Edgar Degas | Ballet dancers

Among the supreme masterpieces of the century are Degas's pictures of the ballet and its dancers. The impulse towards painting the contemporary scene came to him not only from Gustave Courbet 1819-1877 and Manet 1832-1883 but from his friend, the critic Duranty, the exponent of the aesthetics of naturalism. Yet in the particular direction of his tastes and his conception of design he was entirely individual. To study and convey movement was a chosen task, first undertaken on the race course and then in his many pictures of the Opera, viewed from behind the scenes, in the wings, or from the orchestra stalls during a performance.

Edgar Degas | Ballet dancers | Part. 2

Alphonse Maria Mucha | Master of Art Nouveau

Alphonse Mucha was born in what is now the Czech Republic in 1860 and moved to Paris in 1890 where he became the star of the poster-art movement under the patronage of the Sarah Bernhardt. After World War I he returned to Czechoslovakia and became the father of a slavic arts and crafts movement which combined elements of art nouveau with classic national themes. In addition to commercial art, jewelry design, interior decoration, sculpture and stage design, Mucha experimented with lettering and calligraphy to produce excellent source material for unique typefaces. Mucha's style is virtually synonymous with French Art Nouveau and he is one of the most imitated artists and designers of all time.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir: "It's with my brush that I make love"

"People love to be nice, but you must give them the chance".

"Regularity, order, desire for perfection destroy art. Irregularity is the basis of all art".

"The work of art must seize upon you, wrap you up in itself, carry you away. It is the means by which the artist conveys his passion; it is the current which he puts forth which sweeps you along in his passion".

Jerome G. Parker | Portrait painter

A Central California native, Jerome Garth Parker comes from a family of artists and musicians. A quiet and introspective figure, Jerome is active in galleries in this beautiful region of his home state.

Figurative compositions, closely observed from life, comprise many of this artists rich work in oils and charcoal.

Though clearly inspired by the masters, Jerome's intriguing subjects nevertheless capture a certain contemporary view of life in the moment.

Antonio Ermolao Paoletti | Venetian flower sellers

Antonio Ermolao Paoletti (Venice, 1834-1912) was an Italian painter, mainly of Venetian genre scenes, recalling Bamboccianti life of children and women, as well as sacred fresco work for churches in the Veneto.

Antonio's father, Ermolao Paoletti, was a well known scholar and writer of Venice.

He wrote a much cited expansive guide to its architecture, monuments, artistic works, and customs.

He also wrote a dictionary of Venetian dialect. He was an engraver and painter, and was a professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice.

Pablo Picasso: "La pittura non è fatta per decorare gli appartamenti"

• "Quando uno inizia un ritratto e cerca per successive eliminazioni di trovare la forma pura... si finisce inevitabilmente con un uovo..."

• "Dipingere non è un'operazione estetica: è una forma di magia intesa a compiere un'opera di mediazione fra questo mondo estraneo ed ostile e noi."

• "Dipingo gli oggetti come li penso, non come li vedo."

• "I 40 anni sono quell'età in cui ci si sente finalmente giovani. Ma è troppo tardi."