The 20th century heralded a major shift in the art world, with famous artists of the era leaving behind vast collections spanning many important art movements.

Not only was the conventional medium of brush and canvas revolutionized by a succession of innovative new art styles, but the modern age changed how we look at art, including redefining what “art” constitutes.

1. Georgia O’Keeffe

Seamlessly blending aspects of multiple art movements into her own distinct style, Georgia O’Keeffe was an American artist who was born in 1887. She commenced her art training at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1905, subsequently attending the Arts Students League of New York. O’Keeffe studied under the guidance of Arthur Wesley Dow, who taught the artist how to incorporate her own style into her work.

Best known for her paintings of New York skyscrapers, New Mexico landscapes, and colored flowers, Georgia O’Keeffe quit painting three times due to mental health issues and financial problems, along with deteriorating eyesight. Despite several significant setbacks, her passion for art was never-ending. When she passed away in 1986 at age 98, she left an everlasting legacy, her unique artistic style contributing to a cultural shift in America’s feminist perspective.

2. Raoul Dufy

French painter Raoul Dufy is renowned for his open-air scenes and depictions of lively social engagements incorporating the Fauvist movement’s characteristic colorful style. He studied at the same art academy as the famous Cubist artist Georges Braque. Influenced by Impressionist landscape painters like Camille Pissarro and Claude Monet, Dufy is best known for his depictions of social events.

Born in 1877 in Normandy, France, Dufy left school at the age of 14 to work in the coffee industry. He took art classes in the evenings beginning at 18. After winning a scholarship from the Beaux Arts School in Paris, he staged his first exhibition in 1901. He was particularly fond of painting beach scenes in his native Normandy, as well as depicting scenes of crowded beaches, parties, and yachts in the fashionable South of France.

3. Piet Mondrian

Born in 1873, this esteemed Dutch painter went on to become one of the 20th century’s most important and influential artists. A founding father of abstract art, he confounded the De Stijl art movement with Theo van Doesburg.

Mondrian’s art was a spiritual pursuit. He was a member of the Dutch Theosophical Society, and his artistic technique was defined by Theosophical doctrine, meaning that he believed that spirituality could be accessed through the creation of art, specifically where forms are reduced to their most basic elements. In using basic compositions and shapes, they reveal the universe’s fundamental and opposing forces (e.g., masculine and feminine, black and white, etc.).

4. Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp’s work spanned several key movements of the 20th century, including Dadaism and Futurism. Duchamp is probably best remembered for his controversial 1917 work Fountain, a porcelain urinal upon which the artist added the bogus signature ‘R. Mutt.’

Outrageous and enigmatic in equal proportion, Duchamp’s work replaced the prerequisite for art to be aesthetically pleasing with an emphasis on intellectual provocation. His works were entirely representative of the Dadaist attitude, which revolted against the notion of artistic value and “fine” taste and instead advocated for art that appealed to the mind rather than the eyes.

Completed in 1912, Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase was due to be exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants. The day before the exhibition’s opening, Duchamp’s friends and brothers demanded the expulsion of the painting, however, judging it to be contrary to Cubist orthodoxy. Just one year later, the same painting was exhibited at the Armory Show in New York, where it drew rapturous applause and was embraced by Americans as the epitome of the avant-garde style.

5. Henri Rousseau

This self-taught outsider won the respect of insider peers. Henri Rousseau was a toll-collector-turned-painter who was discovered by none other than Pablo Picasso. In time, Rousseau’s dreamy mix of exotic landscapes and naïve figuration become one of the most recognizable styles of 20th-century art.

While he was ridiculed in life, in retrospect, Rousseau is regarded as one of the 20th century’s most influential post-Impressionist painters, holding his own against the likes of Gauguin, van Gogh, and Cézanne. Born in poverty in the French town of Laval in 1844, the young Rousseau was required to work with his tinsmith father as a boy to help the family make ends meet.

Rousseau studied at Laval High School as a day student and was eventually forced to board there after his family was thrown out of their home due to debt. Though mediocre at many subjects, he won prizes for drawing and music.

