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Édouard Manet.

Claude Monet | Apples and Grapes, 1879-1880

This is one of three tabletop still lifes depicting a basket of apples and grapes that Monet painted in 1879-80, when a spell of bad weather forced him to retreat indoors.

In late November 1879, his future stepdaughter Marthe Hoschedé took note of a "painting of fruits" in progress, when she recorded that Monet was "working hard at his still lifes which are very pretty". | Source: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Claude Monet | Apples and Grapes, 1879-80 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Edward Hopper | Room in New York, 1932

Sheldon Museum of Art | Edward Hopper observed the everyday lives of city dwellers in much of his work.

In the important canvases painted between 1926 and 1932, he made use of single figures and couples to create a sense of thoughtful reticence and solitude.

Eschewing the picturesque and the literal, Hopper’s pictures remain unexplained, without narrative, instead invoking a hermetically sealed world of emotion.

In 1935 the artist remarked that the idea for Room in New York "was suggested by glimpses of lighted interiors seen as I walked along the city streets at night".

Edward Hopper | Room in New York, 1932 | Sheldon Museum of Art

Maria Jose Aguilar Gutierrez, 1964

Maria José Aguilar è nata nella città di Siviglia, nel quartiere centrale di San Lorenzo.

Ha trascorso la sua infanzia e la prima adolescenza tra la sua città natale, la baia di Cadice e le montagne di Jaén.

Fin dall'inizio ha mostrato inclinazioni artistiche e doti alimentate da un ambiente appropriato.

È cresciuta con la passione per i grandi maestri spagnoli, in particolare Velázquez, Murillo, Zurbarán e Valdés Leal, ecc.

Andrew Sterrett Conklin, 1961

Nativo di Chicago, Illinois Andrew Sterrett Conklin è un pittore figurativo.

Ha conseguito un BFA dalla American Academy of Art, ed è stato certificato in pittura presso la Scuola Nazionale Academy di New York City.

Conklin ha ricevuto ulteriori istruzioni dal ritrattista Aaron Shikler e dal pittore ed illustratore David Levine.

Jeanette Guichard-Bunel (French painter, 1957)

Jeannette Guichard-Bunel was born in Cherbourg. She wants to take her spectators on a dream like journey through her paintings.

She wants to give supremacy to reasoning so that the spectator can analyze and go beyond appearances.

She likes to establish an extra-verbal and extra sensorial communication with her public and erase the barriers of rationalism.

Her characters try to catch the spectator's eye and attract him to a world where time stands still and has boundless space. Through colors, the spectator can go cross the boundary between reality and dream along with some poetry.

Joaquin Sorolla | Siesta in the Garden, 1904

While his beautiful young daughters Maria and Elena dozed in the warm afternoon sun, Joaquín Sorolla captured this sparkling glimpse of the garden and sea coast that his family enjoyed during his summer painting campaign of 1904.

Already well known and internationally acclaimed for his pictures of the fishing folk of his native Valencia, Sorolla was determined during the early years of the new century to expand his subject matter and to broaden the audience for his light-filled paintings.

Albert Bloch (1882-1961)

Albert Bloch è nato a St. Louis, nel Missouri. Ha studiato prima arte alla St. Louis School of Fine Arts.

Nel 1901-03 ha prodotto fumetti e cartoni animati per il quotidiano St. Louis Star.

Tra il 1905-1908 lavorò come caricaturista ed illustratore per il settimanale letterario e politico The Mirror di William Marion Reedy.

La Cappella degli Scrovegni | Stile

Rispetto alle Storie di san Francesco, le scene hanno una composizione narrativa più semplice e chiara e un minor affollamento dei personaggi. Si assiste a un maggiore affinamento dei mezzi espressivi, ad una più forte padronanza della composizione per gli effetti narrativi, dei gesti, delle posture, delle espressioni, della cromìa.

Le figure hanno un volume ancora più reale che ad Assisi, avvolte da ampi mantelli attraverso cui si capisce la modellazione dei corpi sottostanti. La stesura pittorica è più morbida e densa, con un modellato più fuso che dà alle figure un risalto più pieno e meno tagliente.

Le scene hanno la solennità degna della loro sacralità, i volti e i gesti mostrano i moti più intimi dell'anima. Le figure protagoniste sono sempre maestose e importanti, in un inimitabile equilibrio tra la gravitas della statuaria classica e le eleganze della cultura gotica, con espressioni sempre concentrate e profonde.

Più libero è l'approccio alle figure di contorno, vivacissime nelle fisionomie, nei gesti e negli atteggiamenti.

San Michele trafigge Satana

Winslow Homer (1836-1910)

American painter Winslow Homer (1836-1910) is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in american art.

Largely self-taught, Homer began his career working as a commercial illustrator.

He subsequently took up oil painting and produced major studio works characterized by the weight and density he exploited from the medium.

Richard Currier (American, 1960)

Educated at the Ringling College of Art and Design, with further studies in Europe, Richard has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors.

Richard has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and is represented in several museums, as well as prestigious collections.

Currier has exhibited widely throughout the Southern United States for 20 years. He received his artistic training at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, as well as independent studies in Amsterdam and Paris.

Renoir: "It gives my brain a rest, painting flowers"

"It gives my brain a rest, painting flowers. I don't feel the same tension as when I have a model in front of me. When I paint flowers, I put on colours and try out values boldly, without worrying about wasting a canvas. I wouldn't dare to do it with a figure; I'd be afraid of spoiling the whole thing. And the experience I gain this way is then applied to my pictures" - Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Janice Darr Cua | Pittrice di figure e cavalli

Il talento naturale di Janice Darr Cua era evidente sin dalla tenera età.

Ha iniziato i studi con Phyllis Markawitz a otto anni.

Era ben istruita in olio, disegno dal vero e scultura.

All'età di 10 anni esponeva e vendeva opere d'arte a Los Angeles.