Luxembourg-born Edward Steichen is one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. He was one of the founders of the Photo-Secession, a movement that promoted the idea that photography was not just about accurately reproducing the world, but also about creating artistic imagery. Steichen and his peers adopted a more 'painterly' approach to photography using filters and soft focus to express their creativity and manipulate their images. Steichen, who had trained

There is something particularly poignant about this painting. Maybe because van Gogh created this resplendent vision of spring mere months before he decided to take his own life. A gift to his beloved brother Theo and sister-in-law Jo for birth of their son Vincent Willem, the founder of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Almond Blossom is a joyful celebration of the awakening of nature and the arrival of new life. The Dutch artist had moved to Arles in the south of France in

David Hockney is the celebrated doyen of British 60s pop art. The reason I chose this painting to kick off a short series of posts on Spring in art is because I liked the candor of what he said about it: "In this painting I wanted the sensation of very early spring, when the first leaves come out. They begin at the very bottom of the trees, and you don't see very much of the branches. They seemed to float. I loved that idea and that's what this painting is about. This was my