Paul Gauguin: "Art is either plagiarism or revolution"

• "Color! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of dreams".

• "Do not copy nature too much. Art is an abstraction".

• "Art is either plagiarism or revolution".

• "Art = a mad search for individualism".

• "There are two sorts of beauty; one is the result of instinct, the other of study. A combination of the two, with the resulting modifications, brings with it a very complicated richness, which the art critic ought to try to discover".

Paul Gauguin: "I shut my eyes in order to see.."

• Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.
• We never really know what stupidity is until we have experimented on ourselves.
• Civilization is what makes you sick.
• Concentrate your strengths against your competitor's relative weaknesses
• It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable color to every object; beware of this stumbling block.

Anton Einsle | Portrait painter

Anton Einsle (1801-1871), an Austrian ⎆ portrait painter, was born at Vienna in 1801.
He studied at the Academy of that city, and was largely patronized by the court and nobility. He died in 1871.

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) | Vita ed Opere

Rodin ‹rodẽ´›, Auguste - Scultore (Parigi 1840 - Meudon 1917). Artista di grande talento e di robuste capacità espressive, tentò di fondere l'impostazione monumentale michelangiolesca con l'intenso, vibrante realismo memore della tradizione gotica francese e delle soluzioni di Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux.

Ai numerosi busti e ritratti di acuta penetrazione psicologica, così come alle opere d'impegno monumentale, Rodin seppe imprimere l'idea del movimento, forzando i contrasti tra pieni e vuoti, con effetti di dinamismo e vitalità che fecero della sua opera un imprescindibile punto di riferimento per la generazione successiva.

Vita ed Opere

A Parigi frequentò i corsi di disegno della Petite École (1854-57) per poi proseguire gli studi presso l'École de la manifacture des Gobelins (1857-59) e con A.-L. Barye presso il Musée d'histoire naturelle dove, in quegli anni, lavorò saltuariamente.

Ripetutamente respinto agli esami di ammissione all'École supérieure des beaux-arts, dopo una prima esperienza come ornatista, nel 1864 presentò, senza successo, al Salon parigino l'Uomo dal naso rotto (1864, Parigi, Musée Rodin); nello stesso anno, entrò come sbozzatore nello studio di Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse con il quale avrebbe a lungo collaborato, prima a Parigi (1864-71) e poi a Bruxelles (1871-77).

Martín La Spina, 1973 | Pittore surrealista

Il pittore Martin La Spina è nato nella città di La Plata, in Argentina.

Si è laureato come Professore e Bachelor of Fine Arts (orientamento pittura) presso il Fine Art College (Università Nazionale di La Plata) con lode per le sue qualifiche elevate (diploma JV Gonzlez).

Ha partecipato a numerose mostre, singole o collettive. È stato anche invitato in modo speciale, in Pittura, Disegno e Arte nei Saloni di Vetro dall'anno 1989 ad oggi.

Ha ricevuto molti premi per il suo lavoro artistico.

Dal 1990 realizza le proprie mostre personali.

Rubens | Nicolaas Rubens Wearing a Coral Neckless, 1619

Title: Nicolaas Rubens Wearing a Coral Neckless.

Date: 1619.

Author: Peter Paul Rubens (8 June 1577 - 30 May 1640).

Medium: Black and red chalk, heightened with white chalk.

Current location: Albertina, Vienna.

Peter Paul Rubens | Mars and Rhea Silvia, 1617

Mars and Rhea Silvia is a 1617 painting by Peter Paul Rubens ⎆, now in the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna. It shows Mars's rape of Rhea Silvia, which resulted in the birth of Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome.

Vintage art

Vintage è un attributo che definisce le qualità ed il valore di un oggetto indossato o prodotto almeno vent'anni prima del momento attuale, e che può altresì essere riferito a secoli passati senza necessariamente essere circoscritto al Ventesimo secolo.
Gli oggetti definiti vintage sono considerati oggetti di culto per differenti ragioni tra le quali le qualità superiori con cui sono stati prodotti, se confrontati ad altre produzioni precedenti o successive dello stesso manufatto, o per ragioni legate a motivi di cultura o costume.

