Individual artists:

Piet Mondrian's abstract paintings of blocks of bold primary colors and black lines are among the most recognizable images in 20th century modern art, colorfully chic without becoming cold and sterile. But Mondrian didn't start out like that. His early works depicting the Dutch countryside, rivers and windmills in beautiful realism show few hints that he would go on to become one of the greatest abstract artists of the century.

In this talk we explore Mondrian's transformation from a talented figurative artist to a groundbreaking modernist, with his instantly recognizable style that has been imitated in design, fashion and architecture. We also examine the impetus behind his modern paintings which at first look so similar to each other, but on closer examination and understanding, can be seen as a striking and fascinating evolution.

Georgia O'Keeffe has been called 'The Mother of American Modernism'. In this talk, through her paintings as well as through archival photographs and quotes from her letters and interviews, we examine the remarkable life and work of Georgia O'Keeffe, from her humble childhood on the plains of Wisconsin, through her time in New York with the renowned photographer and gallerist Alfred Stieglitz, and focusing especially on her time in New Mexico where she spent the last five decades of her groundbreaking life capturing the rugged beauty of this stark landscape.

Gustav Klimt's career straddled two worlds - the world of classical art that first made him famous, and the new and exciting world of Symbolism and Art Nouveau that would change the world of art forever. He was instrumental in shaping this new world, with his daring compositions, his new ways of looking at art, and his dazzling use of gold and his use of themes from the ancient world that made his paintings both timeless and hyper-modern.

We'll look at Klimt's life and career, from his humble beginnings and his classical paintings for theaters and museums, through his break with the past in helping form the Viennese Secession, and his bold and dramatic new style of mythical themes, his portraits of women, and his landscapes, that helped shape the world of fin de siecle Vienna.

For much of his life the French artist Paul Gauguin searched for an escape from 'anything that is artificial and conventional'. He traveled first to Brittany to live a simple, uncluttered life among the rural communities there, far from the bustle of the increasingly industrialized and materialistic life in the cities. Dissatisfied with that, he ventured deeper, to Martinique in the Caribbean, and then to the distant South Pacific islands - first to Tahiti, and finally to the even more remote Marquesas Islands. 

We explore the controversial life and work of Gauguin as he delved deeper and deeper into the mystic in search of the authentic, and look at the astounding images he created, particularly during his time in Tahiti and the Marquesas, sometimes blending reality with imagination, bringing a vision of a paradisiacal world that most of us will never ourselves see.

Vincent van Gogh is one of the most famous and beloved artists of our time, but in his own time he lived in relative obscurity, known to have sold only one painting during his lifetime. He was a famously troubled man, plagued with self-doubt and mental illness, but he produced some of the most beautiful and evocative paintings of his generation.

In this talk we focus on Van Gogh's final years, from Arles to Auvers, by far his most productive. In his last months he was producing paintings at the astonishing rate of more than  one a day. It was during this time that he painted many of his greatest masterpieces that are so well-known today. We'll look at many of his paintings from this period, and also try to understand something of the man behind the paintings through the letters he wrote.

Isaac Levitan (1860-1900) captured the beauty of the vast Russian countryside with his luminous landscapes that could only be Russia. Transcending politics, his art gives us an insight into the Russian people and the world they lived in before the revolution.

In this talk we begin with a brief survey of Russian art through the ages, before focusing on the life and work of Isaac Levitan. He was a close friend of the writer Anton Chekhov and their lives were in many ways intertwined. In Levitan's short life, he produced some of the most beautiful and evocative paintings of the Russian countryside.

Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) wowed Victorian Britain with his detailed and meticulously researched depictions of life in the ancient world. Mesmerized by trying to discover and visualize their past, Victorians were fascinated by Alma-Tadema’s accurate and relatable images of the classical world. After his death his work disappeared into obscurity until his legacy was restored to respectability through the help of an unlikely ally.  

Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran, ironically both immigrants to America - Bierstadt from Germany and Moran from England - were among the very first artists to make the long, arduous and sometimes dangerous journey out to the then largely unexplored West, often accompanying the early military survey parties. They recorded the defining images of the rugged territories of Yellowstone,  Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon, and in the process were instrumental in creating the impetus for the establishment of the world's first National Parks.

We look at the lives of these two intrepid artists and the iconic paintings they created from sketches made on their journeys out West that enthralled their East Coast and European audiences. It was a time of great transition for the western territories, from the pre-railroad era of horse-back exploration, to the age of tourism after the advent of the railroad that made it possible for large numbers of travelers to visit these landscapes and see these great places for themselves.

This year, the 250th birthday of JMW Turner, perhaps Britain's most celebrated and influential painter, is being celebrated all over the world with special exhibitions at museums from London to Houston to Singapore. Joseph Mallord William Turner was born at a time of seismic change in Britain, as the Industrial Revolution swept away the bucolic agrarian society and replaced it with machines and industry. Turner's art documents and reflects this profound change in the country, as the age of sail was replaced by the age of steam.

It was a time when audiences were fascinated by the Sublime - the immense and awesome power of nature, at times breathtakingly beautiful, at times terrifying - and man's place in it. Turner's work - his skies, his depictions of seas and storms, and his ability to paint with light - reflects this fascination, as well as man's struggle to harness and overcome the forces of nature through his ingenuity.

If you missed the recent fabulous Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam - the Exhibition of the Century by some accounts - you will love the Vermeer in Amsterdam talk. We were fortunate enough to visit the exhibition ourselves, and this talk brings a first-hand account of our visit  to the show. 

Vermeer's output was small - only about 37 existing paintings are attributed to Vermeer. 28 of them were on display at this beautifully curated show.

Experience this amazing exhibition up close, with detailed discussions of each of the 28 paintings on display, in a fascinating talk about one of the most beloved painters of all time.

Until the time of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525-69), western art had been predominantly religious, with scenes of figures or events from the Bible, or else of royalty or wealthy patrons. Bruegel took a radical new approach. He practically invented the landscape in western art, and he also gave us our very first glimpse of ourselves, of the life lived by the common people, our own ancestors.

In this talk we look at the life of Bruegel, and examine some of his greatest works. In doing so, we learn a little about the lives our ancestors lived.