An aristocrat who stood aloof from the sweaty fray of art movements, Degas emerged from his ecole des Beaux-Arts training with a predilection for Italian old masters and for classicizing French forerunners like Ingres. He painted portraits of upper-class families with hints of Realism showing through

Composed, Figurative painting, Intimate, Post-impressionism, Serene

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