Famous Artists - Biographies & Paintings

About Gustav Klimt 'The Kiss'

2012-02-04T03:47:00.000-08:00

The famous painting 'The Kiss' (In German: Der Kuss) was painted by Gustav Klimt between 1907-08. Famous as Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt was Austrian and painted a number of works in a similar gilded style. The period when he painted The Kiss was his golden period and this painting in particular was highpoint of this time. 'The Kiss' depicts a couple embracing, their bodies entwined in elaborate robes decorated in a style influenced by both linear constructs of the contemporary Art Nouveau style and the organic forms of the earlier Arts and Crafts movement.

Considered Klimt's most popular work, the painting is now in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere museum in the Belvedere palace, Vienna, and is widely considered a masterpiece of the early modern period. Klimt was 45 when he painted The Kiss. Gustav Klimt’s sensual works expressed themes of regeneration, love and death, and also incorporated Egyptian, Classical Greek, Byzantine and Medieval styles. His creative influence can still be seen in today’s art, decorations and jewelry. Read Gustav Klimt biography.

Famous Artists And Their Work

2010-08-21T01:58:00.000-07:00

If you are an art lover, then the paintings will fascinate you. Similarly, it is also common to become curious about life and works of the great artists. If you are an artist, then watching at famous paintings of past and present famous artists can teach us many things including composition and handling of paint. Reading biographies of famous artists will not only make us knowledgeable, but can be great source of inspiration. We have at our website www.allfamousartists.com featured some of the famous artists who have shaped the history of art. The primary focus is on famous artists, painters and photographers.

When we think of the greatest paintings, we also desire to possess them. Now, the reproduction of paintings by great artists are available in art print form and a very affordable way of decorating our walls with masterpieces of your choice. You can purchase the famous paintings of your favorite artists in form of posters or prints at our online store.

Gauguin 'cut off Van Gogh's ear'

2010-06-07T07:20:00.000-07:00

BBC News reports (at 11:12 GMT, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 12:12 UK) that Vincent van Gogh did not cut off his own ear but lost it in a fight with fellow artist Paul Gauguin in a row outside a brothel, it has been claimed.

According to a news article published by BBC, a new book, based on the original police investigation, claims Gauguin swiped Van Gogh's ear with a sword. The authors argue the official version of events contains inconsistencies. Here are the excerpts:

Witness statements

The book, titled In Van Gogh's Ear: Paul Gauguin and the Pact of Silence, is the product of 10 years of research by German academics Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans.

They looked at witness accounts and letters sent by the two artists, concluding that the row ended with Gauguin - a keen fencer - cutting his friend's ear off.

Van Gogh then apparently wrapped it in cloth and handed it to a prostitute, called Rachel.

Mr Kaufmann said it was not clear whether it was an accident or a deliberate attempt to injure Van Gogh, but afterwards both men agreed to tell the police the self-harm story to protect Gauguin.

He said the traditional version of events is based on contradictory and improbable evidence, and no independent witness statement exists.

"Gauguin was not present at the supposed self-mutilation," he told Le Figaro newspaper in France.

"As for Van Gogh, he didn't confirm anything. Their behaviour afterwards and various suggestions by the protagonists indicate they were hiding the truth."

Gauguin later moved to Tahiti, where he produced some of his most famous works. Van Gogh died in 1890 after shooting himself in the chest.

Decorate Your Wall with Famous Artists Work!

2010-05-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

You can decorate your home or office with the art prints of great artists like Vincent Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Georgia O'Keefe, and many others!

Buy Famous Artists Posters

Biography of Leonetto Cappiello

2010-05-02T01:04:00.000-07:00

Leonetto Cappiello is often called the father of the Modern Poster. His posters are a sequel to the works of the artists such as Villemot, Cheret and Pal. The Italian born artist, became famous in 1900 and created posters in Paris for over forty years. In 40 years he produced 1000 cutting-edge posters, leading the Art Deco movement and setting the precedent for today’s advertising techniques. Viewers are viscerally enticed to dig in to “Pates Baroni” as enthusiastically as its subject digs into his plate of pasta.

