Paul Gauguins story is nearly as dramatic and seductive as his art. In 1883, he walked away from a successful career in banking in order to paint every day. In 1891, he went a step further, leaving hi
Vincent van Gogh’s career lasted just a decade, but in this short time he created more than two thousand paintings, including some of the most famous and influential works of Western art. He was also
Richard Gerstl (1883–1908) painted for just four years, but the work he produced in that short period is widely seen as well ahead of his time, including Self Portrait Against a Blue Background and Th
When the State Bauhaus opened in Weimar in 1918, the Swiss art theorist Johannes Itten (1888–1967) was one of the first teachers to be appointed by founder Walter Gropius. Itten had a cons
Elegant sailing ships, expansive seascapes, crystal-clear panoramas of cityscapes―with his unique pictorial language and range of subjects, Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956) became one of the most im
“I was thrilled”, was Andy Warhol’s enthusiastic reaction to the pictures of Florine Stettheimer (1871–1944). Many of the elements of her work inspired his Pop Art. During Stettheimer’s life her sensu
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) was one of the most important and colorful artistic personalities of the twentieth century, an icon of German Expressionism. To mark the one hundredth anniversa
Henri Matisse (1869–1954) is one of the most original and beloved French artists, his colorfully luminescent paintings a stirring affirmation of life, levity, and sensitivity. This book reproduc
Few modern artists have such a following today as Egon Schiele (1890–1918), who in his short life created numerous works that draw in casual viewers and dedicated art lovers alike. Though he enj
Marianne von Werefkin was not only a talented artist but also a shrewd free thinker and hostess: at the beginning of the twentieth century famous artists including Wassily Kandinsky, Gabriele Münter,
Admired by contemporaries as an artistic jack-of-all-trades, Koloman Moser (1868–1918) is regarded today as one of the most important representatives of the Viennese Secession art movement, alon
In 1926, a young Willem de Kooning (1904–97) travelled from the Netherlands to the United States on a British freighter, hiding in the machine room without papers. The young art student eked out
Vasily Kandinsky was one of the first painters of abstract art and a founding member of the Blue Rider movement. Although he trained as a lawyer, Kandinsky abandoned this career path to devote himself
Although he is best known for pioneering Cubism, Picasso’s works over a prolific seven-decade career are characterized by an impressive stylistic eclecticism and engage with almost every major artisti
Emil Nolde was one of the most important exponents of Expressionism, and is consid ered one of the main precursors of modernism. His virtuoso handling of colour and the incomparable expressiveness
László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946), painter, photographer, Bauhaus teacher and founder of the “New Bauhaus” and the “School of Design” in Chicago, is one of the most important artist personalities of the
