A Whistlestop Tour of Western Painting from the Early Renaissance to the 20th Century

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt (c1510) by Gerard David

Italian Renaissance (c1420-1600)
An earlier influence on the Renaissance was GIOTTO di Bondone (c1267-1337). A master of GOTHIC painting, Giotto depicted realistic 'architectural' space, i.e. figures in scale to the surrounding landscape. Gothic style began with the architecture of the 12th Century. The most notable features of Gothic art was its increased naturalism compared with ROMANESQUE and BYZANTINE styles.


Late Gothic artists include:
GERARD DAVID (c1460-1523). His paintings include the instantly appealing The Rest on the Flight into Egypt (c1510), a peaceful, touching picture of the Madonna and the infant with the faithful donkey behind.
HIERONYMUS BOSCH (c1450-1516). Most famous work The Ship of Fools.
MATHIS GRUNEWALD (c1470/80-1528).


Italian Early Renaissance
The founder of Renaissance painting was MASACCIO (1401-1428). He was born over 60 years after the death of Giotto, but the intervening years were the period of the Black Death in Europe (Italy 1347).

St. George and the Dragon by Paolo Uccello

Artists of the Early Renaissance:
PAOLA UCCELLO (1397-1475). Brought perspective to Renaissance art. (His name is Paul Bird in English).
FRA ANGELICO (c1400-1455). Dominican monk.
FRA FILIPPO LIPPI (c1406-1469)
SANDRO BOTTICELLI (1444/5-1510). Paintings include Primavera (Spring) and La Venere (The Birth of Venus).
PIETRO DI COSIMO (1462-1521). Lived on hard boiled eggs cooked fifty at a time.
ROBERT CAMPIN (1406-1444). Flemish. Works include Portrait of a Woman.
PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA (c1410/20-1492). Works include the beautiful The Baptism of Christ.
ANDREA MANTEGNA (1431-1506). Works include The Death of the Virgin; The Agony in the Garden.
GIOVANNI BELLINI (c1427-1516). Influenced by Mantegna. Compare his The Agony in the Garden with Mantegna's.
ANTONELLO DA MESSINA (c1430-1479). Influenced by Flemish art.
VITTORE CARPACCIO (1455/65-1525/26). Works include The Flight into Egypt, a beautiful painting depicting Joseph leading Mary and the Infant Jesus into Egypt to escape Herod. The brave, faithful tread of the donkey and its placid, proud expression are the emotional highlight of the picture.

The Flight into Egypt (c1500) by Vittore Carpaccio

High Renaissance
For many people the High Renaissance is the very peak of Western Art. Its leading exponents were LEONARDO DA VINCE and MICHELANGELO (Florentines), RAPHAEL (Umbrian), and TITIAN, TINTORETTO and VERONESE (Venetians).


LEONARDO (1452-1519). The quintessential Renaissance man, at once painter, sculptor, architect, scientist, mathematician, engineer. He was the master of sfumato, the fine shading in painting that creates imperceptible transitions between colours and tones. Among his many major works are The Last Supper (1498); Mona Lisa (1503); Virgin of the Rocks (c1508).

The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John
the Baptist (c1499-1500) by Leonardo da Vinci

MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI (1475-1564). Believed in the spiritual significance of beauty as a way that God communicates himself to humanity. Pope Julius II commissioned him to decorate the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, which he did, balancing biblical themes with giant ignudi or naked youths of superhuman grace. His contemporaries spoke of his terribalità, his awesomeness. Among his many great works is Doni Tonto.


RAPHAEL (1483-1520). Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino. He was born on Good Friday 1483 and died on Good Friday 1520 after a night of excessive sex with his mistress Luti. [Vasari's Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects]. Studied under Pietro Perugino. Works include the Vatican murals, Le Stanze di Raffaello including The School of Athens.