Read Detailed Biography of Leonetto Cappiello

Famous Artist Georgia O'keeffe's Biography And Paintings

2010-05-02T00:56:00.001-07:00

Georgia O'Keeffe was an American artist born on November 15, 1887 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. O'Keeffe is chiefly known for her landscapes and paintings of desert flowers, which are often interpreted as yonic symbols. She was blazing new creative trails at a time when women were not recognized in the art world. Rejecting artistic norms, O’Keeffe expressed her own feelings through the vibrant colors and flowing forms of her enormous representations of flowers, like she did with her painting “Red Canna.”

Read Detailed Biography of Georgia O'keeffe

Famous Artist Don Li-Leger's Biography And Paintings

2010-05-01T01:26:00.001-07:00

Born and raised in British Columbia, Don Li-Leger has painted since childhood, focusing initially on the birds and animals of his native province. Li-Leger's formal training includes studies at the Vancouver School of Art, Simon Fraser University and the Banff Centre School of Fine Art. Inspired by the natural world, Li-Leger’s work embodies both abstract and recognizable shapes. Featured above is “Bamboo Division” by Don Li-Leger harmoniously combines the creations of nature and man. Here, solid, tawny architectural forms and airy bamboo shoots grow as one

Read Detailed Biography of Don Li-Leger

Famous Artist Henri Silberman's Biography And Photographs

2010-05-01T01:05:00.000-07:00

Raised in Brooklyn, Silberman often photographed his city surroundings. In his teenage years, Silberman became fascinated by photography and has subsequently made a highly successful career from his talent and skills, especially in the field of New York urban landscapes. Elegance and nostalgia are both captured in this Silberman’s photo of New York’s Brooklyn Bridge and Twin Towers.

Read Detailed Biography of Henri Silberman

Famous Artist Leonardo da Vinci's Biography And Paintings

2010-04-24T22:52:00.000-07:00

Born on April 15, 1452, near the village of Vinci about 25 miles west of Florence, Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scientist. He was one of the greatest minds of the Italian Renaissance, and his influence on the painting of the following generations was enormous. He painted, arguably the most famous painting in the art world, “Mona Lisa” in 1507. Also known as “La Giaconda” referring to the last name of the model who posed for the painting, it is analyzed for its beauty, technique and style, but it is perhaps most famous for the enigmatic look and smile on Mona Lisa’s face. Her expression and the meaning behind it have survived for 500 years as one of the greatest mysteries in art history.

Read Detailed Biography of Leonardo da Vinci

Famous Artist Alfred Gockel's Biography And Paintings

2010-04-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

Famous artist Alfred Alexander Gockel was born in 1952 in Ludinghausen, North-Rine Westphalia, Germany. He originally studied graphic design, typography and advertising. When he was only 8 years old, a German magazine recognized his talent and published his first artwork. Painting full-time for 22 years in a signature style of bright, abstract shapes and strong, dark lines, he is now owner of the world-renowned company, Avant Art, Gockel has also designed for the porcelain, carpet and sportswear industries. Bliss radiates from the united lovers against a joyously colored background in his famous painting “Endless Love.” (Featured above)

Read Detailed Biography of Alfred Gockel

Famous Artist Jack Vettriano's Biography And Paintings

2010-04-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

Jack Vettriano was born in Scotland in 1953 of Italian parents. He began his career as a mining engineer in the Scottish coalfields, painting only in his spare time. In 1988, Vettriano gave up his job as a mining engineer in order to paint full-time. He left school at 16 and became an apprentice mining engineer, but later took up painting as a hobby in his twenties. Nicknamed “The People’s Painter,” the self-taught Vettriano is one of Britain’s most popular artists. Above is his moody “Dance Me to the End of Love” painting that simmers with underlying intrigue.

Read Detailed Biography of Jack Vettriano

Famous Artist Wassily Kandinsky's Biography And Paintings

2010-04-16T23:13:00.000-07:00

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), the Russian painter and graphic artist was one of the great masters of modern art and the outstanding representative of pure abstract painting that dominated the first half of the 20th century. He produced his early work in Russia, his mature and most revolutionary work in Germany, and his later work in France. He believed that art could visually express music, and is credited for painting the first modern abstractions. Wassily Kandinsky was inspired by the radiantly colorful churches and homes of his native Russia. In “Farbstudie Quadrate,” color and rhythm make beautiful music together.

