Masterpiece Makers

Best known for her portrayal of domestic scenes as well as the intimate bond between a mother and child, she loved to use bright colors and an unabashed realistic style. She was a leading artist in the Impressionist movement in the latter 1800s and known as one of “les trois grande dames” of Impressionism (along with Berthe Morisot and Marie Bracquemond). In this episode, we talk about Mary Cassatt.

Known as one of "les trois grandes dames" of Impressionism, she is famous for painting scenes from domestic life: family, children, ladies, beautiful gardens and flowers in watercolors and oils. In this episode, we're going to talk about Berthe Morisot, one of the most prominent artists of the Impressionist era!

He believed that art should celebrate life, beauty and the joy of each moment. Known for his soft, feathery brush strokes in his colorful paintings, he primarily depicted feminine beauty. But he also painted still lifes, as well as rural and domestic scenes. In this episode, we're going to talk about one of the leading artists of the Impressionist movement, Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

He was compelled to capture the constantly changing and atmosphere altering light. The way it cast its beauty on land and water — the way it changed the shades and tones of color in the tiniest of degrees. He and his “rebel” friends would rock the art establishment of the time and forever revolutionize the world of art! In this episode, we'll talk about Claude Monet, the “Father of Impressionism”. 

He was called "the painter of dancers" but it wasn’t the dancers he wanted to capture—it was the movement. From dancers to horse races to scenes of everyday life, he wanted to paint his subjects in an honest, unguarded moment. And although he was instrumental in gathering together a group of artists that would come to be known as the Impressionists, he actually despised the name, preferring to associate himself with Realism instead.  In this episode, we're going to learn about Edgar Degas.

He loved the lines and beauty of classical art, yet he wanted to paint that beauty in a modern setting and experiment with his own techniques. And although he desperately wanted his paintings to be exhibited at the Paris Salon, he was continually rejected. Determined to persevere and create the art that was in him, he inspired a new generation of artists and effectively changed art forever. In this episode, we're going to learn about Édouard Manet.  

He was a child prodigy who, at the age of eleven, became the youngest student to enter London's Royal Academy School of Art. Later he would become one of the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood shocking the classical art establishment. But eventually he developed his own realistic style of art and became one of the wealthiest artists of his day. In this episode, we will learn about John Everett Millais.

He was born into an Italian family steeped in a rich cultural and literary heritage which greatly influenced him throughout his life. Often torn between either being an artist or a poet, he chose both. In this episode, we'll talk about Dante Gabriel Rossetti, one of the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, as well as one of his most famous works, The Day Dream.

His mother was born a slave, but escaped to Pennsylvania via the Underground Railroad and was a free woman by the time he was born. And although he wanted to establish himself in the art world, the legacy of slavery overshadowed him. In painting African-American subjects, he wanted to give them a better legacy. In this episode, we'll talk about Henry Ossawa Tanner, and one of his most famous works, The Banjo Lesson.

Born a peasant, he proudly proclaimed that he would die a peasant. All he had ever known was rural country life, hard-working farmers toiling over the earth. These scenes would influence his art like nothing else could. And he, in turn, would influence two of the best-known artists of all time. In this episode, we'll talk about Jean-Francois Millet, as well as his most famous work, The Gleaners.  

As an artist he brought luminosity, expression, atmosphere, and turbulence to his landscape and seascape paintings. His abstract brushstrokes and palette knife paintings baffled many viewers in his day, but inspired the Impressionist masters.  He is the original "Painter of Light." In this episode, we'll talk about Romanticist painter, JMW (William) Turner, and one of his most famous works, Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway.

Described as one of the old masters by some, and the first modern painter by others, this artist is truly in a class all by himself. Though he began during the Rococo period, despised the Neoclassical style, and was labeled as a Romanticist, he created in a style that was his alone.  In this episode, we talk about Francisco de Goya and one of his most famous works, The Third of May, 1808.

In the 1770s, a London engraver remarked, "The whole world is Angelicamad," about a Swiss artist. This was a woman who followed her passion and was so good at what she did that she practically became a celebrity in her day. She was a woman in a man's world, but she didn't let that stop her from following her dreams and fulfilling them. In this episode, we're going to talk about Angelica Kauffman, and one of her most famous paintings, Cornelia, Mother of the Gracci.

Referred to as a "political chameleon," he painted whatever the man in power at the time wanted. Whether it was in the frivolous Rococo style for Louis XVI, propaganda for the French Revolution, or commissioned portraits for the self-appointed Emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, he didn't care as long as he kept his head! In this episode, we'll talk about Jacques-Louis David, the most famous artist of the Neoclassical period, as well as one of his most famous works, The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries.

He was a painter during the Rococo period, and one of the most decadent eras in history – the reign of Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette.  His paintings exuded the beauty, playfulness, frivolity and wealth of the French Aristocracy. But this era would come to an abrupt end. In this episode, we will talk about Jean-Honoré Fragonard, and one of his most famous works, Young Girl Reading.

In her lifetime, she painted 200 landscapes and 660 portraits. In fact, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun was considered one of the most prominent French portrait painters of the late 18th century. She quickly found favor, friendship, and loyal support in one of the most controversial figures in history: Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. In this episode, we'll discuss one of her most famous portraits, Marie Antoinette with a Rose.

Although today he is known as the "Master of Light," Johannes Vermeer is also referred to as the "Sphinx of Delft" because there is so little we truly know about him. In fact, he and his paintings remained in relative obscurity for almost 200 years until an art critic discovered his works in 1866. In this episode, we'll learn a bit about Johannes (or Jan) Vermeer. We'll also discuss his most famous work, the Girl with a Pearl Earring.

When you really love yourself and you think you're incredibly beautiful, why not paint yourself over and over and over? That's  exactly what Rembrandt did. In fact, he painted almost 100 self-portraits in his lifetime! In this episode, we'll talk about Rembrandt van Rijn, the greatest artist of the Dutch Golden Age, and the original "selfie-taker," as well as one of his most famous works, The Night Watch.