Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) Austrian Art Nouveau Painter Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I 1907 – Oil and gold on canvas This painting was recently purchased by the cosmetics magnate Ronald S. Lauder for $135 million, the highest sum ever paid for a painting. Lauder is the founder of the Neue Galerie, a tiny museum at Fifth Avenue and 86th Street in New York City, devoted entirely to German and Austrian fine and decorative arts. Ronald S. Lauder quote : “This is our Mona Lisa” About Gustav … Continue reading →

An Auburn Beauty, 1895 John William Godward Oil on canvas John William Godward(9 August 1861 – 13 December 1922) was an English painter from the end of the Pre-Raphaelite/Neo-Classicist era. He was a protégé of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema but his style of painting fell out of favour with the arrival of painters like Picasso. He committed suicide at the age of 61 and is said to have written in his suicide note that “the world was not big enough” for him and a Picasso. His … Continue reading →

The Wave 1896 William Adolphe Bouguereau Oil On Canvas William Adolphe Bouguereau (November 30, 1825 – August 19, 1905) was a French academic painter. In his own time, Bouguereau was considered to be one of the greatest painters in the world. In 1900, his contemporaries Degas and Monet reportedly named him as most likely to be remembered as the greatest 19th-century French painter by the year 2000, according to chairman Fred Ross of the Art Renewal Center – although with Degas’ famous trenchant wit, and … Continue reading →