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Leonardo da Vinci, as an outstanding representative of the Renaissance, made multifaceted achievements and contributions. Da Vinci was born in the small town of Vinci near Florence. As a child, he once studied under Verrocchio, who had him practice drawing eggs for several years before beginning to teach him painting. Thanks to the solid foundation in drawing he established, he eventually became a master of his generation.
Van Gogh was Dutch but lived for many years in France and was an important Post-Impressionist painter. Like his compatriot Rembrandt, Van Gogh also enjoyed painting self-portraits.
Tintoretto was born in Venice, the son of a dyer. He spent most of his life in his hometown, decorating the courtyards and churches of the city with his brush. He once studied under Titian, and his goal was to pursue the brilliant colors of Titian and the solid forms of Michelangelo.
Picasso, a Spaniard, displayed extraordinary artistic talent from childhood. His father was an art teacher and had received rigorous training in painting at an art academy, possessing solid modeling skills. Throughout his life, Picasso's techniques and styles underwent several transformations, divided into the following periods: "Blue Period," "Rose Period," and "African Period."
Gauguin was one of the three great masters of the late French Impressionists. He began relatively late; his early works pursued simplification of form and decorative effects of color, yet had not yet broken free from Impressionist methods. He was not only deeply interested in ancient Egyptian painting but also admired the customs and art of indigenous peoples still living in primitive tribal societies, earning him the title of the highest prototype of the primitive.
Repin, the Russian master of Realist painting, and the French giant Monet were both prominent figures in the late 19th-century European art history. Their art dominated the eastern and western parts of Europe respectively, and their influence extended throughout the entire 20th century.
Rousseau, who rose from a naive painter to a master of modern primitive painting, was a typical self-taught artist. His works blended reality and dreams, brimming with the natural, primal vitality.
Dali, a brilliant and arrogant genius at the center of Surrealism, along with Picasso and Miró, all drew their early inspiration from the culturally rich and artistically gifted land of Catalonia in Spain. His unique and unconventional art added much brilliance and radiance to the art world of this century.
Millet was an outstanding representative of 19th-century Realism. He spent his childhood and youth in the countryside, possessing profound understanding and deep affection for rural life and the people who worked there; he understood their joys and sorrows and shared their beliefs and prejudices, which made Millet a great pastoral painter.
Andrew Wyeth was one of the greatest American painters of the 20th century. His depictions of American rural landscapes and people, rendered in exquisitely realistic, lifelike style, expressed the communication and harmony between humans and nature. His simple subjects evoke feelings of nostalgia for homeland and nature.
Renoir was a renowned Impressionist master. In his pursuit of light, he combined classical tradition and Impressionist painting in the most perfect manner, using bright, clear, and transparent colors. Whether it was plump women, innocent children, or women bathing in sunlight, all were imbued in Renoir’s brush with warmth, vividness, and enchanting, dreamlike charm.
Chagall was one of the most accessible great painters of the 20th century. Of Jewish heritage, born in Russia and later naturalized as a French citizen, Chagall pursued innocence and simplicity, and approached life, love, and art with deep sensibility.
Modigliani, the "Prince of Montparnasse," lived only thirty-six years. Born into a distinguished Jewish family in Rome, he devoted his life to celebrating life and love; his works and sculptures were influenced by the Jewish sensitivity and the traditions and roots of Italian art.
Kandinsky, of Eastern descent (his grandmother was a Mongolian princess), painted the first purely abstract artwork in art history in 1910. Kandinsky, who only decided to become a painter at age thirty, rarely remained fixed in any established painting model, constantly reflecting, examining, and advancing his own creative process.
Corot was the most outstanding landscape painter of the 19th century in French art history, regarded alongside 17th-century painters Poussin and Claude Lorrain as one of France’s three great landscape painters. Corot’s landscapes are hazy and poetic; whether the fresh, soft light of morning or the golden lake and mountain hues of dusk, his beautiful, dreamlike pastoral scenes have always inspired longing.
