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Johann Sebastian Bach: Johann Sebastian Bach is considered by many to represent the epitomy of
eighteenth century Baroque music. With the interweaving of melodic themes, called counterpoint, Bach was able to create masterpieces of chamber music, chorales,
concertos, and compositions for the pipe organ that were unsurpassed in their complexity and beauty. Our image of Bach shows the deeply committed, serious look of the man who never let a
day in his life pass without writing music.
Ludwig Van Beethoven: Perhaps best known for his powerful Ninth Symphony, composed near the end of his
life, when he was completely deaf, particularly the fourth movement, the chorale known as "Ode to joy," Ludwig van Beethoven represents the haunted, troubled, inspired
musical genius, sacrificing almost everything in his personal life for the sake of his art.
Johannes Brahms: Johannes Brahms is most popularly known for composing what has been recognized by
parents everywhere as Brahms' Lullaby. Although a simple theme, it is but one of the many romantic, emotional, intimate compositions of this sensitive musical giant of the nineteenth century.
Salvador Dali: To Salvador Dali, the Spanish master of Surrealism, enigmatic images of the subconscious and
bizarre combinations of nightmarish monstrosities, odd distortions of familiar objects and unsettling combinations of the real and unreal, were as normal as breathing. He was not only the center of attention and
controversy throughout his career as a painter of the incomprehensible, but relished inordinate attention and sought to present himself to the world as a man way beyond eccentric.
Salvador was the consummate painter and the ultimate showman.
Claude Monet: Claude Monet was the founder and the
core of the group known as The Impressionists. They were French painters who dared to rebel against the conservative and powerful French Royal Academie of Fine
Arts, an institution that had controlled the art community of France and influenced the artists of the western world since the middle of the seventeenth century. In the early 1870s,
Claude Monet and his friends said, "No More!" and they began to paint with arbitrary, broken brush strokes of brilliant color, and choosing scenes from everyday, middle class life in Paris and its
surrounding suburbs, flabbergasting contemporary art critics, dealers, and particularly the members of the Academie. Eventually, the Impressionists’ art was accepted, primarily because of the
convictions and artistic integrity of Claude Monet. Today, Impressionism is probably the most popular art form in the world.
Pablo Picasso: Constantly innovative, always
controversial both artistically and personally, Pablo Picasso revolutionized the art of the twentieth century when he created the first Cubist compositions between 1907
and 1911. Tossing all conventional forms of imagery to the wind and ostensibly declaring traditional forms of painting as obsolete and irrelevant in the twentieth century, Picasso's art is still
alive and well today, because he was never satisfied with being satisfied.
Vincent Van Gogh: One of the most expressive painters
of all time, Vincent Van Gogh's artistic career lasted but a short ten years. Failing at every job he ever attempted, at the age of about twenty seven, Van Gogh took up painting
to occupy his unproductive life and realized that he had finally found his calling. His paintings are the visual expressions of his tormented personality and his insatiable lust for life.
Andy Warhol: Andy Warhol, although hailing from blue
collar, provincial Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, grew to become one of the most recognized and inventive artists of the 1960s. Taking up residence in New York City, he became
one of the central figures of the art movement known as "Pop Art." Most well known for his repetitious images of celebrity faces and common objects from everyday life, such as
Campbell Soup cans, Warhol led a life that was both inspired by and contributed to what we call popular culture and the subculture of New York City in the 1960s that was anything buy normal. Famous for his
collection of wigs, at one point he had a snap surgically implanted in his skull, so that he could snap his hairpieces on and off to suit the occasion and not have to worry about them flying off and
embarrassing him when a strong gust of wind suddenly blew by.
Albert Einstein: Albert Einstein was recently declared ”The Person of the Century.” His Theory of Relativity has
changed humanity's entire perception of the universe and the world around us. He is known for his genius as a scientist, his quirky habits, and funny way of dressing as
well as his humanitarianism. His face is one of the most recognized and most reproduced in the world. The two images of Einstein now in my collection are only the beginning of a series of
images of one of the greatest scientists of the millennium.
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