Following his discovery, he became renowned for his jungle paintings that depicted lush, dreamlike worlds where giant, exotic plants loomed across the canvas. It is for these striking images that the artist is best remembered, as his bright colors and surrealism push the boundaries of traditional art.

Long before publication of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, researchers have claimed that Da Vinci’s paintings are riddled with symbolism and hidden meanings. In this article, we look at four paintings by the masters, and secrets contained within them.

1. The Last Supper — Leonardo da Vinci

Da Vinci’s visual interpretation of The Last Supper depicts Jesus sitting at a long table, surrounded by all of his disciples. According to Christian teachings, as the group ate and drank, Christ warned them that someone sitting there that night would betray him by sunrise.

In Leonardo da Vinci’s creation, the disciples receive the news with varying degrees of anger, horror, and shock. Spilled salt near Judas Iscariot’s elbow is believed by many to represent bad luck and loss. Scholars have also questioned Da Vinci’s choice of food, musing whether the inclusion of eel might allude to Jesus’ prediction that his apostle Peter would deny knowing him.

Computer technician Giovanni Maria Pala recently made the astonishing claim that a 40-second musical composition may be encoded in the piece. Adding weight to Pala’s assertions, Alessandro Vezzosi of the Da Vinci museum in Tuscany agreed that it was a plausible theory.

2. Café Terrace at Night — Vincent van Gogh

Completed in 1888, at first glance, this atmospheric oil painting seems to be just as the title suggests, portraying a quaint café in a colorful French town. However, in 2015, art expert Jared Baxter put forward the theory that the painting was actually, once again, an artistic representation of The Last Supper.

Upon close inspection, the painting reveals a long-haired central figure surrounded by 12 individuals. One appears to be slipping away into the shadows, and could be suggestive of Judas. Close scrutiny also reveals tiny crosses throughout the painting, with one just above the central, Jesus-like figure.

3. Mona Lisa — Leonardo da Vinci

One of the world’s most instantly recognizable pieces of art, there is much more to the Mona Lisa’s beauty than her beguiling half-smile. The woman’s true identity remains a mystery to this day, and a topic of intense debate.

Some scholars speculate that the woman in the painting may be pregnant, her arms positioned suggestively over her belly, and a veil draped around her shoulders, as was the custom for pregnant women during the Italian Renaissance.

In 2011, Silvano Vinceti, an Italian researcher, claimed that he had discovered letters and numbers hidden within painting, written in microscopic writing. He suggested that the “L” he saw over the Mona Lisa’s right eye might represent the artist’s name. Furthermore, Vinceti also said he saw a letter “S” in her left eye, suggesting this could by symbolic of the Sforza dynasty, Milan’s rulers at the time.

Vinceti also claimed to see the number “72” under an arched bridge in the backdrop, speculating that the “7” could refer to the creation of the world, while the “2” might allude to the duality of men and women.

4. The Ambassadors — Hans Holbein

Today’s fascination with the dazzling and deadly court of King Henry VIII simply would not exist without the artistic talents of Hans Holbein. Famous for capturing the emotion of his illustrious subjects, Holbein’s most iconic painting defies direct interpretation.

Painted in 1533, Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve (known informally as The Ambassadors), has been scrutinized by art experts for centuries. Proudly displayed at the National Gallery in London, the double portrait remains a fascinating enigma, in which the tiniest detail seems to suggest multiple meanings.

The depiction of the two figures is widely praised to this day as both symbolic and technically brilliant. Dinteville stands on the left, lavishly dressed, his black coat lined with lynx fur. On his hat is his personal insignia: the image of a skull. Experts believe that the symbolic trope serves to remind us of the inevitability of death.

On the right side of the painting stands Georges de Selve, the bishop and classical scholar, dressed in far less ostentatious attire. Some experts surmise that the painting’s symbolism may actually explore the dysfunctional nature of France’s alliance with the Vatican, as well as commenting on the conflict between the Pope and Henry VIII. Indeed, in the background, a lute with a broken string is a potent symbol of discord, and quite possibly a reference to the royal court.