Miro, born in Barcelona, Spain, was profoundly influenced by Cézanne in his early art. After undergoing the influences of Cubism and Surrealism, he developed his own unique style. Representative series include "The Dutch Interior" and "Constellations."
Munch, the Nordic pioneer of Expressionism, was a renowned Norwegian painter with a distinctive style. His childhood was almost entirely shrouded in the shadows of death and illness; these terrifying experiences left indelible impressions on his soul and indirectly became inspirational material for his paintings, making Munch unique in the history of modern Western painting.
Degas, a solitary figure who was poor at interpersonal relationships, embodied contradiction, aloofness, and withdrawal. In his artistic world, there was none of Renoir’s emphasis on pleasure and ease, nor Van Gogh’s pathos or self-destruction. With cool and sharp observation, he captured fleeting impressions of human movement, revealing vibrant charm.
Matisse, alongside Picasso, was one of the titans of 20th-century modern art, and Fauvism led a great revolution in 20th-century painting. Led by Matisse, the Fauvist painters employed red, blue, yellow, green, and other colors to express the essential nature of simplified forms, portraying sincere inner emotions and decorative effects, creating astonishing, extremely free, unrestrained, lavish, and balanced works.
Braque and Picasso were the two pioneering figures of Cubism. They painted together, jointly seeking new definitions for the visual forms of nature; their unique theories and groundbreaking artworks hold an important place in modern art.
Mondrian, the 20th-century master of geometric abstraction, was one of the three great Dutch painters. After undergoing influences from the Dutch school, Impressionism, and Expressionism, he founded the De Stijl movement in 1917, developing his distinctive compositional philosophy that combined basic painting elements with geometric arrangements to establish a unique style of Neo-Plasticism.
Monet was the most representative Impressionist painter, not only living a long life (to age eighty-six) but also producing an astonishing number of works. He often painted the same subject at different times, capturing varying atmospheric effects of light, revealing the high luminosity and vividness of light and color, weaving a magnificent symphony of light and hue, creating the pinnacle of Impressionism.
Cézanne, born in Provence, France, originally studied law before dedicating himself to art. His entire artistic life derived from his direct experience with nature. He believed that "nature is not surface, but has depth," and "color enriches and fills the canvas naturally."
Dürer, the German painter, was born on May 21, 1471, in Nuremberg and died on April 6, 1528, in the same city. Of Hungarian origin, he learned goldsmithing from his father from childhood and later became a pupil of the engraver M. Wolgemuth. After reaching adulthood, he traveled to Venice, Italy, and the Netherlands, forming close friendships with artists such as C. Bellini, fully absorbing the techniques and theories of Renaissance art.
Ué, S., a French painter, was the principal representative of French courtly Classicism in the first half of the 17th century. He often borrowed mythological or religious themes to glorify the reign of Louis XIII, earning great favor among the ruling class.
Hobbema, since the 17th century, many Dutch artists specialized in landscape painting, among whom the greatest achievements belonged to Jacob van Ruisdael and Hobbema.
Gainsborough was a genius painter who emerged in the British art scene after Hogarth in the 18th century. Although he did not much enjoy reading and did not even complete ordinary secondary school, he "spoke in witty and brilliant phrases"; although he left no written works, "his letters to close friends reveal knowledge few could rival."
In the 1782 exhibition of young painters in France, Chardin's works "Red Mullet" and "The Pantry" were highly praised by Lagrée. That same year, Chardin was admitted as a member of the Academy of Fine Arts. While continuing to create mature still-life paintings, he depicted domestic life imbued with honesty and tranquility with loving brushwork.
Velázquez, during his second trip to Italy in 1649, completed a famous portrait, "Portrait of Pope Innocent X." In the painting, although the Pope’s face reveals a moment of strong, powerful expression, both hands resting on the chair appear unusually weak and feeble. The painter skillfully captured this detail.
Kramskoy's portrait of Tolstoy possesses profound popular foundations, faithfully and simply portraying the image of the "great lion" for future generations.
