Leonardo Da Vinci - Rennaissance Master

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 – 1519)

 was an Italian Renaissance polymath whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology, and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute, helicopter and tank, he epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal. More here...

Mona Lisa,Vitruvian Man & Last Supper - Da Vinci

About the Artwork

Arguably the most famous image in the art world, “Mona Lisa” was painted by Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) 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.

About the Artwork

Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci’s (1452 – 1519) unrivaled impact to the progress of society was driven from both his revolutionary scientific ideas as well as his artistic achievements. His “Vitruvian Man” relates the human body’s proportions to those of the universe, as well as material and spiritual dimensions. Also a complex study of human anatomy, it blends 16 different poses. The ever-popular “Vitruvian Man” has appeared in video games, on logos and on album covers.

About the Artwork

The iconic and perhaps most famous image in Western art, “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) revolutionized perspective in painting. An artistic genius, da Vinci also excelled in physiology, the sciences and mathematics, applying all of his collected knowledge to his art. “The Last Supper,” a 15’ x 29’ mural which is painted on a wall in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, is an innovation in point of view, perspective, and was the first art to authentically represent human reactions and emotions.

Salvador Dali's Surrialism

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol (May 11,1904, January 23, 1989) was a prominent Spanish surrealist artist born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain. Dalí was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. His painterly skills are often attributed to the influence of Renaissance masters. His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in August 1931. Dalí's expansive artistic repertoire included film, sculpture, and photography, in collaboration with a range of artists in a variety of media.

Dalí attributed his "love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes to an "Arab lineage", claiming that his ancestors were descended from the Moors.

Dalí was highly imaginative, and also enjoyed indulging in unusual and grandiose behavior. His eccentric manner and attention-grabbing public actions sometimes drew more attention than his artwork, to the dismay of those who held his work in high esteem, and to the irritation of his critics.  More here...

Still Life & Cubism - Pablo Picasso

About the Artwork
Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973)

 was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright who spent most of his adult life in France. Regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture,[3][4] the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), and Guernica (1937), a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by the German and Italian airforces.

Picasso demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent in his early years, painting in a naturalistic manner through his childhood and adolescence. During the first decade of the 20th century, his style changed as he experimented with different theories, techniques, and ideas. After 1906, the Fauvist work of the slightly older artist Henri Matisse motivated Picasso to explore more radical styles, beginning a fruitful rivalry between the two artists, who subsequently were often paired by critics as the leaders of modern art.

Picasso's work is often categorized into periods. While the names of many of his later periods are debated, the most commonly accepted periods in his work are the Blue Period (1901–1904), the Rose Period (1904–1906), the African-influenced Period (1907–1909), Analytic Cubism (1909–1912), and Synthetic Cubism (1912–1919), also referred to as the Crystal period. Much of Picasso's work of the late 1910s and early 1920s is in a neoclassical style, and his work in the mid-1920s often has characteristics of Surrealism. His later work often combines elements of his earlier styles.

Exceptionally prolific throughout the course of his long life, Picasso achieved universal renown and immense fortune for his revolutionary artistic accomplishments, and became one of the best-known figures in 20th-century art. More here... 

Juan Luna's Art

Juan Luna  was a Filipino painter, sculptor and a political activist of the Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century. He became one of the first recognized Philippine artists.

His winning the gold medal in the 1884 Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts, along with the silver win of fellow Filipino painter Félix Resurrección Hidalgo, prompted a celebration which was a major highlight in the memoirs of members of the Propaganda Movement, with the fellow Ilustrados toasting to the two painters' good health and to the brotherhood between Spain and the Philippines.

Regarded for work done in the manner of the Spanish, Italian and French academies of his time, Luna painted literary and historical scenes, some with an underscore of political commentary. His allegorical works were inspired with classical balance, and often showed figures in theatrical poses.

Although Juan Luna did illustrations for the “Noli” as a gift to Rizal, these were never published with the novel. More...

Tampuhan ni Juan Luna, 1895

Amorsolo's Touch

Fernando Amorsolo, was one of the most important artists in the history of painting in the Philippines. Amorsolo was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes. He is popularly known for his craftsmanship and mastery in the use of light.