Numerous other items laid out on the shelves between the two figures have baffled historians and art experts for centuries. On the surface, the inclusion of math and hymn books, globes, and astrological, navigational, and musical instruments may be construed as a glorification of man’s achievements. But then, the eye is drawn down to an anamorphic shape on the floor.

Holbein has deliberately hidden a second skull image in the painting, which is only visible when viewed from low down on the left side, or high up on the right side. Experts believe that the painting was designed to be hung on a staircase, and intended to shock passersby.

Some experts believe that the painting is actually a commentary on the transitory nature of human values, reminding us of the certainty of human mortality: a state that overrides all earthly matters. However, Holbein’s painting is not entirely pessimistic. In the top-left corner is a crucifix, reminding the observer that Christian faith can help them to escape death and secure everlasting salvation.

A relatively new ecosystem, FoodTech was created to enhance efficiency and sustainability in producing, enjoying, designing, delivering, and choosing food.

Innovative technology is disrupting virtually every market sector today, and the food industry is no exception.

The Taxonomy of FoodTech

FoodTech comprises six main categories.

1. AgTech

FoodTech begins with startups designed to disrupt agriculture, developing solutions to improve farming output and quality, relying on innovations like farm management software, drones, and sensors. AgTech is also about urban farming, next generation farms, and new farm products. The sector has revolutionary potential in terms of boosting global food security, helping farms to grow in both yield and revenue, as well as improving efficiency for farmers.

2. Supply Chain

This arm covers aspects such as storage, including smart and autonomous stores to improve in-shop consumer experiences and make storage more efficient. Addressing the food supply chain as a whole, including digitalization and automation, this aspect also encompasses packaging, waste management, and supply chain data analysis.

3. Food Service

Food service startups are reinventing hospitality, improving management of out-of-home businesses and creating conditions for the restaurants of the future, incorporating innovations like robotics and cloud kitchens. This element covers all aspects of foodservice management, including payment services and reservation platforms.

4. Delivery

The pandemic triggered unparalleled demand for food delivery. In addition to restaurant and grocery deliveries, meal kits and discovery boxes experienced a surge in interest. Delivery also covers aspects of grocery e-commerce platforms, including store and farm-to-home delivery and delivery robotics, e.g., drones and autonomous cars for food deliveries. In fact, FoodTech delivery is one of the hottest topics in hospitality today, with some platforms, like Discovery Box, having realized massive success before falling flat, and others, like Deliveroo, going from strength to strength.

5. Food Science

Innovative startups are developing not just new food products, but also new ingredients, including alternative proteins and additives to replace sugar, making food not only healthier, but tastier, too.

6. Consumer Tech

This subsection covers businesses created to develop devices and services to help consumers identify and cook foods that align with their goals. Consumer tech covers a variety of elements, including nutrigenomics startups, analyzing consumers’ biomarkers, and providing personalized recommendations on foods to avoid or consume. It also incorporates businesses that focus on creating tourist experiences around food-related points of interest, such as vineyards, or reinventing access to cooking classes.

FoodTech Trends in 2022

The food industry has seen some colossal market shifts since the emergence of COVID-19. Some of the most common industrywide trends witnessed through 2022 have included the following:

1. Digitization

Today, it is possible to order food via a computer or smartphone, with food freshly prepared and delivered to your door in short order. Digitization has enabled consumers to get their meals faster and more conveniently than ever.

2. Personalization

Personalized food is designed to boost health and tackle obesity, using a combination of personal data, culinary know-how, and AI technology to enable consumers to exercise autonomy over their nutrition and improve their health and wellbeing.

3. Nutraceuticals

Continuing the theme of health and nutrition, organizations like WHO warn of an impending obesity time bomb, the negative impact of unhealthy food habits, and a general failure to maintain a healthy, balanced diet. There is a rising trend for nutraceuticals in the food industry today. Incorporating nutritional supplements, gut microbiome enhancement foods, functional foods, and medicinal foods, research suggests that nutraceuticals can have a significant impact in countering the symptoms of a variety of health conditions, including allergies, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes.

4. Waste Reduction

Today, startups that focus on helping businesses to reduce food waste are becoming increasingly popular with environmentally conscious consumers. Monitoring solutions like Kitro and Phood have experienced increased traction in recent months, with hikes in food prices putting pressure on businesses to minimize waste as much as possible.

