The pioneer of American Pop art began using mass-media images in his work in the mid-1950s. His use of appropriated newspaper and magazine images and found objects is central to his aesthetic theory: "Painting relates to both art and life. Neither can be made. I try to act in that gap between the two

Chance, Composed, Improvised, Kaleidoscopic, Open-ended

He is considered a supreme colourist and one of the finest living British painters, but did not achieve any prominence until later on in his career. His painting is intense and richly laden with colour and meaning, performing a dynamic that uniquely straddles representation and abstraction and works

Abstract, Fantastic, Intense, Self-reflection, Sensual

Born in 1937 in Omaha, Nebraska, Edward Ruscha was raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where his family moved in 1941. In 1956 he moved to Los Angeles to attend the Chouinard Art Institute, and had his first solo exhibition in 1963 at the Ferus Gallery. In 1973, Ruscha began showing his work with Leo

Cool, Fantastic, Playful, Pop, Pop art, Sexy

Henri Matisse made it look easy, but don't be fooled -- those vibrant, lyrical scenes and simple, geometric portraits which look tossed off the tip of his paintbrush actually took weeks, sometimes months to create. A perfectionist, he once mused, "Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the bran

Bright, Decorative, Domestic, Fauvism, Joyful, Lyrical, Opulent, Pop, Serene