Giacomo Balla, the Italian painter (born in Turin in 1871), was the most outstanding figure of Futurism. He first gained recognition through academic painting, receiving praise from critics at the time. A brief stay in Paris exposed him to Impressionism and Divisionism, igniting his passionate interest in color and light.
Edgar Degas (1834–1917), born and died in Paris, was the son of banker Auguste Degas. Like Manet, he was born into the upper bourgeoisie; his strong interest in Classicism and cautious demeanor seemed perfectly suited to his background. A solitary figure, poor at interpersonal relationships, Degas embodied contradiction, aloofness, and withdrawal. In his artistic world, there was none of Renoir’s emphasis on pleasure and ease, nor Van Gogh’s pathos or self-destruction. With cool and sharp observation, he captured fleeting impressions of human movement, revealing vibrant charm.
August Macke (1887–1914) was born in Meiderich, Ruhr, and died on the battlefield of Champagne. He spent his childhood in Cologne and Bonn and studied at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art. In 1907, during his stay in Paris, he encountered French painting: first Impressionism, then Fauvism, and later Cubism.
René Magritte, born in 1898 in Lessines, Belgium, after briefly examining Futurism and Cubism, joined the Surrealist movement in 1929. He lived in Paris for five years and became friends with Paul Éluard. While most Surrealist painters followed André Breton’s suggestions of "pure interiority," employing automatism, paranoid activities, and dream exploration, Magritte pursued a different path.
Kazimir Malevich (1878–1935), born in Kiev and died in Leningrad, was initially influenced by late Impressionism and Fauvism. Later, he met Larionov and Russian avant-garde poets. With their help, he drafted the "Suprematist Manifesto" in 1915 (see entry on "Suprematism," also called "Absolutism"). In 1911, as a member of the "Jack of Diamonds" group, he exhibited Cubist-style works in the salon and became the leader of Russian Cubism, with his wife Udaltsova participating.
Manet (1832–1883), a famous French painter of the 19th century, was born and died in Paris. The founder of Impressionism, he came from a wealthy bourgeois family. As a youth, he served as a sailor and initially studied under the academic painter Thomas Couture; after five years, dissatisfied with academic instruction, he left. Later, he traveled extensively to copy artworks and study the works of past masters. In biographies, Manet is portrayed as a typical figure shaped by fate. Is he, in fact, the result of centuries-long conflicts and reconciliations between traditional principles and liberal ideals aimed at establishing and continuously innovating art?
Franz Marc (1880–1916), a German painter, was born in Munich (Bavaria) and died in the Battle of Verdun. The son of a Munich painter, he decided to pursue painting in 1900 and enrolled in an art academy.
Paul Sérusier (1863–1927), born in Paris and died in Morlaix, became known more as a theorist than a painter, ultimately becoming a victim of his own theoretical inclinations.
Georges Seurat (1859–1891) was born and died in Paris. His entire life can be summarized by several dates—not those of major events, but of the creation of his works—because the major events of his short life were the great masterpieces he devoted his days and nights and all his inventions to.
Alfred Sisley (1839–1899), born in Paris and died in Moret, was, alongside Monet, the true representative of pure Impressionism.
Francis Picabia, originally from Spain, was born and died in Paris (1879–1953). His life was one of constant change—of residence, friends, ideas, and styles—fighting for one cause, then opposing it, in pursuit of something new.
Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), born in St. Thomas (then part of Denmark's West Indies) and died in Paris. Cézanne once said, "Pissarro is one of the painters closest to nature." Indeed, he devoted his entire life to observing the myriad scenes of nature and recording them through countless oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints.
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824–1898), born in Lyon and died in Paris, is now habitually excluded from the list of the most important modern artists, yet in his time he was rejected by the Salon jury alongside the greatest painters and remained unknown to critics.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1872–1943), born in the village of Darnac, Bordeaux, and died in Paris, began painting late in life, bringing to his art the conscientiousness of a craftsman and a passion for precision and meticulous detail—exactly matching our modern impression of naive painters.
Gustave Moreau (1826–1898), born and died in Paris, played a brief but significant role in contemporary art history. He is recognized for his merit as a teacher at the Academy, instructing artists such as Rouault, Matisse, Marquet, and Jean Puy.