5. Transparency

For consumers with food allergies, eating out can be a minefield, with mix-ups and mistakes over ingredients in some cases proving fatal. Partners in the food industry are coming under increasing pressure to be more open about their ingredients. Aside from health concerns, consumers are also becoming increasingly environmentally and socially aware, seeking out players that are consistently open about where they source their ingredients and how they make their food, allowing consumers to make better-informed choices.

6. AI, Automation, and Robotics

Technological advancements like robotic chefs have the potential to revolutionize the entire restaurant value chain, enhancing operational efficiency, consistency, and scale. Experts predict significant growth in this aspect over the months to come, as the food industry comes to recognize the significant advantage conferred in terms of enhanced efficiency, precision, speed, and food quality control.

For all players operating in the food industry today, leveraging FoodTech in its myriad forms could have a revolutionary impact on trade, setting restaurants apart from the competition and transforming the industry completely.

On September 8, 2022, Buckingham Palace announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. She died peacefully at Balmoral in Scotland, having spent much of the summer at her beloved country estate.

Following a 70-year reign, the longest of any British sovereign, the Queen died at the age of 96 with her close family at her side. Queen Elizabeth II’s reign spanned 15 prime ministers, beginning with Winston Churchill, and ending with Liz Truss, who the Queen met with and invited to form a government just two days before her death.

Throughout her reign, art put a public face to a private life, the Queen depicted in paintings, novels, plays, and even love songs. From Cecil Beaton to Andy Warhol, we look at six of the most iconic portraits of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

1. Queen Elizabeth II on her Coronation Day — Cecil Beaton (1953)

Adorned in the full regalia of the Imperial State Crown, the newly coronated Queen of the British Empire sits on her throne, dressed in her golden coronation gown, and draped in velvet and ermine, holding the golden scepter and orb. In the background, Beaton ramps up the theatrical sense of history with his depiction of Westminster Abbey’s Gothic Lady Chapel. Deliberately ostentatious, the portrait aimed to improve morale in a post-war Britain with enchantment and opulence, at the same time portraying a young Queen bearing the weight of not just the ceremonial garb, but her newly acquired position as sovereign of the United Kingdom.

2. Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Regent — Pietro Annigoni (1955)

When Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne to the British Empire, the world was a completely different place. Pietro Annigoni’s depiction of the British monarch has a composition suggestive of Renaissance portraiture, the young Elizabeth appearing meditative against the backdrop of a desolate, frigid landscape. At the time, the painting was criticized for its focus on her role of monarch rather than portraying her human side. Nevertheless, Annigoni’s portrait is widely recognized today for cementing the young queen’s authority, positioning her within a visual legacy that dates back hundreds of years.

3. Her Majesty the Queen on Worcran — Susan Crawford (1977)

Celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s love of horses, the portrait by Scottish-born Susan Crawford depicted the sovereign riding a former racehorse that belonged to the Queen Mother. A leading equestrian artist, Susan Crawford studied not just the horse’s physique, but the bond between horse and rider, depicting the Queen in a classic tweed jacket and jodhpurs, the whisper of a smile ghosting across her lips. The painting also encapsulates the spirited Worcran, tail outstretched, and ears pricked, as they stride through the fields above Windsor Castle.

4. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom — Andy Warhol (1985)

This portrait forms part of Warhol’s Reigning Queens 1985 portfolio, a collection of 16 prints comprising four images each of four reigning queens — Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland, and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Warhol’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth was based on a photograph taken for her Silver Jubilee in 1977 and is made using the characteristic silkscreen technique Warhol frequently employed in his paintings and prints.

5. Portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II — Andrew Festing (1999)

In this evocative painting currently displayed in the Royal Hospital Chelsea Museum, the Queen is adorned in her formal garb, ready for the state opening of Parliament. She stands resplendent in an intricately embellished white gown, light from a nearby window illuminating her face, which betrays the trace of a smile. Behind the Queen stand two Chelsea Pensioners, veterans residing at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. In the background is a portrait of King Charles I and his family, the Queen’s predecessors.

