Born at the dawn of the Dutch Golden Age, Rembrandt Van Rijn drew from the Renaissance and Baroque influences of his time, blending them into a highly expressive style. In his portraits and biblical paintings he employed light and color to evoke the depths of human pathos and complexity.

Johannes Vermeer was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age. He is celebrated for his paintings of women in domestic interiors and for his mastery treatment of light. Like his contemporaries Vermeer often included symbols of spiritual or social guidance to remind us that life is transient.

In the mid-19th century painters of the Hudson River School evolved into the first formal American art movement. Influenced by Romanticism, these artists were compelled to illustrate the dynamism of the Western landscape for an eager international audience.

Edgar Degas is associated with the French impressionists but never fully subscribed to their practice of “plein air” painting. Both a genius and a complicated curmudgeon, he is best known for his eloquent portrayals of hard working ballerinas and figures of the Parisan demimonde.

James McNeil Whistler, creator of the iconic American painting “Whistler’s Mother”, actually spent his entire adult life in London. As a proponent of the “Aesthetic Movement” he lead a colorful, often querulous life, painting society portraits, and mingling with the likes of Oscar Wilde, Monet and Degas.

Winslow Homer began his career as a lithographer for Harper's Weekly and was soon embedded in the Union Army producing war images for the general public. His first paintings based on civil war lithographs were well received. Homer’s mature works are focused on ordinary people negotiating either land or sea, and possess an emotional weight that is amplified by the artist’s technical brilliance.

Marc Chagall arrived in Paris in 1910 as a young artist from a Russian shtetl. He quickly embraced Cubism, Fauvism and Surrealism, the newly minted tools of modern art, and blended Jewish folk themes into his compositions. Throughout the 20th Century, Chagall created powerful dream images. His oeuvre includes large scale works in major public spaces as well as paintings in important museums.

Georgia O’Keeffe is considered “the Mother of American Modernism.” O’Keeffe was fiercely independent by nature, and eluded stylistic categorizations. Her paintings of flowers and desert landscapes continue to captivate diverse audiences.

Edward Hopper is known for his portratis and cityscapes that reveal the isolation and shadow side of 20th century America. Despite the dominance of abstract expressionism during his career, Hopper’s graceful realism and enigmatic stories on canvas resonated with his public and continue to fascinate us.

Norman Rockwell, a painter and popular Saturday Evening Post illustrator, brought Americans together throughout the 20th century with his virtuoso technique and affectionate interpretations of their country. Beneath his charismatic imagery lies a layer of compassionate reporting that gives the work its gravitas.

Ansel Adams (1902 - 1984): Adams developed innovative techniques to create wider tonal range in black and white photography. His elegant portraits of the American West and its national parks heightened public awareness of the need to protect natural habitats. Adams became an advocate for environmental conservation and a founding member of the Sierra Club.

Andrew Wyeth painted from his seasonal homes in Maine and Pennsylvania, rarely traveling elsewhere. The two locations provided all he needed to create his haunting landscapes and portraits. Wyeth takes us beyond realism to explore the mysteries of the human psyche and the physical world.