Thomas Moran | The Golden Hour, 1875

"The Golden Hour" is an 1875 oil painting by American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School Thomas Moran (1837-1926). It is in the collection of Blanton Museum of Art, Texas.

Thomas Moran’s romanticized view of the towering cliffs of the Green River in southwestern Wyoming is notable for the operatic power of its imagery, despite the picture’s modest scale.

An impossibly fiery sunset suffuses the jagged outcroppings in a golden light that exaggerates the glories and grandeur of nature.

Abastenia St. Leger Eberle | Windy doorstep, 1910

Abastenia St. Leger Eberle (April 6, 1878 - February 26, 1942) was an American sculptor. Her most famous piece The White Slave representing child prostitution caused controversy when exhibited at the 1913 Armory Show.
A native of Webster City, Iowa, her father was a doctor and her mother a musician. Her family later moved to Kansas, then Missouri, before settling in Canton, Ohio. She initially studied to become a professional musician, but her father noticed her talent for modeling. She received lessons from one of his patients before enrolling at the Art Students League in New York City.

Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980)

Oskar Kokoschka, pittore Austriaco, iniziò la sua attività pittorica nel clima della Secessione Viennese che in quegli anni aveva come suo maggior protagonista Gustav Klimt.

L’attività giovanile di Kokoschka è influenzata soprattutto dal diretto contatto che egli aveva con il maestro della secessione.

In seguito venne a contatto con il gruppo espressionista tedesco «Die Brücke» ed espose alcune sue opere nelle mostre organizzate dal gruppo «Der Blaue Reiter».

Egli non aderì mai ufficialmente all’espressionismo, tuttavia le sue opere di quegli anni rappresentano alcuni dei massimi vertici dell’espressionismo storico.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | L'allée Couverte, 1872

Like the painters of the previous generation in Barbizon, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet also visited the forest of Fontainebleau.

In this view of a forest path, which actually shows a painter at work, Renoir seems to follow the models of his predecessors.

However, the dissolution of form is a characteristic of Impressionism.

Images of forest paths and wooded thickets had already played an important role in the painting of the Barbizon School.

Claude Monet | Coucher de soleil à Pourville, pleine mer, 1882

The brilliant sunset over the Channel as seen from Pourville inspired this radically modern composition of 1882.

Monet has captured the moment when the sun has just fallen below the horizon and the sky is diffused with hazy tones of pink and purple that reflect off the surface of the sea.

The sight must have been irresistible for this painter of light, and the resulting composition evidences Monet's mastery of this genre.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Madame Renoir au Chapeau, 1883

Aline Victorine Charigot (1859-1915) was a model for Auguste Renoir and later became his wife while continuing to model for him and then caring for him when he became disabled.

She is pictured in many of his paintings over very many years, most famously in the early 1880s Luncheon of the Boating Party (where she is the woman on the left with the little dog), and Blonde Bather.

They had three children together, two of whom, Pierre and Jean, went on to have distinguished careers in film, and the third, Claude, became a ceramic artist.

Pierre had a son Claude who became the well-known cinematographer.

She predeceased her elderly husband.

Odile de Schwilgué, 1952 | Strasbourgo

Odile de Schwilgué è nata in Alsazia, trascorrendo i primi sedici anni della sua vita in una piccola città vicino a Strasburgo.

Su insistenza del suo insegnante d'arte, e nonostante la sua giovane età, ha sostenuto un esame di ammissione alle "Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg", ed è stata una dei primi dieci partecipanti.

Durante cinque anni di formazione, e grazie agli insegnamenti di artisti alsaziani, afferma il suo talento e la sua personalità di pittrice. Diploma alla mano, partì per Parigi.

Lì entra a far parte di un gruppo di pittori "Figurations critiques" che espone regolarmente al Grand Palais.