6. Lightness of Being — Chris Levine (2004)

This striking portrait of a mature Queen dressed in full ceremonial attire unusually depicts Queen Elizabeth with her eyes closed, her face seemingly radiating white light. According to Levine, the striking portrait came about quite by happenstance during a sitting at Buckingham Palace. Levine used a high-resolution digital lenticular camera during the session, which captures around 200 shots as it moves on a 360-degree track around the sitter. While the official portrait he was commissioned to paint by the Jersey Heritage Trust depicts Queen Elizabeth with her eyes open, Chris Levine later discovered he had captured her in a moment of tranquility. He felt compelled to repurpose this chance image in a variety of different forms, including a version incorporating 1,100 white diamonds in anticipation of the Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

Conclusion

Over the course of her lifetime, Queen Elizabeth II was painted thousands of times. Unlike the first Queen Elizabeth, who went as far as introducing legislation prohibiting unflattering portraits, Queen Elizabeth II embraced the challenge of being depicted by contemporary artists. With almost 1,000 official portraits in total, Queen Elizabeth II is one of the most painted monarchs in history. Her paintings not only depict a person with an unflinching sense of duty, they also reveal how over the years she repeatedly embraced change, experimentation, and new ideas, sitting for a wide range of artists and receiving each with good grace.

1. Enjin (Singapore)

Founded in 2009 and specializing in NFT solutions, Enjin has created an extensive ecosystem of blockchain software solutions and products, enabling businesses, developers, and individuals to create, distribute, manage, integrate, and trade Ethereum-based NFTs.

Enjin is currently in the process of developing Efinity, a blockchain-based ecosystem that is intended to serve as infrastructure for a decentralized, cross-chain metaverse. The project is currently in an internal alpha stage.

In 2021, Enjin launched the Efinity Metaverse Fund, seeking to raise $100 million in funding to support Efinity’s growth and work related to decentralized applications in gaming and NFTs. Enjin Coin currently has a market capitalization of some $1.8 billion, making it the fifth largest crypto token in the metaverse category, data from CoinMarketCap suggests.

2. Folio (Japan)

Designed for beginning and seasoned investors alike, this Japanese investment service offers a diverse range of investment options to meet the individual needs of its users. For example, investors can search for opportunities related to their favorite theme, be that real estate or drones.

Folio also enables users to take an automated route, its intelligent robo advisor the Folio Robo Pro helping them to manage their investments on autopilot.

3. Hatcher+ (Singapore)

A venture capital firm that utilizes data analytics to drive its artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to identify the most promising investment opportunities in early-stage companies, Hatcher+ provides its partners with real-time monitoring and proprietary algorithms, enabling them to optimize returns. This scalable, cloud-based platform enables corporate VCs, family offices, venture studios, venture fund managers, and accelerators to automate operations, creating multi-level deal origination partnerships and enabling users to access thousands of deals annually.

Developed at a cost of $10 million, the Hatcher+ VAAST platform blends business process automation, impact scoring, and AI-based predictive analytics, supporting 50 currencies and 18 languages.

4. Omise (Thailand)

Thailand’s leading online payment gateway, Omise provides businesses with a comprehensive suite of processing solutions. Having extended its services to Singapore and Japan, the platform delivers powerful payment features, facilitating fast, flexible, seamless online payment experiences, enabling business owners to maximize their opportunities and accelerate growth.

With easy end-to-end integration, this highly scalable infrastructure caters to all of a business’ payment needs, as it offers intuitive, connected social commerce experiences, website plugins, workflow automation, and more in addition to accepting payments.

5. Oriente (Hong Kong)

Oriente leverages emerging technologies like machine learning, AI, and data science to provide tailored financial services and real-time credit scoring from its offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore, and Manila. Known as Cashalo in the Philippines and Finmas in Indonesia, the company was established in 2017 by the cofounders of revolutionary Internet companies LU.com and Skype. Launched with the mission of unlocking financial opportunity for Asia’s underserved, Oriente has attracted some $175 million in investment to date.

