this is a presentation I had to do for my trade

1. The Greatest Artists
In History
RAPHAEL P. BARBA, JR.
MR. CARRERA (O.A.2)

2. History’s Top Ten Greatest Artists
1. Leonardo Da Vinci
2. Vincent Van Gogh
3. Michelangelo
4. Claude Monet
5. Pablo Picasso
6. Raphael
7. August Renoir
8. Jan Vermeer
9. Paul Cezanne
• 1452-1519
• 1853-1890
• 1606-1669
• 1475-1564
• 1840-1926
• 1881-1973
• 1483-1520
• 1841-1919
• 1632-1675
• 1839-1906

3. Paul Cezanne
Paul Cezanne
His final years of his life from 1878-1905
were spent in Provence. It was here
that he increasingly developed the
style of his paintings and moved
beyond a classic impressionist style.
He used planes and blocks of colour
to give a more abstracted
observation of nature. It was this
abstract innovation that was said to
be a key element in the link between
the 19th Century impressionist art and
the modern art of Matisse and Picasso
of the Twentieth Century.
was born on 19 January 1839 in Aix-en-
Provence, in Provence in south of
France. His father was a successful
banker and his father wished him to
pursue a ‘respectable’ career. To
please his father, between 1859 and
1861 Paul Cezanne attended the law
school of the University of Aix.
However, in 1861, he became
disillusioned with this career path and
dropped out to pursue his life’s passion
– art.
Jaz de Bouffan –
1876
In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war broke out and
Paul Cezanne fled with his mistress to Marseille.
He was caught as a draft dodger, but, soon
after, the war fortunately ended. In this period
in the south of France, Paul drew an increasing
number of landscapes and abandoned the
dark colours which had dominated his rather
somber paintings. In this period Paul Cezanne
became one of the leading impressionists
though his difficult personality made it hard for
him to mix with many of the leading artists of
the time.

4. Jan Vermeer
The Girl with a
Pearl Earring circa
1665.
A Vermeer Masterpiece, after
the most recent restoration work
in 1994, the subtle colours of the
portrait have been brought to
light. It is sometimes referred to
as the “Mona Lisa” of the North.
Dutch baroque painter from the
‘Golden Age of Dutch Painting’.
He was obscure during his life, but
in the Nineteenth Century his work
was brought to light and now is
regarded as one of the greatest
proponents of Baroque painting –
with his focus on simple portraits
and household scenes.
City of Delft
More difficulties arose for the
Dutch. In 1672, a sever economic
depression hit – harming Jan’s art
business. Holland was also
invaded by French and English
forces leading to panic
throughout the country. Jan’s
business was badly affected and
perhaps as a result of the
financial stress died in 1675, aged
only 43

5. August Renoir
After meeting Cezanne near
Marseilles, Renoir sought to break
away from Impressionism by
developing a new structural style of
his own.
Yet, he never abandoned his
techniques of colour that he learnt
during his impressionist period and
he developed a combination of
classical styles of applying paint
with an impressionist perspective of
colour.
Renoir was born in Limoges on 25
February 1841. His father was a
tailor, and Renoir was given an
apprenticeship at a porcelain
painters. He then had the
opportunity to study at the Ecole
des Beaux Arts. It was here that
he joined Charles Gleyre’s studio
and met many other young
French impressionist artists.
Moulin de La
Gallete
His art was noted for its vibrant
combination of colours. In classic
impressionist style, he avoided rigid
lines, and merged objects giving a
sense of dream like consciousness.
He also painted many portraits of
women – often in nude. They focus
not on the sexual aspect but often
of everyday experiences.

