Henry Moret (1856-1913)

Henry Moret was born in Cherbourg, Normandy, the son of a garrison officer. A gentle, thoughtful man and an indefatigable worker, Henry Moret discovered Brittany during his military service in 1875.

Having trained at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and in the studios of Gérôme and Laurens in Paris, Moret went to Brittany in 1881, staying at Le Pouldu near Pont Aven. For the rest of his life he divided his time between Paris and Brittany, painting the landscape and rugged coastline.

Wassily Kandinsky | Life and Artworks

MoMa - Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky /Васи́лий Васи́льевич Канди́нский (16 December [O.S. 4 December] 1866 - 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist.

Kandinsky is generally credited as the pioneer of abstract art.

Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa, where he graduated at Grekov Odessa Art school.

He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics. Successful in his profession - he was offered a professorship (chair of Roman Law) at the University of Dorpat - Kandinsky began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) at the age of 30.

Gustave Loiseau | Post-Impressionist painter

French Post-Impressionist painter Gustave Loiseau (1865-1935) is best remembered for his scenes of evocative landscapes and bustling Paris streets.

The artist used latticed brushstrokes to depict fleeting moments, blending the Impressionist pursuit of naturalistic depiction with a more modern desire for painterly expression.

Loiseau was born on October 3, 1865 in Paris.

In his youth, he was apprenticed to a decorator, but soon received an inheritance from his grandmother, which allowed him to pursue his artistic passions. He enrolled at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, where he studied life drawing, but left after a year after quarreling with an instructor.

He set out for the riparian vistas of Pont-Aven, where he befriended other artists including Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard.

Wassily Kandinsky | Abstract painter

Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky / Васи́лий Васи́льевич Канди́нский (16 December [O.S. 4 December] 1866 - 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter🎨 and art theorist.

Kandinsky is generally credited as the pioneer of abstract art🎨.

Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa, where he graduated at Grekov Odessa Art school.

He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics. Successful in his profession - he was offered a professorship (chair of Roman Law) at the University of Dorpat - Kandinsky began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) at the age of 30.

John Singer Sargent: "Every time I paint a portrait I lose a friend!"

"Ogni volta che dipingo un ritratto perdo un amico".

"It is certain that at certain times talent entirely overcomes thought or poetry".

"È certo che in certi momenti il talento supera del tutto il pensiero o la poesia".

Camille Pissarro | Femme lavant une casserole, 1879

Included in the seminal Fifth Impressionist Exhibition that took place in 1880, Camille Pissarro’s Femme lavant une casserole encapsulates the quintessential Impressionist style and subject matter of the artist’s figure paintings.

As well as rustic, quotidian scenes of the rural French landscape, Pissarro frequently painted women absorbed in daily activities.

Indeed, from 1879, the year that he painted the present work, Pissarro began to create a number of monumental figure studies that reflected his growing interest in the primacy of the human form within the landscape setting, a theme that would continue throughout his career.

Here, a woman is framed by blossoming shrubs and flowers, bending over slightly as she washes objects in a bowl.

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) | Femme lavant une casserole, 1879 | Christie's

Gustave Loiseau (French, 1865-1935)

Gustave Loiseau was a French Post-Impressionist painter, remembered above all for his landscapes and scenes of Paris streets.

Loiseau was born in Paris and was brought up there, and at Pontoise, by parents who owned a butchers shop..

He served an apprenticeship with a decorator who was a friend of the family..

In 1887, when a legacy from his grandmother allowed him to concentrate on painting, he enrolled at the École des arts décoratifs where he studied life-drawing..

However, a year later he left the school after an argument with his teacher.