Famous Artists

Leonardo DaVinci
DaVinci’s last name came from the town that he came from in Italy. He was an artist of the Renaissance Era. Not only was he a famous artist but he was an architect, musician, sculptor, and scientist. DaVinci had a peculiar way of writing his notes; he wrote them all backward so the others could not steal his work. At twenty he moved to Florence to help his teacher, who gave him his start in painting. He was one of the first artists to paint Jesus and Mary smiling and he left many of his paintings unfinished. DaVinci’s most famous works include “The Last Supper” of Jesus and his twelve disciples and the “Mona Lisa” whose eyes always seem to be looking at the person viewing the painting. He died in France.

Pablo Picasso
Picasso was an artist during the 20th century and his works were very different from the artists of his era, including some round and some flat paintings. His father was an art teacher and at age nineteen Picasso moved to France. Picasso was an artist whose work went through many different periods. The Blue Period was when his works changed and his paintings were not selling and his paintings were sad. The Rose Period was next and Picasso began to paint with happier colors and things such as circus characters, this period came about because he met a girl named Ferdinand. Cubism was his next period where the entire painting was made up of cubes. Guernica was a Spanish town that was destroyed and this was one of Picasso’s most serious paintings and a form of propaganda, he used darker colors and the painting was very large. Picasso lived until he was ninety-two years old.

Vincent VanGogh
VanGogh was one of the most tragic artists; he never smiled in his self-portraits. He was born in Holland. VanGogh was a teacher and preacher and was not happy with his life so he became an artist. As a preacher his first paintings were of poor people because that was what he knew. VanGogh tended to use dark colors until he saw Japanese artwork, and he began to use more color. He moved to Paris with his brother Theo. VanGogh painted his bedroom where he added a self portrait a picture of his mother. His paintings were very thick and the painting of “Starry Night” looked like the stars were really shining. No one was really interested in his work when he was alive. VanGogh took his own life. He was an artist who used his feelings to provoke emotion in his work.

Jacob Lawrence
Lawrence was born in New Jersey. His paintings are from scenes of everyday life and usually consist of many scenes with sentences. Lawrence later moved to Harlem and was placed in a daycare/settlement house where he learned a great deal about art. This is when he began to paint street scenes on cardboard boxes, and his neighbors quickly became his family. A local artist in Harlem helped him with his art, but most of what he learned was on his own. Lawrence became very interested in African American history and in his paintings he used flat shades and colors. One painting that Lawrence did was sixty paintings in all and they were painted simultaneously. At the age of thirty-two he became famous and went to the hospital for depression.


Claude Monet
Monet was born in France in 1840 and a year later he was baptized. Monet’s family moved to Normandy where his father wanted him to go into the family grocery store business, but he wanted to become an artist. His mother died when he was sixteen years old and he went live with his Aunt. When Monet visited The Louvre in Paris he watched painters copying from the old masters, where he preferred to paint things the he saw out the window. In 1866 Monet painted “Camille” or “The Woman on the Green Dress” of his wife and this painting brought him a lot of recognition. In 1868 he attempted suicide because of financial strain. In 1926, at the age of eighty-six Monet died of lung cancer.