Marc Chagall was born into a strict Jewish family for whom the ban on representations of the human figure had the weight of dogma. A failure in the entrance examination for the Stieglitz School did not stop Chagall from later joining that famous school founded by the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts and directed by Nicholas Roerich. Chagall moved to Paris in 1910. The city was his "second Vitebsk". At first, isolated in the little...

Mega Square Roses presents the large number of different species of this unique flower, which is charged with so many feelings and imbued with powerful cultural significance. Because of the rose's botanical as well as artistic value, this book features a popular subject for art lovers as well as for people who enjoy the beauty and versatility of flowers. Each of the colourful and detailed illustrations is completed with the aid of valuable scientific...

India, with its extensive and colorful history, has produced an artistic tradition in many forms: architecture, painting, sculpture, calligraphy, mosaics, and artisan products all display the country's cultural, religious and philosophical richness. From Hinduism, with its pantheon of imagery of gods, goddesses, animals and many other figures, to Islam, with its astounding architecture and intricate calligraphy, the many facets of India have given...

After staying in Milan for his apprenticeship, Michelangelo da Caravaggio arrived in Rome in 1592. There he started to paint with both realism and psychological analysis of the sitters. Caravaggio was as temperamental in his painting as in his wild life. As he also responded to prestigious Church commissions, his dramatic style and his realism were seen as unacceptable. Chiaroscuro had existed well before he came on the scene, but it was Caravaggio...

Since his death 100 years ago, Cézanne has become the most famous painter of the nineteenth century. He was born in Aix-en-Provence in 1839 and the happiest period of his life was his early youth in Provence, in company with Emile Zolá, another Italian. Following Zolá's example, Cézanne went to Paris in his twenty-first year. During the Franco-Prussian war he deserted the military, dividing his time between open-air painting and the studio. He...

Goya es tal vez el pintor más accesible. Su arte, al igual que su vida, es un libro abierto. Nada ocultó a sus contemporáneos y les ofreció su obra con la misma franqueza. La puerta a su mundo no está oculta detrás de grandes dificultades técnicas. Fue la prueba de que si un hombre tiene la capacidad de vivir y multiplicar sus experiencias, de luchar y trabajar, puede producir grandes obras de arte sin el decoro clásico y la respetabilidad...

Para Claude Monet, el que se le considerara "impresionista" fue siempre un motivo de orgullo. A pesar de todas las críticas que se han hecho a su trabajo, siguió siendo un verdadero impresionista hasta el final de su muy larga vida. Lo era por convicción profunda y, por el impresionismo, pudo haber sacrificado muchas otras oportunidades que su inmenso talento le ofrecía. Monet no pintaba composiciones clásicas con figuras y nunca fue retratista,...