Alex Kelly, 1968 | Alla prima oil painter

Alex Kelly received a Fine Art BA with honours from Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) in 1993.

He has also trained and worked as a graphic designer for over 20 years and has a HNC (Distinction) in Graphic Design from New College Nottingham (UK).

He has also had various studio practices and art related teaching positions with schools and colleges before devoting himself full-time to painting.

His work is in many private collections around the world.

Henri Fantin-Latour | Madame Lerolle, 1882

Fantin-Latour exhibited this portrait of Madeleine Lerolle, wife of fellow artist Henry Lerolle, at the Paris Salon of 1882.

The Salon was the official, annual exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, the national art academy of the French government.

At the time of this portrait, Madeleine Lerolle was 26 years old.

Albert Besnard portrayed her more formally in his painting Madeleine Lerolle and Her Daughter Yvonne, currently on display in the other Romanticism to Realism gallery. | Source: © The Cleveland Museum of Art

Henri Fantin Latour | Madame Lerolle, 1882 | Cleveland Museum of Art

Claude Monet in Italy

Claude Monet | Palm Trees at Bordighera, 1884 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Monet first visited Italy’s southern coast with Renoir in December 1883.

Shortly thereafter, he returned alone to paint, writing his dealer that working "à deux" was constraining.

This scene and The Valley of the Nervia reflect Monet’s excitement at the new motifs offered by the region’s palm trees and mountains.

For this view, he ventured from his hotel in Bordighera and looked across the Bay of Ventimiglia toward the Alps on the French border.

The dazzling colors challenged him to "dare to use all the tones of pink and blue", although what he truly needed was a "palette of diamonds and jewels".

Claude Monet | Palm Trees at Bordighera, 1884 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Il Salon di Parigi (1667-1890)

A partire dal 1667, Il Salon de Paris fu la mostra d'arte ufficiale dell'Académie des Beaux-Arts di Parigi.

Per quasi 150 anni (1740-1890 ca.), il Salon è stato l'evento artistico annuale o biennale più prestigioso al mondo.

Di conseguenza, la sua influenza sulla pittura francese - in particolare lo stile artistico, le convenzioni pittoriche e la reputazione degli artisti - fu enorme.

Al Salon del 1761 contribuirono trentatré pittori, nove scultori ed undici incisori.

Dal 1881 in poi, è stato gestito dalla Société des Artistes Français.

Claude Monet | Donna con il parasole - Madame Monet con il figlio, 1875 | Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art

Leis Schjelderup | Figurative painter

Georgia Elise (Leis) Schjelderup (1856-1933) was a Norwegian painter.

She came from the bourgeoisie in Bergen.

The family was part of an environment that cultivated literature, art and music.

Her father was a good singer, and her mother a skilled pianist.

Fritz von Uhde | Genre painter

Fritz von Uhde (born Friedrich Hermann Carl Uhde; 1848-1911) was a German painter of genre and religious subjects.

His style lay in-between Realism and Impressionism, he was once known as "Germany's outstanding impressionist" and he became one of the first painters to introduce plein-air painting in his country.

Biography

Uhde was born in Wolkenburg, Saxony.

His family, moderately wealthy civil servants, had artistic interests.

Joseph Oppenheimer | Impressionist painter

Joseph Oppenheimer (1876-1967) was born in Würzburg, Germany. From an early age his whole life was art.

At 15, before being old enough to enroll in the Munich Academy of Art, he left school and began studying art with some of the foremost German painters such as Fehr.

Perhaps the impetus for this was his chance meeting with The Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, at the age on 14 when they both stayed at the same spa hotel in Bad Kissingen.

Joseph made a pencil sketch of Bismarck and presented it to him.