6. PolicyBazaar (India)

PolicyBazaar has grown to become the world’s largest online insurance aggregator in an impressively short amount of time. Cofounded by Avaneesh Nirjar, Alok Bansal, and Yashish Dahiya, PolicyBazaar was created with the aim of promoting transparency in the insurance sector, providing an alternative to conventional insurance routes in India, where insurance policies are traditionally sold via agents, presenting a complicated and expensive process for many consumers.

The PolicyBazaar online policy comparison platform provides users with increased access to information, enabling them to make better informed decisions. Partnering with over 50 insurers and offering various different types of insurance, some of PolicyBazaar’s high profile insurers include Liberty General Insurance and Aviva. Having raised $365 million since its inception, the fintech is currently valued at $1.5 billion.

7. Zepeto (South Korea)

A product of Naver Z, Zepeto enables users to communicate with others via 3D avatars, play games, and make money via the production of fashion items and other content.

Boasting 250 million global users to date, with 50 million items sold by 1.5 million creators, the platform has collaborated with leading brands like Ralph Lauren, Gucci, and Nike, releasing virtual collections on the metaverse. Popular K-pop groups like SF9, ITZY, and Blackpink have also issued exclusive content or staged virtual events on the platform.

Toward the close of 2021, Naver Z raised somewhere in the region of $189 million in a Series B funding round, announcing plans to expand Zepeto overseas, establishing operations in the United States.

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, printmaker, sculptor, ceramicist, and stage designer. Many experts regard Picasso as one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century.

Credited as the cocreator of Cubism, Picasso lives on in his enormous body of work. The Spaniard with the piercing, somber eyes, who superstitiously believed his work would keep him alive, devoted himself to honing his craft and contributing significantly to the development of modern art.

Early Years

Pablo Picasso (born Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Crispín Crispiniano María Remedios de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz Picasso) was born in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, on October 25, 1881. Born into a middle-class family, Picasso was the son of María Picasso y López and Don José Ruiz y Blasco.

Picasso’s father worked as a curator of a local museum and professor of art at the School of Crafts. Renowned for his natural depiction of birds, Ruiz is believed to have been descended from a family of aristocrats.

When Picasso was born, the medical staff reportedly believed he was stillborn following complications in labor. Extremely small for his gestation, he was left on a side table while the nurses tended to his mother. It was only when Picasso’s uncle blew cigar smoke and the baby started to cry that the mistake was revealed. Picasso’s uncle, a doctor, saved his life.

Pablo Picasso’s first word was “lapiz,” the Spanish word for pencil. As a young boy, he followed in the footsteps of his father and showed a flair for art early on. By the age of 10, Picasso became his father’s pupil and staged his first exhibition at the age of 13.

In the autumn of 1895, the family relocated to Barcelona. Here, Picasso entered the La Llotja art academy, where his father took a post as a professor of drawing. In 1897 Picasso’s Science and Charity painting, featuring his father as the doctor, received an honorable mention at the Fine Arts Exhibition in Madrid.

Career

In 1900 Pablo Picasso embarked on his first trip to Paris, then regarded as the art capital of Europe. Here, he befriended the Parisian poet and journalist Max Jacob, who helped Picasso to learn the language and more about French literature. The duo shared an apartment, where Picasso slept during the day and Jacob slept at night. For Picasso, his first stay in Paris was marked by a period of severe cold, poverty, and desperation. In fact, he had to burn his work just to keep the tiny apartment warm.

Starting in 1901 and ending in 1904, Picasso’s Blue Period is characterized by somber paintings in blue to blue-green hues, occasionally warmed by other colors. Picasso returned to Paris toward the end of 1901, and many of his paintings from the Blue Period depict gaunt mothers and children as well as sex workers and people begging for food.

Picasso’s Rose Period, from 1904 to 1906, is a total contrast, characterized by a lighter style and tone. Incorporating vibrant oranges and pinks, this period’s works depict circus people, harlequins, and acrobats. It was in 1904 in Paris that the artist met the bohemian artist Fernande Olivier, who subsequently became his mistress. She appears in several of Picasso’s Rose Period paintings, many of which reflect his warm relationship with her.

