Van Gogh & company

In 1917, he became one of the founders of De Stijl, a group that extended its principals of abstraction and simplification to architecture, and graphic and industrial design. After World War I, Mondrian moved first to London and eventually settled in New York City. There, he joined the American Abstract Artists group and continued to publish texts on Neo-Plasticism. His late style evolved significantly in response to the city.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain. His father was a drawing teacher at the Provincial College of fine art, and young Picasso painted his first picture at the age of eight. By 1894, Picasso's father was so impressed with his ability that he gave up his own painting and handed his brushes to his son. In 1895, the Picasso family moved to Barcelona, and Picasso enrolled in the art academy La Lonja. He began his painting career in Spain, with his first studio in Barcelona, but in the early 1900s, he visited and eventually settled in Paris. He would move back and forth between France and Spain throughout his life.

Known as a flamboyant character and a fixture of the Parisian bohemian artist milieu, Picasso is considered the father of Cubism. He was an integral part of the vibrant artistic community that included Gertrude Stein and numerous painters, writers, and thinkers in the Parisian neighborhood of Montmartre. Although greatly influenced by other artists in Europe and beyond, Picasso was inventive and prolific, and early in his career earned a worldwide reputation as an innovator. His enormous body of work spans so many years and such a range of styles that art historians generally separate his career into distinct phases, such as the Blue Period, Rose Period, and the Cubist Period, among many others.

Georges Seurat (1859-91). Georges Pierre Seurat was born in Paris. He studied at L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris. in 1878-79. While there, the young Seurat was strongly influenced by works of Rembrandt van Rijn and Francisco de Goya. Seurat was an innovator, leading the Neo-Impressionist movement in the late 19th century. Departing from the broad brushstrokes of the Impressionists, he developed a technique called Pointillism or Divisionism, employing small dots or strokes of contrasting color to create the subtle fight and hue changes contained within a painting. By studying the science and aesthetics of perception, light, and color, Seurat systematically attempted to re-create nature's luminosity. From 1886 on, he explored scientific theories for visually evoking emotions. Influenced by the periodic table of elements, Seurat believed he could dissect sight down to its minutest particles.

Shortly "after installing the 1891 Salon des Independents, at the age of 32, Seurat took ill. He died in Paris after a brief bout with pneumonia or meningitis. At his parents' request, the contents of their son's studio were classified and, after a proposed gift to the Louvre was refused, dispersed between Madeleine Knobloch (his common-law wife) and several followers.