Genre painting

Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities.

One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached either individually or collectively - thus distinguishing petit genre from history paintings (also called grand genre) and portraits.

A work would often be considered as a genre work even if it could be shown that the artist had used a known person - a member of his family, say - as a model.

In this case it would depend on whether the work was likely to have been intended by the artist to be perceived as a portrait - sometimes a subjective question.

The depictions can be realistic, imagined, or romanticized by the artist. Because of their familiar and frequently sentimental subject matter, genre paintings have often proven popular with the bourgeoisie, or middle class.

Vincent van Gogh | The reaper after Millet, 1889

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864-1901)

Throughout his career, which spanned fewer than 20 years, Toulouse-Lautrec created 737 canvases, 275 watercolours, 363 prints and posters, 5.084 drawings, some ceramic and stained glass work, and an unknown number of lost works.

His debt to the Impressionists, in particular the more figurative painters Claude Monet 1840-1926 and Edgar Degas 1834-1917, is apparent. His style was also influenced by the classical Japanese woodprints which became popular in art circles in Paris.

In the works of Toulouse-Lautrec can be seen many parallels to Monet's detached barmaid at A Bar at the Folies-Bergère and the behind-the-scenes ballet dancers of Degas.

Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta (Spanish, 1870-1945)

Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaletawas was a Spanish Genre and portrait painter noted for his theatrical paintings of figures from spanish culture and folklore depicting of traditional spanish characters, including peasants, gypsies and bullfighters.

Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta born in Eibar, near the monastery of Loyola. He was the son of metalworker and damascener Plácido Zuloaga and grandson of the organizer and director of the royal armoury in Madrid. In his youth, he drew and worked in his father's workshop. He was educated by the Jesuits in France.

His father wanted him to be an architect, and with this objective in mind, he was sent to Rome, where he immediately followed the strong impulse that led him to painting.

Ognian Kouzmanov (Bulgarian, 1979)

Ognian Kouzmanov is a professional artist who lives and works in Pleven, Bulgaria.

He has made many exhibitions in France, Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Czech Republic, Marocco, Serbia and Bulgaria.

Many of his art works are possession of different European private collectors. He paints mainly abstract paintings.

Alexandre Debrus (1843-1905) | Still lifes painter

Alexandre Debrus was an Belgian painter🎨 of still lifes, flowers and portraits; watercolourist.

Alexandre Debrus was born in Spa in 1818 as the son of Jean Nicolas Debrus. He also died there in 1905.

He worked in England for some time and participated at the International Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876.

His work is well recorded although little is known about his life. He exhibited in France and died in 1905.

Nicoletta Tomas Caravia (Spanish painter, 1963)

"Painting and I are a community, it has me, I have it. I go hand in hand with painting, because it is the intimate language between me and my soul.

I learn from painting. I express my deepest feelings in such a form of world. From my world to the outside world, both inside and outside are expressed in a mirror way. The inner world is always fighting. The patterns I draw, the light of human existence, the fragility and his greatness, all of which are accompanied by my imagination.

Nicoletta Tomas Caravia was born in Madrid. She is a long-standing international painter and illustrator.

She travels the world with exquisite skills, rich colors, gentle and keen touch.

The purest aspect of human beings also attracts the audience into their own experience.

La donna implorante...| Camille Claudel (1864-1943)

L’Implorante, fa parte del gruppo scultorio L'Âge Mûr - L'età matura, una delle sculture più conosciute della Claudel, sia per lo stile che per la maestosità di cui vi è una versione in gesso ed una in bronzo. Richiestale dallo stesso Auguste Rodin 1840-1917 nel 1895, l'opera fu messa in mostra nella versione gesso nel 1899.

Il gruppo scultoreo fa richiamo al Rodin stesso indeciso fra le sua prima compagna, che poi sposerà e Camille -divenuta sua amante dall'età di 18 anni- che nel gruppo scultoreo è simboleggiata dalla figura che tenta di trattenere il "vecchio" amante che ormai si sta rivolgendo verso la sua futura sposa dimostrando comunque un che di esitante.