Henry Alexander - In the Laboratory [c.1885-87]

Henry Alexander - In the Laboratory [c.1885-87], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Henry Alexander (San Francisco, 1860 - New York City, May 15, 1894) was an American painter. He left San Francisco for New York City on April 15, 1887, in order to be at the centre of the art world, but he suffered from money troubles and alcoholism. He had a studio at 51 West Tenth Street. The other artists in the building avoided him, because he was always trying to borrow money. On May 15, 1894, his money troubles led him to commit suicide by swallowing oxalic acid in the Oriental Hotel at Broadway and Thirty-Ninth Street.

[Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 76.2 cm]

Mary Cassatt - The Boating Party [1893-94]

Mary Cassatt - The Boating Party [1893-94], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This bold composition reveals the influence of the flat, patterned surfaces, simplified colour blocks, and unusual angles of Japanese prints, which enjoyed a huge vogue in Paris in the late 1800s. The dark figure of the man compresses the picture onto the flat plane of the canvas, and the horizon is pushed to the top, flattening space in the distance. Our high vantage gives us an oblique, bird's-eye view into the boat. Its form is divided into decorative shapes by the intersection of its horizontal supports.

After 1893, Cassatt began to spend many summers on the Mediterranean coast at Antibes. Under its intense sun, she began to experiment with harder, more decorative colour. Here, citron and blue carve strong arcs that divide the picture into assertive, almost abstract, shapes. This picture, with its bold geometry and decorative patterning of the surface, positions Mary Cassatt with such post-impressionist painters as Gaugin and van Gogh.

This painting, one of her most ambitious, was the centrepiece of Cassatt's first solo exhibition in the United States, in 1895. Her contacts with wealthy friends in the United States did much to bring avant-garde French painting into America.

[Oil on canvas, 90 x 117.3 cm]

Odilon Redon - Flower Clouds [c.1903]

Odilon Redon - Flower Clouds [c.1903], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In Flower Clouds, a small skiff carries two hastily sketched passengers over a calm sea or lake. The figures seem to surrender themselves to fate, huddling together away from the rudder, relinquishing control of the vessel as they observe the spectacular effects of the setting sun against the sky. Vivid reflections of the "flower clouds" in the water below create a visual echo, blurring the boundary between illusionistic representation and abstract patterning. Redon used similar strategies in the decorative panels, screens, and tapestries that he started making at around this same time.

[Pastel, 44.5 x 54.2 cm]

Vincent van Gogh - Fishing Boats on the Beach at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Vincent van Gogh - Fishing Boats on the Beach at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Oil on canvas, 65 x 81.5 cm]

Rembrandt - Adam and Eve [1638]

Rembrandt - Adam and Eve [1638], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Etching, 16.3 x 11.5 cm]

Hans Thoma - Adam and Eve [1897]

Hans Thoma - Adam and Eve [1897], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Hans Thoma (Bernau, October 2, 1839 - Karlsruhe, November 7, 1924) was a German painter. In spite of his studies under various masters, his art has little in common with modern ideas, and is formed partly by his early impressions of the simple idyllic life of his native district, partly by his sympathy with the early German masters, particularly with Altdorfer and Cranach. In his love of the details of nature, in his precise (though by no means faultless) drawing of outline, and in his predilection for local colouring, he has distinct affinities with the Pre-Raphaelites.

[Oil on canvas, 110 x 78.5 cm]

Jacob van Velsen - A Musical Party [1631]

Jacob van Velsen - A Musical Party [1631], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The depiction of elegantly dressed people singing and playing music often refers to courtship and the harmony of love. The pleasures of music are set against those of food, wine and tobacco. With the exception of one portrait, van Velsen painted only genre scenes in the style of the earlier work of Anthonie Palamdesz. (1601-1673), who became a master in the Delft guild four years earlier than van Velsen. This painting was once falsely signed as the work of Palamedesz. Jacob van Velsen was born and worked in Delft. He died in Amsterdam.

[Oil on oak, 40 x 55.8 cm]