School of Athens (1504) by Raphael

GIORGIONE (1477-1510). Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco. Works include The Adoration of the Shepherds, and La Tempesta, one of the most discussed paintings in Western Art. The meaning of La Tempesta has eluded all attempts to explain it and it is destined to remain a mystery in perpetuity. 

La Tempesta (c1508) by Giorgione

TITIAN (c1488-1567) Tiziano Vecellio. Titian is possibly the first painter to devote all his energies to painting. He spent time in the workshop of Bellini before working with Giorgione. Works include Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen - Noli me tangere; Venus and Adonis.


TINTORETTO (1518-1594). Real name Jacopo Robusti but known as Il Tintoretto or 'little dyer' after his father's profession. Painted in a fury of inspiration. Works include The Conversion of St. Paul; The Last Supper.


PAOLA VERONESE (1528-1588). His painting The Feast of the House of Levi was investigated by the Inquisition as being irreverent and even heretical. His other works include The Marriage at Cana. 

The Marriage at Cana (c1562) by Paolo Veronese

Italian Mannerist Period
Mannerist art grew out of the High Renaissance and was influenced by the work of Michelangelo and Raphael. The name derives from maniera which in the 16th Century signified 'style', in the sense of elegance. Mannerist painting is characterised by its exaggerated elegance, sharp colour combinations, complex compositions and free-flowing line.


Principal Mannerist artists:
ROSSO (1494-1540). Giovanni Baltista di Jacopo. A Florentine who emigrated to France and was known as Rosso Fiorentino. He was deeply neurotic and his art often flouted normal expectation. Works include Moses and the Daughters of Jethro.
PONTORMO (1494-1556). Jacopo Carcucci. Another neurotic. His main work Depositions.
AGNOLO BRONZINO (1503-1572). Works include An Allegory with Venus and Cupid.
CORREGIO (c1489-1534). Antonio Allegri. A follower of Mantegno. Works include a fresco inside Parma Cathedral.
PARMIGIANINO (1503-1540). Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola.
LORENZO LOTTO (c1480-1556)
EL GRECO (1541-1614). Domenicos Theotokopoulos called El Greco as he was born in Crete. His elongated figures and unusual colours made his paintings distinctive. Works include Madonna and Child with St. Martina and St. Agnes; Laocoon, with its abstract quality.

Laocoon (c1610) by El Greco

Northern Renaissance
Influenced by innovations from the Italian Renaissance but also driven by religious reform in the north, and revolt against the authority of the church.


Principal artists:
HIERONYMUS BOSCH (c1450-1516). Works include The Garden of Earthly Delights.
ALBRECHT DURER (1471-1528). Generally regarding as the leading artist of the Northern Renaissance. Works include The Painter's Father; Madonna and Child; portraits including self-portraits.
LUCAS CRANACH, THE ELDER (1472-1553). Most popular works were nudes for the delight of his aristocratic patrons.
HANS HOLBEIN, THE YOUNGER (1497/98-1543). Court portrait painter. Through a meeting with Erasmus in Switzerland he gained entry to English court circles and eventual patronage with Henry VIII. Works include The Ambassadors; The Artist's Wife and their Children.

The Artist's Wife and their Children (c.1528)
by Hans Holbein, the Younger

Northern Mannerism
Two Netherlandish painters straddle the divide between the Gothic and Renaissance worlds.


Principal exponents:
JAN GROSSAERT (c1478-1532). Worked in Italy and was influenced by Michelangelo and Raphael. Works include Portrait of a Merchant; Dance.
SCHOOL OF FONTAINBLEAU (c1530-c1610). Had patronage of Francis I of France who attracted artists such as Rosso Fiorentino.
JOACHIM WTEWAEL (1566-1638). Works include The Judgement of Paris.
BARTHOLOMEUS SPRANGER (c1546-1611). Works include Vulcan and Adonis.


Northern Landscape Tradition
Landscape painting became a characteristic feature of Northern painting in the 16th Century.