Throughout his career, Picasso had an eclectic attitude toward style. Although each work was generally characterized by a single dominant approach, he flitted between different styles, occasionally in the same piece. Credited with Georges Braque as a pioneer of the Cubist movement, Picasso also delved deeply into Surrealism and Symbolism, contributing a great deal to both movements.

Picasso’s other periods include the African Period, when he was inspired by the art of ancient Egypt and traditional African masks, in addition to non-African influences including Iberian sculpture and the art of El Greco and Paul Cézanne. He also experimented with Neoclassicism. However, it is for his Cubist works that the artist is best known. Today, Cubism is credited as one of the most influential art movements of all time, and has impacted artists for well over a century.

Pablo Picasso’s most famous paintings include:

· The Soup (1902)

· La Vie (1903)

· The Old Guitarist (1903–04)

· Les Demoiselles D’Avignon (1907)

· Ma Jolie (1911–12)

· Figures at the Seaside (1931)

· Portrait of Dora Maar (1937)

· Guernica (1937)

· The Weeping Woman (1937)

Legacy

Pablo Picasso died at his French home on April 8, 1973, succumbing to pulmonary edema and heart failure during a dinner party he had staged with his wife. His artistic legacy remains immense, and he is acknowledged today by admirers and detractors alike. He was the first artist to be honored by the Louvre Museum in Paris with a Grand Gallery exhibition. With a body of work created over eight decades and made of some 150,000 separate pieces, he was one of the world’s most prolific, imaginative, and innovative artists of all time.

Whether their penchant is Star Wars figures, stamps, or vintage cars, for many, collectibles are an all-consuming hobby. In this article, we look at seven categories of antiques and collectibles that could end up earning you a fortune.

1. Duck Decoys

It may seem an unlikely concept, but mid-20th century duck decoys can command colossal sums, particularly for pristine, rare examples. If you have inherited one, it may surprise you to learn that rare examples can earn up to $650,000 at auction.

The duck decoy collectibles market first started with niche groups of enthusiasts in the United States through the 1950s and 1960s. After the publication of The Decoy Collector’s Guide, everything started to change — the magazine connected duck decoy enthusiasts all over the country. By the late 1960s, duck decoys were selling for upwards of $10,000, an exorbitant price at the time.

By the 1980s, executives started showing an interest in duck decoys too, with high-net-worth individuals keen to get their hands on rare specimens, pushing the price up from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

2. Vinyl Records

Despite the increasing digitization of the record industry, the passion for vinyl still runs strong in some quarters. In 2021 some 9 million vinyl records were sold in the United States, recreating the magic of old-school albums and vinyl collections before the age of iPods, CDs, or even cassette players.

Vinyl aficionados can pick up some excellent examples for cheap by shopping at garage sales, thrift shops, and estate sales, with many records changing hands for $1 or less.

Some original vinyl records dating back to the 1960s and 1970s fetch astronomic sums today. Take, for example, editions of The Beatles’ White Album. While the edition marked with the serial number A0000001 sold for $790,000 (this was Ringo Starr’s personal copy), other editions have sold at auction for as much as $13,750.

3. Novelty Barware

Most barware sets have a nominal value, typically falling between a price range of $20 and $100. However, some American barware items dating back to the early to mid-20th century are worth considerably more. Think fish-shaped bottle openers, penguin-shaped cocktail shakers, corkscrews with women’s legs, and other eccentric items.

After World War II, Americans up and down the country were in a celebratory mood, with at-home entertaining quickly becoming all the range. The era was epitomized by colorful barware embellished with old glitz, and glassware companies like Federal Glass, Libbey, Culver, and Hazel-Atlas rose to prominence. With rare examples fetching up to $1,500 today, retro barware makes a fun, quirky addition to any table.

4. Women’s Suffrage Memorabilia

Starting in 1866 and ending in 1928, America’s long-running women’s suffrage campaign started decades before World War I, producing an amazing array of artifacts and ephemera, including medals, badges, postcards, china, and games, in addition to an array of pamphlets and books. Each of these items tells a story, but, when placed together, they articulate a collective struggle for equality underpinned by passion and ingenuity that is as relevant now as ever.