6. Raphael
A great Italian painter. Together with
Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci,
Raphael makes up the great trinity of
the High Renaissance period. He was
noted for his clarity of form and ability
to convey grandeur, beauty and
perfection.
born in the Italian city of Urbino in the
Marches area of Italy. His father was a
court painter and Raphael followed in
his father’s footsteps – gaining a wide
education in the arts, literature, and
social skills. This enabled Raphael to
move easily amongst the higher circles
of court society and this helped his
career in gaining commissions.
Crocefissione
In 1508, he was invited to Rome by Pope
Julius II. The pope asked Raphael to
paint some rooms in the Vatican. This
was at the same time as Michelangelo
was painting the Sistine Chapel, and
although the Sistine chapel
overshadowed the work of Raphael, his
paintings are still considered some of the
finest of European art. This work included
some of masterpieces such as – The
School of Athens, The Parnassus and the
Disputa.
The School of
Athens
The High Renaissance tribute to the ancient Greek
culture. 1511
As well as being a great painter, Raphael was also
a noted teacher, who could inspire his fellow pupils
to greater standards. He had one of the largest art
schools in Rome, with over 50 pupils. His enthusiasm
and talent helped his school become a famous
place of art.

7. Pablo Picasso
The Dove of
Peace
One key painting of Picasso was
his simple bird drawing a symbol
of peace. Picasso donated it the
Soviet backed World Peace
Congress of 1949. It was telling of
a new phase in Picasso’s art –
the power of simplicity.
Pablo Picasso and
Guernica
One of Picasso’s most famous paintings was his mural of
the Guernica bombing (1937). The Guernica bombing
was carried out by Italian and German planes and
involved the carpet bombing of civil areas. The bombing
of Guernica was a significant development in modern
warfare as it showed a new capacity for extending the
horrors of warfare to the civilian population. The bombing
became international news through the English journalist
George Steer.Picasso’s painting helped to immortalize
the tragedy as a key event in the Twentieth Century
Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain in 1881 to a
conventional artistic family. From an early age he
displayed great talent for painting and began displaying
his work from the age of 14. To further his artistic
aspiration he left Spain for Paris where he became part
of a new avant-garde movement of art.
“When I was a child my mother said to me, ‘If you
become a soldier, you’ll be a general. If you become a
monk, you’ll be the pope.’ Instead I became a painter and
wound up as Picasso.”
—- Pablo Picasso

8. Claude Monet
Soleil Levant
In 1857, Monet travelled to Paris
and he spent time in the Louvre.
But, Monet was never satisfied
with merely imitating the Old
Masters, he would rather look out
of a window or visit some place in
nature and draw what he saw.
Haystacks
At the turn of the century, Monet
became increasingly famous and
popular as an artist. This enabled him
to earn a good living. He used these
funds to develop a formal garden at
his property in Giverny. This proved
an ideal setting for many series of
paintings, such as his water lilies and
bridge over a pond. For Monet,
nature was a significant influence,
and he spent hours absorbed in
nature – especially at his garden in
Giverny.
He was the primary inspiration for the new
art movement of impressionism. Along with
his contemporaries, he captured the light of
nature on canvass in a unique,
spontaneous and vivacious style. He
painted a wide range of subjects ranging
from urban scenes to his own beloved
formal garden. Monet strove to capture the
essence of what he saw in nature, without
being constrained by formal ideas of style
and substance.
“Everyone discusses my art and pretends
to understand, as if it were necessary to
understand, when it is simply necessary to
love.”
– Claude Monet

9. Michelangelo
Pieta
His next most famous sculpture was
his huge undertaking of a life size
David. This was hewn from a huge
block of marble dragged down
from a nearby Florentine mine.
Michelangelo created a
masterpiece – a perfection of the
human form – and most agreed,
Michelangelo had surpassed the
classic predecessors. David was
put pride of place in front of the
seat of Florentine government.
Michelangelo, was born in the heart
of the Renaissance movement, at
exactly the right place – Florence.
But, despite being at the heart of the
Renaissance, Florence was
undergoing tremendous political
turmoil. His first patrons, the de
Medici’s, lost power and
Michelangelo was forced to look
elsewhere for commissions. In 1496,
he travelled to Rome where he
began a long relationship of doing
commissions for the Popes who
were making St Peter’s Basilica a
pinnacle of Western art.
The Creation of
Adam from Sistine
Chapel
This was a huge undertaking.
Initially the Pope suggested scenes
from the New Testament, but,
Michelangelo chose the Old
Testament with its great variety of
characters and dramatic scenes.
The project took four years to
complete and involved
Michelangelo working in awkward
positions painting through great
neck pain.

