Leonardo da Vinci:
Birth name
Leonardo di Ser Piero
Born
April 15, 1452(1452-04-15)Vinci, Florence, in present-day Italy
Died
May 2, 1519 (aged 67)Amboise, Touraine (in present-day Indre-et-Loire, France)
Nationality
Italian
Field
Many and diverse fields of arts and sciences
Movement
High Renaissance
Works
Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Vitruvian Man
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci pronunciation (help·info), April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) was an Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance man, a man whose unquenchable curiosity was equaled only by his powers of invention.He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, the man himself mysterious and remote".
Born the illegitimate son of a notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman, Caterina, at Vinci in the region of Florence, Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter, Verrocchio. Much of his earlier working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He later worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice and spent his last years in France, at the home awarded him by Francis I.
Leonardo was and is renowned primarily as a painter. Two of his works, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, are the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious painting of all time, respectively, their fame approached only by Michelangelo's Creati of Adam.Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on everything from the Euro to text books to t-shirts. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings survive, the small number due to his constant, and frequently disastrous, experimentation with new techniques, and his chronic procrastination. Nevertheless, these few works, together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting, comprise a contribution to later generations of artists only rivalled by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo.
Born the illegitimate son of a notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman, Caterina, at Vinci in the region of Florence, Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter, Verrocchio. Much of his earlier working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He later worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice and spent his last years in France, at the home awarded him by Francis I.
Leonardo was and is renowned primarily as a painter. Two of his works, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, are the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious painting of all time, respectively, their fame approached only by Michelangelo's Creati of Adam.Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on everything from the Euro to text books to t-shirts. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings survive, the small number due to his constant, and frequently disastrous, experimentation with new techniques, and his chronic procrastination. Nevertheless, these few works, together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting, comprise a contribution to later generations of artists only rivalled by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo.
Miguel Ángel:
Birth name
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
Born
6 March 1475(1475-03-06)near Arezzo, in Caprese, Tuscany
Died
18 February 1564 (aged 88)Rome
Nationality
Italian
Field
sculpture, painting, architecture, and poetry
Training
Apprentice to Domenico Ghirlandaio
Movement
High Renaissance
Works
David, The Creation of Adam, Pietà
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival and fellow Italian Leonardo da Vinci.
Michelangelo's output in every field during his long life was prodigious; when the sheer volume of correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences that survive is also taken into account, he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century. Two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, were sculpted before he turned thirty. Despite his low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created two of the most influential works in fresco in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling and The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. As an architect, Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library. At 74 he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of Saint Peter's Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan, the western end being finished to Michelangelo's design, the dome being completed after his death with some modification.
In a demonstration of Michelangelo's unique standing, he was the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive. Two biographies were published of him during his lifetime; one of them, by Giorgio Vasari, proposed that he was the pinnacle of all artistic
achievement since the beginning of the Renaissance, a viewpoint that continued to have currency in art history for centuries. In his lifetime he was also often called Il Divino ("the divine one").[3] One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur, and it was the attempts of subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelo's impassioned and highly personal style that resulted in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance.
Michelangelo's output in every field during his long life was prodigious; when the sheer volume of correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences that survive is also taken into account, he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century. Two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, were sculpted before he turned thirty. Despite his low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created two of the most influential works in fresco in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling and The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. As an architect, Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library. At 74 he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of Saint Peter's Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan, the western end being finished to Michelangelo's design, the dome being completed after his death with some modification.
In a demonstration of Michelangelo's unique standing, he was the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive. Two biographies were published of him during his lifetime; one of them, by Giorgio Vasari, proposed that he was the pinnacle of all artistic
achievement since the beginning of the Renaissance, a viewpoint that continued to have currency in art history for centuries. In his lifetime he was also often called Il Divino ("the divine one").[3] One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur, and it was the attempts of subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelo's impassioned and highly personal style that resulted in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance.Vincent van Gogh:
Birth name
Vincent Willem van Gogh
Born
30 March 1853 (1853-03-30)Zundert, The Netherlands
Died
29 July 1890 (1890-07-30) (aged 37)Auvers-sur-Oise, France
Nationality
Dutch
Field
Painter
Movement
Post-Impressionism
Works
The Potato Eaters, Sunflowers, The Starry Night, Irises, Portrait of Dr. Gachet
Patrons
Theo van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30th, 1853 to Theodorus van Gogh, and Anna Cornelia Carbentus, in Zundert, a village in Brabant, in the Netherlands. It is important to note that Vincent's brother Theo was born four years later, as he would become a prominent figure in Vincent's life.