Read Detailed Biography of Wassily Kandinsky

Famous Photographic Artist Ansel Adams Biography

2010-04-10T23:19:00.000-07:00

Award-winning photographic artist and environmentalist Ansel Easton Adams was born on February 20, 1902, in San Francisco, California, near the Golden Gate Bridge. His father, a successful businessman, sent his son to private, as well as public, schools; beyond such formal education, however, Adams was largely self-taught. His career took off in 1941 when the U.S. government hired him to photograph the country’s national parks. His awe-inspiring works reveal his technical mastery and rank Adams among the world’s most acclaimed landscape photographers. Ansel Adams was not only a masterful photographic technician but a lifelong conservationist who pleaded for understanding of, and respect for, the natural environment. Adams, therefore, helped foster an environmental consciousness during his 37-year tenure on the Sierra Club’s Board of Directors.

Read Detailed Biography of Ansel Adams

Famous Graphic Artist M.C. Escher's Biography And Work

2010-04-10T22:58:00.000-07:00

Like some of his famous predecessors, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Dürer and Holbein, M.C. Escher was left-handed. The Dutch Escher (1898-1972) is the world’s most famous graphic artist; his interlocking figures, shapes and mirror images presented in black and white enhance their implausible dimensions. Apart from being a graphic artist, M.C. Escher illustrated books, designed tapestries, postage stamps and mural. M.C. Escher’s pop culture references appear in everything from The Simpsons to The Matrix to music and video games.

Read Detailed Biography of M.C. Escher

Famous Artist Claude Monet's Biography And Paintings

2010-03-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

Famous Artists Claude Monet (1840 – 1952) was born in Paris, but grew up in Le Havre. His first artistic output were caricatures when he was a little boy. He went on to pioneer Impressionism, profoundly influencing landscape painting. Making a break from established painting techniques, Claude Monet captured the fleeting effects of time of day, atmosphere and season upon color and light. Like a prism, his artwork broke color into individual elements, and completely lacked black and gray tones. He often painted the exact same view numerous times to depict changing light and weather conditions. Refining the portrayal of natural light’s transient effects, his work broke ground for 20th century modernism. In his late years Claude Monet suffered from physical problems. After 1907 a bad eyesight and rheumatism made it more and more impossible for him to paint. But he continued until the year of his death.

Read Detailed Biography of Claude Monet

Biography And Paintings of Pablo Picasso

2010-03-21T01:21:00.000-07:00

Famous Artist Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) was a genius who co-founded Cubism and produced a monumental 20,000 artworks during his 70-year career. Because of extensive and complex work of Pablo Picasso, the art historians have divided his work into individual periods. A prodigy in his youth, Picasso enrolled in advanced classes at Barcelona’s Royal Academy of Art at age 15. The strong geometric forms of his groundbreaking Cubist works redefined art as a medium that could digress from literal images of reality. Passionately creative in every genre from primitive art to sketches to Surrealism, Picasso profoundly impacted 20th century art. Picasso was profoundly influenced by Matisse. He was also captivated by the almost cartoon-like works of the self-taught "primitive" French painter Henri "Le Douanier" Rousseau, whom he affectionately called "the last ancient Egyptian painter" because his works have a passing similarity to the flat ancient Egyptian paintings.

Read Detailed Biography of Pablo Picasso

Salvador Dali - An icon of the Surrealist movement

2010-03-20T23:36:00.000-07:00

One of the 20th century’s greatest artists, Salvador Dali was a flamboyant and groundbreaking Spanish artist. Inspired by Freud, Salvador Dali accessed his subconscious to create more intense artistic expression. He produced 1,500 paintings, and also sculptures, drawings, films, clothing and jewelry. An icon of the Surrealist movement his blend of eccentric perspectives and controversial influences resulted in wildly imaginative, unforgettable dreamscapes that are uniquely Dali. He described his pictures as `hand-painted dream photographs' and had certain favorite and recurring images, such as the human figure with half-open drawers protruding from it, burning giraffes, and watches bent and flowing as if made from melting wax (The Persistence of Memory, MOMA, New York; 1931).

