Awesome Art

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (also known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Just when you think auction house Sotheby’s London can’t break another record, they’re at it again. Last month, Sotheby’s sold a rare pink diamond ring, and this week, one of the most influential books ever produced shattered another record.

a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. In his time he was Japan's leading expert on Chinese painting.

Edward Hopper was born on July 22, 1882, in Nyack, N.Y. At 17 he entered a New York school for illustrators; then from 1900 he studied for about 6 years at the New York School of Art, mostly under Robert Henri, who strongly influenced him.

VG's early paintings were in the style of earlier Dutch painters--heavy and rich. Later, he discovered the power of bright and contrasting colors. He also began to develop a signature style of using visible and expressive brush strokes.

Jackson Pollock was the first American abstract painter to be taken seriously in Europe.

Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) is widely considered to be one of the greatest Abstract Expressionist painters of the post-World War II period, his dominance rivaled perhaps only by Jackson Pollock.

Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland. The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence.

Claude Monet was one of the founding fathers of French Impressionism. Monet's concern was to reflect the influence of light on a subject. He never abandoned his Impressionist painting style until his death in 1926.

The Nouveau Art movement in Austria was called the Secession. Gustav Klimt was its founder and president from 1897 to 1905. His painting The Kiss is a symbol of Vienna Secession.