Vincent's first exposure to the art world was when he worked at the Hague gallery of the French art dealers Goupil & Co., which had been established by his uncle Vincent. His brother Theo later worked for the same company. After working for the art dealers, Vincent took the job of assistant teacher, and preacher in a boarding school in England, but this was short lived and his obsession with evangelical Christianity made him want to become a clergyman like his father, so he tried to enroll in a theology school, but was refused admittance.
Vincent later enrolled in a missionary school in Belgium, determined to help those in need, and preach to the poor. He preached and lived amongst the miners in southern Belgium, but his fanatical attitude, and pious lifestyle were such that the church did not renew his appointment fro the following year. After much though and meditation on the subject, Vincent decided to become an artist, feeling this was his last recourse at doing God's work.
Penniless, Vincent worked independently as an artist in Brussels, while his brother Theo supported him by sending him money. van Gogh later returned to the Hague to take painting lessons from his cousin Anton Mauve. His talents soon emerged, and in very little time, he had developed his own
unique style.
van Gogh's bold use of color, and composition were first made evident in a series of paintings of the Hague, commissioned by his uncle Cornelis. van Gogh's fascination with the poor, and the working class were the subject of many of his early works, the first, a series he painted while Drenthe, in the northeastern Netherlands, followed by a series of 40 portraits he painted.
Vincent's first exposure to the art world was when he worked at the Hague gallery of the French art dealers Goupil & Co., which had been established by his uncle Vincent. His brother Theo later worked for the same company. After working for the art dealers, Vincent took the job of assistant teacher, and preacher in a boarding school in England, but this was short lived and his obsession with evangelical Christianity made him want to become a clergyman like his father, so he tried to enroll in a theology school, but was refused admittance.
Vincent later enrolled in a missionary school in Belgium, determined to help those in need, and preach to the poor. He preached and lived amongst the miners in southern Belgium, but his fanatical attitude, and pious lifestyle were such that the church did not renew his appointment fro the following year. After much though and meditation on the subject, Vincent decided to become an artist, feeling this was his last recourse at doing God's work.
Penniless, Vincent worked independently as an artist in Brussels, while his brother Theo supported him by sending him money. van Gogh later returned to the Hague to take painting lessons from his cousin Anton Mauve. His talents soon emerged, and in very little time, he had developed his own
unique style.van Gogh's bold use of color, and composition were first made evident in a series of paintings of the Hague, commissioned by his uncle Cornelis. van Gogh's fascination with the poor, and the working class were the subject of many of his early works, the first, a series he painted while Drenthe, in the northeastern Netherlands, followed by a series of 40 portraits he painted.
Pablo Picasso:
Birth name
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso
Born
25 October 1881(1881-10-25)Málaga, Spain
Died
8 April 1973 (aged 91)Mougins, France
Nationality
Spanish
Field
Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Printmaking, Ceramics
Training
Jose Ruíz (father), Academy of Arts, Madrid
Movement
Cubism
Works
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907)Guernica (1937)The Weeping Woman (1937)
Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain, to artist and teacher Jose Ruiz Blasco, and his wife Maria Picasso. A decade later, young Pablo Picasso learned how to paint from his father, who had been appointed teacher at the Da Guarda art school in La Coruna.
Later, when his father was appointed teacher to the La Lonja academy in Barcelona, and just a year later, Pablo was admitted to the drawing class of the academy after having shown tremendous aptitude.
Pablo Picasso the n took a trip to France where he discovered the work of master artist Toulouse Lautrec, perhaps it was Lautrec's fascination with the female form, and with street walkers in particular that influenced Picasso to paint Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", the piece which brought on his first big break.
1900 to 1907, saw Picasso's Blue and Rose Periods, and it was within this timeframe that the artist was fascinated by the dregs of society, he would focus on painting images of prostitutes, the poor, the unfortunate, and the street urchins.