Principals artists:
JOACHIM PATINIR (c1480-1524). Friend of Durer who called him 'a good painter of landscapes'. Works include: Baptism of Christ; Charon Crossing the Styx.
ALBRECHT ALTDORFER (c1480-1526). Works include Battle of Issus, at which Alexander the Great routed Darius III in 333 B.C.
PETER BRUEGHEL THE ELDER (1525-1569). Named 'the peasant painter' for his depictions of rural village life. His work The Wedding Feast depicts a wedding reception where the poor guests eat a plain dish from wooden trenchers. Other works include Hunters in the Snow; The Tower of Babel.

The Wedding Feast (c1567-1568) by Peter Brueghel the Elder

Baroque
Corresponding roughly to the 17th Century, Baroque was born as a result of pressure from the Catholic Church for greater realism. It is associated especially with Raphael and the grandeur of the High Renaissance. There were two great pioneers: CARAVAGGIO and CARRACCI.


(MICHELANGELO MERISI DA) CARAVAGGIO (1573-1610). Had a reputation as an irrational, violent man who was known to the police for assaults and stabbings. On one occasion he assaulted a waiter in a dispute over a bowl of artichokes. In 1606 he fled Rome after killing a man and exiled himself in Naples, Malta and Sicily. But he was found by his enemies and disfigured in a fight for his life. He is always believed to have died of malaria in 1610, but in 2010 new evidence emerged that it have been the lead in his own paintings that finished him off. As with his life, his paintings too were dramatic. His work The Death of the Virgin was rejected by the Carmelite priests that commissioned it finding it indecent. Other works include Bacchus, a beautiful portrait in the classical mould with an underlying tone of decay. Caravaggio is also credited with introducing chiaroscuro (light and shade) into European painting.

Bacchus (1590s) by Caravaggio

ANNIBALE CARRACCI (1560-1609). More idealistic than Caravaggio. Works include The Flight into Egypt.


Other Baroque artists:
ADAM ELSHEIMER (1578-1610)
GUIDO RENI (1575-1642)
GUERCINO (Giovanni Francisco Barbieri) (1591-1666)


Flemish Baroque
The principal artist of Flemish or Northern Baroque is PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640). He was the most successful artist of the 17th Century and counted among his patrons the kings of France, Spain and England, as well as church leaders and statesmen. He was greatly influenced by Caravaggio, especially in his religious paintings. Works include The Flight into Egypt; Portrait of the Maid of Honour to the Infanta; also the ceiling of the Banqueting House, Whitehall (London).


The other leading figure of Flemish Baroque was SIR ANTHONY VAN DYKE (1599-1641). Excelled in the lucrative business of portrait painting, his patrons including Charles I of England. Works include Charles I out Hunting.

The Flight into Egypt (1614) by Rubens

Spanish Baroque
Spanish Baroque was largely devotional in nature. This was the period of the Inquisition of the Spanish Hapsburg Dynasty of Philip II, III and IV and painting was profoundly influenced by the church.


Principal artists:
JUSEPE DE RIBERA (1591-1652). Dark, sinister paintings. Influenced by Caravaggio.
DIEGO VALAZQUEZ (1599-1660). Early Caravaggio influence but essentially his own man. Became the leading painter in the court of Philip IV. Works include Las Meninas, the maids of honour attending the Infanta Margarita Teresa. Also self-portrait in front of his canvas.
FRANCISCO ZURBARAN (1598-1664). Works include Still Life with Oranges.
BARTOLOME ETABAN MURILLO (1617-1682).


Dutch Protestantism
In churches stripped bare for Calvinist worship there was a renewed emphasis on realism in painting. 


The greatest master was REMBRANDT (Van Rijn) (1606-1669). Contemporary of Rubens but less classical in his approach to painting. Lots of shadow and ill-defined lines in his work. Also lots of portraits including a great many self-portraits. Works include Portrait of a Lady with an Ostrich Feather Fan; The Jewish Bride.