Jean-Léon Gérome | Moses on Mount Sinai, 1900

Painted circa 1895-1900, Gérome’s interpretation of Moses on Mount Sinai is an impressive demonstration of his mastery of color and complex compositional elements.

The overall effect is a powerful evocation of one of the greatest moments in Jewish history.

The setting for Gérome’s painting derives from descriptions of the Revelation in the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy:

Michelangelo Buonarroti | Archers Shooting at a Herm, 1530-33

The handful of 'presentation drawings' that Michelangelo ⎆ produced during the latter half of his life, and especially around 1530, stand at the very pinnacle of European draughtsmanship. Made as gifts for his closest friends, they were painstakingly worked and often imbued with personal meaning, the nature and full extent of which are not always clear to us.

Despite their intimate nature, most were soon famous through reproduction in engravings, copy drawings, paintings, relief sculpture and carved crystals.

Georgia O'Keeffe | La madre del modernismo americano

Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (1887-1986) viene considerata la Madre del Modernismo Americano. La sua attività artistica è associabile al Precisionismo.

Georgia O'Keeffe nacque nel 1887 in una fattoria vicino a Sun Prairie, nel Wisconsin, seconda dei sette figli di Francis Calyxtus O'Keeffe Sr. (1864-1916) ed Ida Totto (1864-1916), entrambi allevatori di bestiame. Il padre era di origine irlandese, mentre la madre era di origine ungherese, in quanto il nonno George Victor Totto (1820-1894), di cui Ida diede il nome alla figlia, era di origine nobiliare avendo il titolo di conte ed era emigrato in America nel 1848, sposando la diciottenne Isabel Dunham Wyckoff (1830-1894).

Nel 1905 frequentò la School of the Art Institute di Chicago e nel 1907 l'Art Students League a New York. Fu anche allieva di Arthur Wesley Dow al Teachers College dell'Università Colombia.

Eugene Delacroix | Frédéric Chopin and George Sand, 1838

The Portrait of Frédéric Chopin and George Sand was an 1838 unfinished oil-on-canvas painting by French artist Eugène Delacroix ⎆.

Originally a double portrait, it was later cut in two and sold off as separate pieces.

It showed composer Frédéric Chopin (1810-49) ⎆ playing piano while writer George Sand (1804-76) sits to his right, listening and smoking a cigar (a favorite activity of hers). The sitters were lovers at the time, and both were close friends of the artist.

Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863)

Eugène Delacroix was a French romantic painter regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the french Romantic school.

Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement.

Annibale Carracci (1560-1609)

Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) è stato un pittore Italiano.

In antitesi con gli esiti ormai sterili del tardomanierismo, propose il recupero della grande tradizione della pittura italiana del Cinquecento, riuscendo in un'originale sintesi delle molteplici scuole del Rinascimento maturo: Raffaello, Michelangelo, Correggio, Tiziano e il Veronese sono tutti autori che ebbero notevole influsso sull'opera del Carracci.

La riproposizione e, al tempo stesso, la modernizzazione di questa grande tradizione, unitamente al ritorno dell'imitazione del vero, sono i fondamenti della sua arte.

Aristide Maillol (1861-1944)

Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol (8 dicembre 1861-27 settembre 1944) è stato uno scultore e pittore Francese.

Maillol è nato a Banyuls-sur-Mer, Roussillon. Decise in tenera età di diventare un pittore e si trasferì a Parigi nel 1881 per studiare arte.

Dopo diverse candidature e diversi anni di povertà, la sua iscrizione al École des Beaux-Arts è stato accettato nel 1885, e ha studiato lì sotto Jean-Léon Gérôme e Alexandre Cabanel.