He was working very hard during this time, illustrating magazines, and having his work shown in galleris such as Berthe Weill's, in Paris. It was also then that he met Guillaume Apollinaire, Leo and Gertrude Stein, and Henri Matisse, who was to become Picasso's long time friend.
Shortly after that, Picasso started the Cubist movement with fellow artists Georges Braque and Joan Miro. Cubism is best defined as the exact reproduction of an image as seen from different angles simultaneously. What made Picassos' cubist paintings is the amount of human emotion he would maintain within the multi-faceted figures.
Later, when his father was appointed teacher to the La Lonja academy in Barcelona, and just a year later, Pablo was admitted to the drawing class of the academy after having shown tremendous aptitude.
Pablo Picasso the n took a trip to France where he discovered the work of master artist Toulouse Lautrec, perhaps it was Lautrec's fascination with the female form, and with street walkers in particular that influenced Picasso to paint Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", the piece which brought on his first big break.
1900 to 1907, saw Picasso's Blue and Rose Periods, and it was within this timeframe that the artist was fascinated by the dregs of society, he would focus on painting images of prostitutes, the poor, the unfortunate, and the street urchins.
He was working very hard during this time, illustrating magazines, and having his work shown in galleris such as Berthe Weill's, in Paris. It was also then that he met Guillaume Apollinaire, Leo and Gertrude Stein, and Henri Matisse, who was to become Picasso's long time friend.
Shortly after that, Picasso started the Cubist movement with fellow artists Georges Braque and Joan Miro. Cubism is best defined as the exact reproduction of an image as seen from different angles simultaneously. What made Picassos' cubist paintings is the amount of human emotion he would maintain within the multi-faceted figures.
Frida Kahlo:
Birth name
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón
Born
July 6, 1907(1907-07-06)Coyoacán, Mexico
Died
July 13, 1954 (aged 47)Coyoacán, Mexico
Nationality
Mexican
Field
Painting
Training
Self–taught
Movement
Surrealism
Works
in museums:
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Frida Kahlo Museum, Mexico City
Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin
Museo Dolores Olmedo, Xochimilco, Mexico City
Museo de Arte Moderno, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
Museum of Modern Art, New York City
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California
Patrons
and friends:
Julian Levy Gallery, New York City
Renou & Colle Gallery, Paris
Nickolas Muray
Lola Alvarez Bravo
Marcel Duchamp
André Breton
Frida Kahlo, was born on July 6th, 1907, in Coyoacàn, a part of Mexico City, one of four daughters to Matilde Calderón and Guillermo Kahlo. However, Frida often claimed to have been born in 1910, the year of the Mexican Revolution. Frida was of both European, and Mexican heritage. Frida's entire life was plagued with suffering, Stricken with Polio at the age of six, one of her legs would remain smaller than the other, which of course attracted stares and teasing from other children. The young Frida, already showing incredible strength of character, decided she was going to be a doctor, which at the time, was not a common profession for women. But it was at the age of fifteen that her life-altering tragic accident occurred. In 1925, as she was returning home from school, a tram crashed into her bus. She was found barely alive, covered in gold dust, and with a handrail stuck through her body; her spine and pelvis were broken, and so were her right leg, and foot.
It was while recovering from her extensive injuries in the hospital that Frida began to paint. Although Frida's family sacrificed almost all they had in order to get her the best available care, but she never fully recovered, and was forced to used braces and custom made corsets in order to be able to just walk and stand. Frida's parents even had a special easel custom made to accommodate her condition. Frida gave up on becoming a doctor, and decided to continue painting. Her accident had not only changed the course of her life, it would also prove to be a main source of inspiration for her work, which was mostly comprised of sometimes disturbing self-portraits, images of death, and suffering.
It was while recovering from her extensive injuries in the hospital that Frida began to paint. Although Frida's family sacrificed almost all they had in order to get her the best available care, but she never fully recovered, and was forced to used braces and custom made corsets in order to be able to just walk and stand. Frida's parents even had a special easel custom made to accommodate her condition. Frida gave up on becoming a doctor, and decided to continue painting. Her accident had not only changed the course of her life, it would also prove to be a main source of inspiration for her work, which was mostly comprised of sometimes disturbing self-portraits, images of death, and suffering.