Self portrait with Two Circles (1660) by Rembrandt

Other leading artists:
JAN VERMEER (1632-1675). Works include Balance; Kitchen Maids; View of Delft.
FRANS HALS (c1582/83-1666). Works include Portrait of Willem Coymans.


Return to Classicism
The great names in landscape painting in the 17th Century were French - Nicholas Poussin and Claude Lorrain.


NICHOLAS POUSSIN (1594-1665). Spent many years in Italy until persuaded by Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu to return to France. Works include The Holy Family on the Steps.
CLAUDE LORRAIN (1600-1682). Name Claude Gellée, then added Lorrain. Works include The Judgement of Paris, a theme from Greek legend with pastoral landscape.


Rococo
The name derives from rocaille, a style of interior decoration that made use of shells and ornamental stonework. Rococo evolved in France in the early 18th Century and was regarded by some as airy-fairy. 


Pioneers of Rococo:
JEAN ANTOINE WATTEAU (1684-1721). Born in Flanders but lived most of his life in France. Works include Italian Comedians, actors from Comedia dell'Arte.
FRANCOIS BOUCHER (1703-1770). Works include Diane Bathing.
JEAN-HONORE FRAGONARD (1732-1806).
JEAN-BAPTISTE SIMEON CHARDIN (1699-1779).
GIAMBATTISTA TIEPOLO (1696-1770). Italian Rococo. His greatest work in fresco.


Artists from Rococo period:
CANALETTO (Antonio Canale) (1697-1768). Venetian landscape painter. Spent 10 years in England. Works inclue Venice: the Basin of San Marco on Ascension Day.
WILLIAM HOGARTH (1697-1764). First British major artist. Reputation in pictorial satire. Also portrait painter. Works include Beggar's Opera; The Graham Children.

The Grand Canal and the Church of the Salute (1730) 
by Canaletto

Neoclassicism and Romanticism
Neoclassicism was born in the mid-18th Century out of rejection of Rococo and late Baroque. It wanted to convey serious moral ideas such as justice, honour and patriotism. Romanticism began about the same time and had as its basis a modern outlook seeking wildness and expression. The conflict between the two styles was resolved in the first half of the 19th Century with Romanticism the victor.


Principal artists:
THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH (1727-1788). In the romantic tradition. Many pictures a mixture of portrait and landscape, such as Mr & Mrs Andrews; Mrs Richard Brinsley Sheridan (the wife of the playwright).
ALLAN RAMSEY (1713-1784). Scottish portrait painter.
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS (1723-1792). Knighted for his success in portrait painting.
JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY (1738-1815). American neo-classicist. Works include The Copley Family.
GEORGE STUBBS (1724-1806). Equestrian painter. Works include A Horse Frightened by a Lion.
FRANCISCO GOYA (1746-1828). Spanish artist, influenced initially by German neoclassicism before developing his own unique style. Painted Spanish royal family The Family of King Charles IV. Also painted dramatic works such as The Third of May 1808 depicting the shooting of Spanish partisans by a French firing squad, a compelling and dramatic image. Works also include The Colossus, a dark and brooding picture.
JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID (1748-1826). French neoclassicist. 
JEAN-AUGUSTE INGRES (1780-1867). Leading exponent of neoclassicism in France. Works include La Grande Odalisque.

The Colossus (1808-1812) by Goya

French Romantics:
THEODORE GERICAULT (1791-1824). Principal work The Raft of the Medusa.
EUGENE DELACROIX (1798-1863). Works include An Orphan Girl in the Graveyard.


Romantic Landscapes:
CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH (1774-1810). German artist whose works include Monk by the Shore. Lonely, bleak landscape.
TURNER (Joseph Mallord William) (1775-1851). A native Londoner, early training in watercolour, later oil. Visited Italy, particularly Venice, on many occasions. Works include The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to her Last Birth to be broken up; The Grand Canal, Venice.
JOHN CONSTABLE (1776-1839). British landscape artist. Works include The Hay Wain.


