After quite a long silence here on my blog, I am finally feeling like sharing some colorful art with you - a short selection of my favorite works by Félix Vallotton, Swiss/French artist and print maker. When I looked up his biography I was amazed that such energetically vivid and color bursting paintings were created by an artist with an extremely vulnerable character, with numerous depression episodes through his life.

For me Gustave Courbet is a symbol of someone who knows how to stand up for himself and for his talent. Self secure and sure about what he was doing. Ready to stand up even against the powerful Academy of Arts and Paris Art Salon that refused his paintings due to their "indecent" character. He fought and he won! His stunning "Woman with the Parrot" was finally excepted for the collective exhibition of 1866… Something that Courbet later called a "punch in their faces", showing how much that battle meant to him.

Tonight, the paintings of this artist are my therapy.

Let me share with you some awesome art I discovered today. A swirling form of existence itself, immortalized in fragile clay. Strange and abstract that seem to be almost alive. They are beautiful and almost frightening and they can make you stare and stare forever… the art of Fujino Sachiko, Japan.

My little son adores the Greek myths. I think these ancient stories do wake something primordial in the heart of the listeners, independently from their age. Love, hatred, jealousy, anger or joy. All so easy to understand, so raw, straight forward, often cruel. And yet there is one artist who was able to bring such a civilized and polished touch to the narration of the myths that you almost feel yourself attending a high society British salon when looking at his paintings. Ladies and Gentlemen, Herbert James Draper and his gods and heroes of the past!

🌊 When I first came to Italy as a tourist (many years ago) my hotel was literally two steps away from the sea and I could listen to the waves splashing and kissing the shore every evening while falling asleep.

The salted water and the sand are my vital elements, which is quite a banality, yet true. My childhood was blessed by the beauty of the Baltic Sea, and later the Mediterranean hit me in the head and blinded me with its warmth, its passion and…its light. Joaquin Sorolla is all about it. The light playing its tricky game with us, seducing us and making us light headed, provoking us to believe that happiness is here forever.

Since sleeping at midnight is obviously not for us crazy art lovers, why not then make ourselves a gift we deserve and go through this sublime collection of my absolute favorites by Peter Paul Rubens. It’s quite an objective taste of mine, but I hope you enjoy the selection)