I suoi primi dipinti mostrano l'influenza dei suoi contemporanei Pierre Puvis de Chavannes e Paul Gauguin.

Van Gogh | The Sunflower series, 1888

Inspired by Paul Gauguin’s impending arrival, Vincent van Gogh was determined to cover the walls of The Yellow House with paintings of sunflowers.

August 21, 1888 Van Gogh wrote to his brother, Theo:

"Now that I hope to live with Gauguin in a studio of our own, I want to make decorations for the studio. Nothing but big flowers. Next door to your shop, in the restaurant, you know there is a lovely decoration of flowers; I always remember the big sunflowers in the window there.

If I carry out this idea there will be a dozen panels. So the whole thing will be a symphony in blue and yellow".

Ricardo Sanz, 1957

Spanish painter Ricardo Sanz is a figurative contemporary artist. His artistic vocation was forged thanks to his grandfather, who owned the gallery of art La Perfecta, where he met the great artists of painting: Sorolla, Zuloaga, Vázquez Díaz, etc.

At the age of 14 he started his education as a painter with the master José Camps, combining this with his studies in History of Art until he graduated from the University of Deusto in Madrid. He continues studying with important contemporary artists in France and Italy.

He finally settled in Madrid, where he lives and has his atelier since 1980. He has always kept a close link to San Sebastian, his home town, where he spends long periods of time. His work is the result of many influences.

Gerard Terburg (1617-1681)

Gerard ter Borch (December 1617 - 8 December 1681), also known as Gerard Terburg, was an influential and pioneering Dutch ⎆ genre painter who lived in the Dutch Golden Age.
He influenced fellow Dutch painters ⎆ Gabriel Metsu, Gerrit Dou ⎆, Eglon van der Neer and Johannes Vermeer ⎆.

According to Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Ter Borch:

"established a new framework for subject matter, taking people into the sanctum of the home"

showing the figures’ uncertainties and expertly hinting at their inner lives. His influence as a painter, however, was later surpassed by Vermeer ⎆.

Renoir | La Promenade, 1875-1876

A young woman shepherds a pair of identically dressed little sisters along the path of a well-maintained public park. All three figures are outfitted for the cold and in the height of fashion.

The eldest wears a blue velvet jacket with wide sleeves trimmed with red fox; the little girls wear miniature blue-green jackets trimmed with either swansdown or white mink.

Further up the pathway to the right, Renoir🎨 has included no fewer than eleven additional figures and two playful dogs.

Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt portraits by Ary Scheffer

Ary Scheffer (Dutch-French Romantic painter, 1795-1858)🎨🎨 | Portrait of Frédéric Chopin, 1847

- Dordrecht Museum, Netherlands

Frédéric François Chopin, born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin (1 March 1810 - 17 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era who wrote primarily for the solo piano.

Édouard Manet ed il Realismo

Già negli esordi l'arte di Édouard Manet (1832-1883) apparve indubbiamente connotata da pressanti esigenze realiste, a tal punto che arrivò persino a infuriarsi con il maestro Couture, troppo legato agli accademismi («insomma, vi comportate così quando andate a comprare un mazzo di ravanelli dalla vostra fruttivendola?»).

A turbarlo in particolar modo era in particolare la mancanza di naturalezza delle pose adottate dalle modelle:

«Vedo che ha dipinto una finanziera.

E di eccellente fattura.

Ma dove sono finiti i polmoni della modella?

Sembra che sotto l’abito non respiri.

Come se non avesse un corpo.

È un ritratto da sarto»

William Holman Hunt | The Awakening Conscience, 1853

The Awakening Conscience was conceived as the material counterpart to Hunt's The Light of the World (1851-3, Warden and Fellows of Keble College, Oxford). Its inspiration was a verse from Proverbs:

'As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart'.

With his typical thoroughness, Hunt hired a room at Woodbine Villa, 7 Alpha Place, St John's Wood, a 'maison de convenance', to use as the setting.