Also from the period WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827). English poet, engraver and lifetime rebel!

Rain, Steam and Speed - the Great Western Railway 
by J.M.W. Turner

The Age of Impressionism (1850-1900)


The Pre-Raphaelites:
An English art movement whose aim was to return art to the simplicity of the early 15th Century, i.e. before Raphael. Principal artists:
SIR JOHN EVERETT (1829-1896). Works include Orphelia.
DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI (1828-1882). Founding member of the Pre-Raphaelites. Works include The Day Dream.


Contemporary artists:
CAMILLE CAROT (1796-1875). Works include the lovely Ville d'Avray
GUSTAVE COURBET (1819-1898). Works include The Painter's Studio; Bonjour M. Courbet.


Major Impressionists:


ÉDOUARD MANET (1832-1883). "The Father of Modern Art". Many of his paintings depict Paris café life, such as The Café Concert (1878), and The Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882), in which the barmaid has a glazed expression. One his best known works, Le déjeuner sur l'herbe (The Luncheon on the Grass), depicting fully clothed men and a naked woman enjoying a pleasant outdoor meal, was rejected by the Paris Salon in 1863 when it was painted. Other works by Manet include The Battle of the Kearsarge and Alabama (1864), a sea battle from the American Civil War which took place off the French coast and which the artist may have personally observed.

Le Bar aux Folies-Bergere (1882) by Manet

EDGAR DEGAS (1834-1917). He was born Hilaire Germaine Edgar de Gas, the son of a rich banker. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of Impressionism, though his early work was inspired by neoclassicism, and he preferred to be known as a realist. Many of his paintings (about 50%) depict dancing and dancers. Works include Four Dancers (c1899); The Dance Class (1873-76); At the Races (1877-1880); Girl Drying Herself (1885).

La Place de la Concorde (1875) by Edgar Degas

CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926). Born Oscar Claude Monet. The term "Impressionism" was first used in 1874 at the first group exhibition when a journalist made a sarcastic attack on a Monet painting. For many people Monet is the quintessence of Impressionist painting. His style characterised by a light, colourful palette. His many works include The Waterlily Pond (1899); Houses of Parliament, London (c1904); many paintings of Rouen Cathedral.

Poplars on the Epte (1900) by Claude Monet

AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841-1919). Born Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Paintings notable for their vivacious use of light and for the intimacy of their compositions, including many nude women. One of his models was SUZANNE VALADON, herself an artist, and with whom he had an affair. Works include Bal du moulin de la Galette (1876); The Boating Party Lunch (1881); also many self-portraits.

Le dejeuner des canoties (Boating Party Lunch) (1881)
by August Renoir

CAMILLE PISSARRO (1830-1903). Born Jacob-Abraham-Camille Pissarro in the US Virgin Islands and had Dutch-French nationality. His influence extended beyond Impressionism into post-Impressionism with artists such as Cézanne, van Gogh and Gauguin. Works include Boulevard Montmartre au printemps (1897); Orchard in Bloom Louveciennes (1872).

Boulevard Montmartre au printemps (1897)
by Camille Pissarro

ALFRED SISLEY (1839-1899). French born of English parents. Specialised in Impressionist landscapes. Works include Regatta at Hampton Court (1874); Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne (1872).


Other Impressionism artists:
MARY CASSATT (1844-1926). American. Influenced by Degas.
BERTHE MORISOT (1841-1895). Along with Camille Pissarro she was the only artist to have work displayed at all the impressionist exhibitions in Paris, with the exception of 1879 when she gave birth to a child.


Also from the period was JAMES WHISTLER (1834-1903). Born James Abbott McNeill Whistler in USA but resided in England and died in London. Contempory of Oscar Wilde and the aesthetic movement. Best known work Arrangement in Grey and Black: the Artist's Mother (1871), known as Whistler's Mother.


Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism was the name given by a British art critic in 1910 to describe French painting that followed Impressionism.


PAUL CÉZANNE (1839-1896). A friend from childhood with writer Émile Zola until he quarrelled with him over Zola's novel L'Oeuvre about a painter (Cézanne) unable to complete his great work. He believed that the true aim of the artist is the study of nature. Of the 300 paintings he completed many are landscapes of Provence in the south of France. His work was admired by many artists and he was an inspiration for the Cubists, but Salvador Dali, on the other hand, thought he was the worst and most catastrophic painter in France.

La maison du pendu (1874) by Paul Cezanne

VINCENT VAN GOGH (1853-1890). Dutch born, lived for a time in London, then in Belgium as a missionary, then Paris and Arles (1880-1890), where he lived for a while with Paul Gauguin. Painted many self-portraits set against a disturbed background. Works include Irises (1889); The Artist's Bedroom (1889); Road with Cypress and Star (1890).

The Starry Night (1889) by Vincent van Gogh

GEORGES SEURAT (1859-1891). Born Georges-Pierre Seurat. His most famous work A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884) is an example of pointillism, a technique of painting in small dots in patterns to create an image.


HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC (1864-1901). Full name Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa. He was born into an aristocratic family of Anglophiles, and spent some time in London designing posters. He became friends with Oscar Wilde and painted his portrait. But he will be forever associated with his paintings and posters of the Moulin Rouge in Paris. 

Moulin Rouge - La Goulou (1891) 
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

PAUL GAUGUIN (1848-1903). Full name Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin. 'Where Do We Come From? Where Are We? Where Are We Going?' It was the title of one of Gauguin paintings which in many ways encapsulates the life of the man himself. He worked for a time as a stockbroker before rejecting 'artificial and conventional' European civilisation, and set off to find a tropical paradise where he could live the simple life. He travelled to Martinique, Panama, where he worked very briefly on the construction of the canal, Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. He painted many of the native girls and had affairs with several of them. 

Maternity (1899) by Paul Gauguin

GUSTAVE MOREAU (1826-1898). French symbolist.
EDVARD MUNCH (1833-1944). Norwegian symbolist. Best known work The Scream (1893).
PIERRE BONNARD (1867-1947). French artist. His approach was to paint from notes and photographs rather than from life. Works include Stairs in the Artist's Garden (1942/44).
EDOUARD VUILLARD (1868-1940). French artist. Works include Breakfast (1894).
WALTER SICKERT (1860-1942). Full name Walter Richard Sickert. English artist born in Germany. He had a fascination for Jack the Ripper and believed that he once lodged in the same room as the Victorian serial killer. He even painted the room entitling it Jack the Ripper's Bedroom. In 1976 he was alleged to have been an accomplice in the murders [Jack the Ripper: the Final Solution by Stephen Knight], and in 2002 popular crime novelist Patricia Cornwell went so far as to claim that Sickert was Jack the Ripper himself [Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell]. 


Fauvism
A short-lived movement originated by Matisse which believed in colour as an emotional force.


HENRI MATISSE (1869-1954). Born Henri-Emile-Benoit Matisse. Became a leading figure in modern art through his use of colour and 'colour theory' in his work. Works include Portrait of Madame Matisse (1905); Le bonheur du vivre (1905/6); La Danse (1909).


ANDRÉ DERAIN (1880-1954). With Henri Matisse he was the co-founder of fauvism. Works include Charing Cross Bridge (1906).


RAOUL DUFY (1877-1953). Works include many cheerful and colourful paintings of Nice and Côte d'Azur in the south of France.