10. Rembrandt
Rembrandt was born in Leiden in
the Netherlands in 1606. It was
during a period known as the
‘Dutch Golden Age’. He came from
a reasonably wealth family. His
father was a miller, and somehow
managed to send his son to a Latin
school and later the University of
Leiden. His education and
knowledge of scriptures later
proved important when he sought
to capture the essence of biblical
scenes in his art.
The abduction of
Europa. 1632
The abduction of Europa. 1632
Then in the 1650s, Holland suffered a
severe economic depression and
many lucrative commissions dried up,
leaving Rembrandt unable to meet
his mortgage payments. This caused
him to effectively declare bankrupt
(though he did it in a way to avoid
jail).
Christ in the Storm on
the Lake of Galilee
(Matthew 8:23-25) 1633
In particular Rembrandt used this
technique to give great depth
and emotion to the faces he
painted. Rembrandt had the
ability to give an impression of a
thinking mind behind the face.

11. Vincent Van Gogh
He was born in Groot-Zundert, a
small town in Holland in March
1853. His father was a Protestant
pastor and he had three uncles
who were art dealers.
Cafe Terrace at Night 1888
( Kröller-Müller Museum)
In Arles, he had a brief, if
unsuccessful, period of time with
the artist Gauguin. Van Gogh’s
intensity and mental imbalance
made him difficult to live with. At
the end of the two weeks, Van
Gogh approached Gauguin with
a razor blade. Gauguin fled back
to Paris, and Van Gogh later cut
off the lower part of his ear with
the blade.
Yellow House
In 1890, a series of bad news affected his
mental equilibrium and one day in July,
whilst painting, he shot himself in the chest.
He died two days later from his wound.
What am I in the eyes of most people — a nonentity,
an eccentric, or an unpleasant person — somebody
who has no position in society and will never have; in
short, the lowest of the low. All right, then — even if
that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to
show by my work what such an eccentric, such a
nobody, has in his heart. That is my ambition, based
less on resentment than on love in spite of everything,
based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion.
– Vincent Van Gogh (letter to Theo, July 1882)

12. Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo was born an illegitimate son of a Florentine
noble and peasant woman and grew up in Vinci, Italy. In
his formative years he developed a love of nature and
from an early age displayed his remarkable academic
and artistic talents and capacities.
Mona Lisa
In 1499 his patron L. Sfoza was defeated by the French
invasion, thus Leonardo returned to Florence. During
this period he painted the fresco of the battle of
Anghiari. This artwork was to exert tremendous
influence over future artists. However it was
unfortunately never completed and was later
destroyed. It was also in this period that Leonardo
completed The Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is one of the
worlds most famous and intriguing pictures. The Mona
Lisa is a portrait of a wife of a Florentine noble. For
several days she came to Leonardo and sat for her
portrait to be painted. However she refused to smile,
Leonardo even tried hiring musicians but to no avail.
One day just for a fleeting second she gave a faint
smile and Leonardo was able to capture it. Her smile
encapsulates a tremendous mysteriousness which is
both fascinating and intriguing. Sri Chinmoy said of the
Mona Lisa

13. My Personal Thoughts
I think anyone can be an artist if
they put time into it. It can be a
very good stress releaser , to get
your emotions out.
Some of these artists did not come from
an artistic background. I have put time
into art and have become ok at
drawing. My senior year of high school I
was accepted into the Art Institute of
Sunny Vaile, but did not go.
Art can express beauty, and it can
express pain. For me art is a big part of
life. Art is not just drawing or painting it
can be dancing, poetry, and more.

14. Questions?

15. Information
http://www.biographyonline.net/artists/top-10-painters.html