Dutch Post-Impressionist Painter, 1853-1890 Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 ?C 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist artist. Some of his paintings are now among the world's best known, most popular and expensive works of art. Van Gogh spent his early adult life working for a firm of art dealers. After a brief spell as a teacher, he became a missionary worker in a very poor mining region. He did not embark upon a career as an artist until 1880. Initially, Van Gogh worked only with sombre colours, until he encountered Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism in Paris. He incorporated their brighter colours and style of painting into a uniquely recognizable style, which was fully developed during the time he spent at Arles, France. He produced more than 2,000 works, including around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches, during the last ten years of his life. Most of his best-known works were produced in the final two years of his life, during which time he cut off part of his left ear following a breakdown in his friendship with Paul Gauguin. After this he suffered recurrent bouts of mental illness, which led to his suicide. The central figure in Van Gogh's life was his brother Theo, who continually and selflessly provided financial support. Their lifelong friendship is documented in numerous letters they exchanged from August 1872 onwards. Van Gogh is a pioneer of what came to be known as Expressionism. He had an enormous influence on 20th century art, especially on the Fauves and German Expressionists.  Related Paintings of Vincent Van Gogh :. | Flowering almond tree branch in a glass and book | Flowering almond tree branch in a glass | Sunflowers | Ears of Wheat (nn04) | Field with Wheat Stacks (nn04) |
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Antonio Alice
(23 February 1886 - 24 August 1943) was an Argentine portrait painter. He was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1904. Alice, of Italian descent, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father, an Italian immigrant, was barely literate. His two sisters, Matilde and Santina, posed for several of his paintings. Expelled from school and considered incorrigible for drawing in his textbooks, Alice went to work as a shoeblack. At the age of 11, while sketching Gaucho portraits between shoe shines, he was discovered by Cupertino del Campo, who went on to become the Director of the National Museum of Fine Arts of Buenos Aires. Del Campo referred Alice to the painter, Decoroso Bonifanti who gave the boy his first painting lesson in 1897. In 1904, he was awarded the Prix de Rome (Premio Roma)and entered the Royal Academy of Painting in Turin, studying under Giacomo Grosso, Francisco Gilardi, and Andrea Tavernier. During his four years at the Academy, he was awarded three Gold Medals.
Lodewijk de Vadder
Lodewijk de Vadder (1605, Grimbergen - 1655, Brussels) was a Flemish Baroque landscape painter and engraver. He became a master of Antwerp's Guild of St. Luke in 1628, and learned painting from his father and brothers. He specialized in landscapes with woods, in the manner of his contemporary Jacques d'Arthois and his pupil Lucas Achtschellinck[1]. They are usually referred to collectively as "The Sonian Forest Painters".
Michael Sweerts
Flemish 1618-1664 Michiel Sweerts (September 29, 1618 - 1664), also known as Michael Sweerts, was a Flemish painter of the Baroque period, active in Rome (1645-1656) in the style of the Bamboccianti. The Bamboccianti were known for depicting genre scenes of daily life. Born in Brussels, he arrived in Rome in the mid 1640s, and rapidly moved into the circle of Flemish painters that had arrayed around Pieter van Laer, and that resided near Santa Maria del Popolo. In 1647, he attended meetings of the Accademia di San Luca, although not as a member. By 1659, he had returned to Brussels, where he joined the painter's guild. He appears to have become mentally unstable in his last years. In Amsterdam, he joined the Jesuits as a "lay Brother" rather than a priest, and sailed from Marsaille to the East with a missionary group. Travelling to Jerusalem, and from there to Goa, where after causing tribulations to those around him, he died. Sweerts is an enigmatic and difficult artist to categorize, since he seems to have absorbed a variety of influences to create an eclectic hybrid that can be described as a Netherlandish genre adaptation of an early tenebrist styles: a blend of Vermeer's genre of painting and Caravaggio-influenced full bodied figures.