Charing Cross Bridge (1906) by Andre Derain

Expressionism


GEORGES ROUAULT (1871-1958). Born Georges Henri Rouault. Works include The Way to Calvary (1891).
ERNST LUDWIG KIRCHNER (1880-1938). German expressionist whose work was considered 'decadent' by the Nazis. Works include Marzella (1909-10).
EMIL NOLDE (1867-1956). Born Emil Hansen in Germany. Works include a landscape entitled Early Evening (1916).
MAX BECKMANN (1884-1950). German expressionist who disliked both the term and the movement. Works include Self portrait (1944).
EGON SCHIELE (1890-1918). Austrian artist and one of the early exponents of expressionism. Painted many self-portraits.
CHAIM SOUTINE (1894-1943). Belarus born expressionist.
AMEDEO MODIGLIANI (1884-1920). Full name Amedeo Clemente Modigliani. Italian by birth but worked mainly in France. Works include Nude on a Blue Cushion (1917).


MARC CHAGALL (1887-1985). Born in Belarus though later known as French. Name at birth: Moishe Shagal. He was associated with several artistic styles including expressionism and surrealism. He spent the years of the Second World War in the United States, returning to France in 1948. On the death of Matisse in 1954 Picasso said that Chagall was now the only person alive who understood colour.

Song of David (1952) by Marc Chagall

PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973). Full name Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso. The most celebrated artist of the 20th Century, his work encompasses many styles but is closely associated with Cubism. His many celebrated works include Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907); Guernica (1937), depicting the bombing of the Spanish town during the Spanish Civil War; Dora Maar au Chat (1941).


GEORGES BRAQUE (1882-1963). French artist who, along with Picasso, developed Cubism. Works include Still Life: Le Jour (1929).
JUAN GRIS (1887-1927). Spanish Cubist.
UMBERTO BOCCIONI (1883-1966). Italian Futurist artist. 
FERNAND LEGER (1881-1955). Full name Joseph Fernand Henri Leger. Cubist artist and often regarded as a forerunner to Pop Art.

The Street Enters the House (1911) by Umberto Boccioni

Towards Abstraction


FRANZ MARC (1880-1916). German artist and founding member of Der Blaue Rieter (The Blue Rider), which became a focal point for the Expressionist movement in Germany.

AUGUST MACKE (1887-1914). German artist, friend of Franz Marc, and leading member of Der Blaue Reiter. Works include Woman in a Green Jacket (1913).


WASSILY KANDINSKY (1866-1944). Russian artist who first settled in Germany before moving to France where he remained for the rest of his life. An important artist in the development of abstract painting. Works include Composition VII (1913).


PAUL KLEE (1879-1940). Swiss artist associated with various styles including Expressionism, Abstraction, Cubism. 


Pure Abstraction


KASIMIR MALEVICH (1878-1935). Russian artist, founder of the Avant-garde Supermatist movement.
PIET MONDRIAN (1872-1910). Dutch artist, creator of Neo-Plasticism, a style consisting of a grid of horizontal and vertical lines. 
HENRI ROUSSEAU (1844-1910). French artist of Naive-art and Primitivism. 


GIORGIO DE CHIRICO (1888-1974). Italian artist, originator of Pittura Metafisica. 
MAX ERNST (1891-1976). German artist, pioneer of Dada and Surrealism.
JOAN MIRO (1893-1983). Spanish Surrealist artist.
RENE MAGRITTE (1898-1967). Belgian surrealist famous for his bowler hats.
SALVADOR DALI (1904-1984). Spanish extrovert prominent in Cubism, Dada, Surrealism.
JEAN DUBUFFET (1901-1985). French artist whose works include the abstract Mele Moments (1976).
ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966). Swiss artist, mainly sculpture, but also paintings and drawings. Involved in Surrealism, Expressionism and Cubism.
EDWARD HOPPER (1882-1967). American artist whose work depicts urban and rural life in the USA. Works include Nighthawks (1942).
JACKSON POLLOCK (1912-1956). American abstract impressionist. Many of his abstract paintings simply given numbers as titles such as No. 5 (1948).