Vicente López Portaña | The Marquess of Remisa, 1844

Title: The Marquess of Remisa
Author: Vicente López Portaña** (Spanish painter**, 1772-1850)
Date: 1844
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: w147.5 x h232
Current location: Museo Nacional del Romanticismo

Yosuke Ueno / 上野陽介, 1977 | Pittore Pop-Surrealista

Yosuke Ueno è un artista autodidatta di fama internazionale.

La sua arte è un chiaro riflesso delle radici asiatiche dell'artista e dell'influenza della cultura pop contemporanea.

Le opere d'arte di Ueno sono ispirate alla religione giapponese dello Shinto che si basa sui particolari e sul godimento della natura.

Elementi fumettistici, giovani personaggi, improbabili piante, animali e creature antropomorfe popolano le sue surreali galassie dipinte su tela, e vivono felici in una dimensione psichedelica di superfici luccicanti.

Claude Monet | Argenteuil landscapes

From December 1871-1878 Oscar-Claude Monet (1840–1926) lived at Argenteuil, a village on the right bank of the Seine river near Paris, and a popular Sunday-outing destination for Parisians, where he painted some of his best-known works.

In 1873, Monet purchased a small boat equipped to be used as a floating studio.

From the boat studio Monet painted landscapes and also portraits of Édouard Manet and his wife; Manet in turn depicted Monet painting aboard the boat, accompanied by Camille, in 1874. In 1874, he briefly returned to Holland.

Claude Monet | Snow at Argenteuil, 1874

Claude Monet | Figures / Portraits

• I'm not performing miracles, I'm using up and wasting a lot of paint...
• No one is an artist unless he carries his picture in his head before painting it, and is sure of his method and composition.
• Eventually, my eyes were opened, and I really understood nature. I learned to love at the same time.
• I have never had a studio, and I do not understand shutting oneself up in a room. To draw, yes; to paint, no.
• I do have a dream, a painting, the baths of La Grenouillere for which I've done a few bad rough sketches, but it is a dream. Renoir, who has just spent two months here, also wants to do this painting.

Peder Severin Krøyer | Midsummer Eve bonfire on Skagen's beach, 1906

The painting includes many of the Skagen Painters: Krøyer's daughter Vibeke, mayor Otto Schwartz and his wife Alba Schwartz, Michael Ancher, Degn Brøndum, Anna Ancher, Holger Drachmann and his 3rd wife Soffi, the Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén and Marie Krøyer.

This picture was Krøyer’s last large figure painting.
Peder Severin Krøyer (1851-1909)** gathers all the representatives of the artist colony, members of the town’s bourgeoisie, as well as some of the residents of Skagen, in a large circle around the Midsummer eve bonfire on Skagen Sønderstrand.

The painting is a tribute to the artist colony in Skagen, but it is the first time Krøyer depicts the local population together with the artists.

There are still clear differences between the two groups, because the artists and the bourgeoisie are placed on the lighter, left side of the picture, while most of the residents are placed on the darker, right side.

Albrecht Altdorfer | The Battle of Alexander at Issus, 1529

The Battle of Alexander at Issus is a 1529 oil painting by the German artist** Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480-1538), a pioneer of landscape art and a founding member of the Danube school.
It portrays the 333 BC Battle of Issus, in which Alexander the Great secured a decisive victory over Darius III of Persia and gained crucial leverage in his campaign against the Persian Empire.
The painting is widely regarded as Altdorfer's masterpiece, and is one of the most famous examples of the type of Renaissance** landscape painting known as the world landscape, which here reaches an unprecedented grandeur.

William Merritt Chase (1849-1916)

William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849 - October 25, 1916) was an American painter**, known as an exponent of Impressionism** and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons The New School for Design.

Chase won many honors** at home and abroad, was a member of the National Academy of Design, New York, and from 1885-1895 was president of the Society of American Artists.

He became a member of the Ten American Painters after John Henry Twachtman died.