Pisces Artists & Painters

Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet Michelangelo was a prominent figure of the High Renaissance. He is credited to have influenced the Western art in unprecedented ways. He is widely regarded as the greatest artist of his age and one of the greatest artists of all time. He was equally revered and respected as an architect.

Dutch painter Piet Mondrian is remembered for pioneering what is known as 20th-century abstract art. He co-founded the De Stijl art movement with Theo van Doesburg and gave rise to Neoplasticism. His art was influenced by Cubism. Many of his paintings consist of geometric shapes in particular sets of colors.

French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, father of actor Pierre Renoir and director Jean Renoir, was a key Impressionist painter. His best-known works include The Swing, Diana, and Seated Girl. He was known for his use of vibrant colors and feminine sensuality in his works. He also painted landscapes and portraits.

Kazimir Malevich was a Russian artist and art theorist. His pioneering work had a major influence on the development of abstract art in the 20th century. An influential personality, Malevich's art and writing influenced several artists like Lyubov Popova, El Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko, and Ad Reinhardt. His works are showcased in many major art museums around the world.

American actor, Matthew Gray Gubler, is best known for playing the character of Dr Spencer Reid in the popular and acclaimed television series Criminal Minds. He has also acted in films like 500 Days of Summer, Suburban Gothic and How to Be a Serial Killer. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for his role in the television series, The Beauty Inside.

Constantin Brâncuși was a Romanian sculptor, painter, and photographer. A pioneer of modernism, he is considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century. The son of poor parents, he worked hard to fund his training at the Bucharest School of Fine Arts and became a skilled sculptor. He left behind 1200 photographs and 215 sculptures at his death. 

Gloria Vanderbilt was an American fashion designer, actress, author, and socialite. As a child, she was subjected to a child custody trial, which the press named trial of the century due to its high-profile nature. As a designer, Vanderbilt is credited with developing and popularizing designer blue jeans. She also launched a line of household goods and perfumes.

Ant Anstead is an English TV presenter and car builder. Having started his career as a police constable, Ant Anstead worked his way into pursuing a career as a car builder, which is what he loved doing the most. His passion for cars provided him with an opportunity to become a TV presenter—an inspiring story indeed.

British illusionist Derren Brown was first drawn to the world of magic after watching a hypnotism show at the University of Bristol. The star of the long-running show Mind Control, Brown has participated in stage shows and written books, mostly with the aim of debunking the claims of false psychics.

Japanese manga artist Naoko Takeuchi is best known as the author of Sailor Moon, a multiple-award-winning manga series. She was interested in becoming a manga artist from a young age. However, she studied chemistry in college to please her father. Shortly after graduation, she entered the manga industry and found success in her chosen field within a few years.

Born in India, sculptor Anish Kapoor initially studied engineering in Israel but soon quit his studies to study art in Britain. The Turner Prize-winning artist was the first living artist to earn a solo show at London’s Royal Academy of Arts. The Cloud Gate in Chicago remain his best-loved work.

English sculptor and printer Eric Gill first gained attention with his work Mother and Child. Apart from co-founding the St. Dominic’s Press, he also contributed to the illustrations and woodcuts for The Four Gospels. He was also infamous form his deviant sexual behavior, which included incest and animal abuse.

Lucio Fontana was an Argentine-Italian painter, sculptor, and theorist best known as the founder of Spatialism. The son of a sculptor, he followed in his father’s footsteps and studied at Accademia di Brera under the tutelage of sculptor Adolfo Wildt. He was prolific painter and held numerous stagings and exhibitions of his works. He was a co-founder of the Altamira Academy. 

Born into poverty and orphaned at age 2, Impressionist painter Joaquín Sorolla later traveled to Rome to acquire training in painting. He began his career painting on themes of historical and social relevance and later also excelled in landscapes and portraits. Sad Inheritance remains one of his best works.

German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer, counted among leading figures of the Neo-Expressionist art movement of the late 20th century, is noted for his works like The Hierarchy of Angels (painting), The Secret Life of Plants (sculpture) and Grane (woodcut). Themes of Kiefer were often influenced by the spiritual concepts of Kabbalah, horror of the Holocaust and poems of Paul Celan.

Austrian artist, playwright, poet and teacher Oskar Kokoschka CBE is counted among the prominent exponents of Expressionism whose works influenced the Viennese Expressionist movement. Notable works of Kokoschka include paintings like The Bride of the Wind and Portrait of Lotte Franzos and writings like the short play Murderer, the Hope of Women and the play Orpheus und Eurydike.   

Born to a schoolteacher and part-time painter father, Dutch painter Carel Fabritius learned painting from Rembrandt. A pioneer of the 17th-century Delft movement, he died in the deadly 1654 Delft gunpowder magazine explosion that ravaged most of the city and almost all his works. The Goldfinch remains his best-known work.

After being rejected by a dance school, Traudl Junge ditched her plan of becoming a ballerina and mastered typing instead. She later served as Adolf Hitler’s typist and was the youngest of his secretaries. After staying silent for years, she eventually revealed her experience to Austrian filmmaker Andre Heller.

Honoré Daumier is best remembered for his satirical cartoons on the French society and politics. Born to a glazier father in Marseille, he later began studying art under Alexandre Lenoir and developed a love for sculptures, too. He later made a fortune, working on commissions of lithographs.

Eighteenth-century Italian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was a significant figure of the Rococo movement. Son of a shipping merchant, Tiepolo gained fame with his iconic creations such as The Sacrifice of Isaac. He was determined he wouldn’t leave Venice and often sent his paintings abroad instead of traveling to paint.

Born to Italian immigrants, Scottish artist Eduardo Paolozzi is best known for revolutionizing pop art with his unique artwork that makes use of materials such as magazines, bottles, and even boxes. His works include sculptures, collages, and prints. He was also knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

German socialite and philanthropist Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis, or Princess TNT, had met her husband, Prince Johannes, when she was 19 and he was 53. Following his death, she was faced with a $500 million debt, sold off her riches, and became a Catholic activist.  

George Frederic Watts was a British painter best remembered for his association with the Symbolist movement. Watts achieved fame for his allegorical works like Love and Life and Hope. In addition to being a painter, George Frederic Watts was also a sculptor. He is credited with sculpting the famous Physical Energy statue at Rhodes Memorial in South Africa.

Charles Le Brun was a French physiognomist, painter, and art theorist. He served as the director of many popular art schools of his time. He also served as the court painter to Louis the Great, who called him the greatest French artist. An influential artist of 17th-century France, Charles Le Brun's works are still preserved in the popular Louvre Museum. 

Gabriele Munter was a German expressionist painter who led the Munich avant-garde movement in the early 20th century. She began to draw as a child and was supported in her ambitions by her parents. She went on to have a successful career and became a founding member of the expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter. She lived with painter Wassily Kandinsky.