Read Detailed Biography of Salvador Dali

Gustav Klimt's Paintings Glow With Gilded Erotic Imagery

2010-02-06T22:52:00.000-08:00

Gustav Klimt (1862 – 1918), an Austrian iconoclast, rose from childhood poverty to become an artist who significantly impacted the Viennese Secession and Art Nouveau styles. Most of his paintings glow with gilded erotic imagery amid swirls of flamboyant ornamentation. His most inspired works, “The Kiss” submerges most of the couple’s bodies in vast golden waves, representing the melding of selves experienced by lovers. Click here to read Gustav Klimt's biography

Van Gogh - The Marvelous Painter Who Cut Off His Own Earlobe

2010-01-23T03:04:00.000-08:00

"I can't change the fact that my paintings don't sell. But the time will come when people will recognize that they are worth more than the value of the paints used in the picture." - Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh, the famous Dutch painter was born on March 30, 1853, Zundert, Netherland. His life and work are legendary in the history of 19th and 20th century art. The art of Van Gogh, with its intense colour and writhing forms, became, through its impact on the Fauvists and German Expressionists, while his tragic biography is one of the most powerful examples of the myth of the artist as deranged and alienated visionary. Popularly viewed as the prototype of the misunderstood, tormented artist, he sold only one work in his lifetime.

The great majority of the works by which Vincent van Gogh is remembered were produced in 29 months of frenzied activity and intermittent bouts with epileptoid seizures and profound despair that finally ended in suicide. In his tragic struggle Vincent had one constant ally and support, his younger brother Théo, to whom he wrote revealing and extraordinarily beautiful letters describing his conflicts and aspirations. His early work, the Dutch period of 1880-85, consists of dark greenish-brown, heavily painted studies of peasants and miners, e.g., The Potato Eaters (1885; Van Gogh Mus., Amsterdam). He copied the work of Millet, whose idealization of the rural poor he admired. In 1886 he joined Théo in Paris, where he met the foremost French painters of the postimpressionist period.

Vincent van Gogh's work, though virtually unknown during his lifetime, is now highly regarded. Starry Night and Sunflowers are two of his best-known paintings.

Featured above is Van Gogh famous painting “Starry Night". His genius hauntingly shines in the swirled brushstrokes, vivid colors and distorted forms of “Starry Night.” While institutionalized, Van Gogh created “Starry Night,” his most famous painting, completely from memory. It now hangs in the permanent collection in New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Read Detailed Biography of Vincent van Gogh

Biographies of Famous Artists

2010-01-22T23:47:00.000-08:00

Explore the biographies of the masters of fine art through following links at AllFamousArtists.com :
- Vincent van Gogh
- Salvador Dali
- Pablo Picasso
- Claude Monet
- M.C. Escher
- Ansel Adams
- Gustav Klimt
- Wassily Kandinsky
- Jack Vettriano
- Alfred Alexander Gockel
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Henri Silberman
- Don Li-Leger
- Georgia O'Keeffe
- Leonetto Cappiello
- James Blakeway
- Will Rafuse
- Alphonse Mucha
- Mark Rothko
- Diego Rivera
- Erickson Kerne
- Dennis Loren
- Henri Matisse
- Michelangelo Buonarroti

Michelangelo Buonarroti's Biography Added

2010-01-21T07:49:00.000-08:00

We have just added the biography of Michelangelo Buonarroti, one of the greatest artists of all time. Michelangelo Buonarroti's 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. Unlike any previous artist, Michelangelo was the subject of two biographies in his own lifetime. Read More ...

Featured above is famous painting “The Creation of Adam,” which is part of his Sistine Chapel ceiling. This creation is considered by some to be his greatest artistic achievement. Commissioned by Pope Julius II, it was one of nine scenes from Genesis which Michelangelo (1475 – 1564) painted. Depicting the flash of life and love surging from God to Adam, it fluently replicates human anatomy and movement.