Frederic Bazille, born in Montpellier, died in the Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande. He came from a wealthy Protestant bourgeois family and, shortly after arriving in Paris, befriended Monet, Renoir, and Sisley, who were of similar age.
James Ensor (1860–1949) was born and died in Ostend. Except for brief stays in Brussels, he never left his hometown, demonstrating his indifference to all schools, aesthetics, and contemporary painters.
André Derain, born in 1895 in Ménecey, Seine-et-Oise, studied at the School of Decorative Arts from 1911 to 1915 and traveled to Italy in 1921. His most significant influence came from his acquaintance with Juan Gris; undoubtedly, he admired and understood Gris’s teachings more than anyone else.
Eugène Boudin (1824–1898), born in Honfleur and died in Deauville. When one mentions Boudin’s name, the image that comes to mind is a canvas with two-thirds sky and one-third sea surrounded by a narrow strip of beach, where colorful women’s dresses shimmer.
Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947), born in Fontenay-aux-Roses and died in Cannes. Around 1891, Bonnard and his friends began addressing each other as "Nabis," and critics named them Symbolist or "White Review" painters.
Umberto Boccioni (1882–1916), an Italian painter and sculptor, was born in Reggio Calabria and died in Verona.
Marcel Duchamp, born in 1887 in Blainville near Rouen, was the son of a notary who had six children, four of whom became famous artists: Jacques Villon, a painter; Duchamp-Villon, a sculptor; Suzanne Duchamp and Marcel Duchamp, both painters.
Maria Branquard (1881–1932), born in Santander and died in Paris. Does her turbulent and complex painting inherit the influence of her Spanish father and her half-French, half-Polish mother? Her works seem partially interpretable through these three cultural heritages.
Raoul Dufy (1877–1953), born in Le Havre and died in Le Cateau-Cambrésis. At age fourteen, Dufy was an employee at a local company. Beginning in 1892, after finishing his daily work at eight o’clock at the Brazilian coffee import company, he attended evening classes at the municipal art school.
François Desnoyers, born in Montauban in 1894. By the time he became interested in painting, the revolutions of Cubism and Fauvism had already begun. He had no intention of siding with either.
André Derain (born in Chatou in 1880, died in Carcassonne in 1954). Intelligent and well-educated, he even planned to enter the Central School of Arts and Crafts. Later, he suddenly decided to devote himself to painting and became close friends with Vlaminck. In Chatou, he shared a studio with Vlaminck.
Maurice Denis (1870–1943), born in Granville and died in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Maurice Denis invented the famous definition that everyone uses whenever attempting to explain modern art: "Remember, a painting, before being a warhorse, a nude woman, or some little story, is primarily a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order."
Corot, although he called himself a landscape painter, also excelled in portraiture. "Daughter with Jewelry" features distinctive coloration, a simple background, and concentrated brushwork focused on the depiction of the figure.
Beaux, D., a Dutch painter. Born in Haarlem, died on May 6, 1475, in Leuven. Likely received artistic training in Haarlem and studied in Brussels. Early works, such as "Lamentation," show the influence of R. van der Weyden. In his mature period, he paid attention to compositional refinement, moved toward cool realism, and demonstrated his ability to depict specific atmospheric effects in landscapes.
Giotto di Bondone was the pioneer of Italian realist painting.
Masaccio, an Italian painter of the Renaissance, was born on December 21, 1401, in San Giovanni Valdarno and died in Rome in the autumn of 1428.
Sandro Botticelli, with his elegant style, bright and radiant colors, and fluid, graceful lines, stands out uniquely among the great masters of the Renaissance. However, in the centuries following the Renaissance, Westerners failed for a long time to give him proper recognition.
Peter Paul Rubens, a painter and diplomat, was unparalleled in the European art world—only Rubens possessed such talent in both fields.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born in the village of Caravaggio in Lombardy, northern Italy. He lost his father in childhood and grew up in poverty. As a child, he studied art under the Milanese painter Simone Peterzano.