5. Comic Books

Collecting early and rare comics is a fun hobby, with many collectors focusing on a character they feel an affinity for or a specific comic book publisher like Marvel or DC.

In 2011 a collector reportedly paid $1.1 million for a copy of Marvel Comics 1962 edition of “Amazing Fantasy” №15, which featured Spiderman’s first appearance. Subsequently, in 2014, a 1938 copy of “Action Comics” #1 sold for a staggering $3.21 million on eBay. Originally costing just 10 cents, the edition featured the first appearance of Superman. The 2014 sale easily ranks as the highest amount ever paid for a comic book.

6. Pocket Watches

In the early 1800s, the pocket watch was regarded as a status symbol rather than simply a practical mechanism for tracking time. In fact, only the richest of society could afford one. However, in the 1930s, the wristwatch started gaining traction, quickly marking the demise of the pocket watch, which was suddenly deemed unfashionable and bulky.

In 2014 a rare 1932 pocket watch produced by renowned watchmaker Patek Philippe entered the history books as the world’s most expensive pocket watch to ever change hands, selling for a staggering $24 million.

7. Fine Art

To make the top 10 list of international art collectors requires multibillionaire status, with a single painting selling for upwards of $100 million at auction. The highest price commanded for a painting to date was achieved by Christie’s auction house in 2017, when Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvatore Mundi sold for $450,312,500.

French art dealer Nathan Wildenstein started collecting art in 1905, eventually assembling one of the world’s most important collections of works by impressionists and old masters. Due to the family’s secrecy as part of efforts to reduce divorce settlements and inheritance taxes, the precise extent and value of the collection is unknown, but it is believed to include Caravaggio’s The Lute Player and Manet’s Café Concert Singer, along with countless other priceless masterpieces.

With 22 Fortune Global 500 companies headquartered in the UK, the country has a large, diverse, and sophisticated economy. Britain is a base for many important companies, serving as a global hub for businesses across a variety of different industries, with considerable growth seen in the renewable energy market in recent years, the UK Government having established ambitious low-carbon targets.

London remains one of the world’s most important financial centers, providing excellent opportunities for companies operating in the financial services sector and related technologies.

Like many countries, Covid-19 has undeniably taken a toll on the UK economy. More recently, conflict in the Ukraine has driven up energy prices. However, the Bank of England has taken robust measures to keep inflation in check. With Boris Johnson recently stepping down, both candidates seeking to replace him as prime minister have proposed short and long-term tax cuts designed to kickstart the economy, a factor that Investec economist Sandra Horsfield observes could materially impact fiscal forecasts.

Growth in the UK Economy

According to its United Kingdom Economic Outlook report published in May 2022, Deloitte predicted growth in the UK economy through 2022. The summer of 2021 saw strong growth in the UK’s GDP, although this subsequently see-sawed through autumn and winter, largely due to labor supply and energy disruptions combined with the imposition of Plan B Covid-19 restrictions in response to the omicron wave. Although the inflationary effects of lockdowns in China and the war in Ukraine have added to existing price pressures, impacting consumer confidence and activity, despite this Deloitte precited that the UK economy would grow by 3.5% through 2022 — more than double the pre-pandemic growth rate.

The UK’s economy has remained stable, with savings accumulated through lockdowns supporting demand, particularly among high earners, who account for a disproportionately high proportion of total spending. Through the summer of 2022, Deloitte predicted that good weather combined with the relinquishing of social distancing restrictions would support economic activity.

Business leaders remained optimistic regarding prospects for revenue growth, according to Deloitte. In its latest CFO Survey, Deloitte reported that 75% of UK CFOs predicted revenue growth through 2022.

Supportive of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Alex Chesterman, founder and CEO of Zoopla, suggests that although the last few years may have been tough from an investment perspective, the overall environment in the UK is supportive of small and medium-sized enterprises in the business community. Chesterman concedes that competition can be a big challenge in the UK, highlighting the importance of businesses standing out in terms of their ideas, people, execution, and products.

A shortage of skilled workers is presenting challenges in the UK as it is globally, with some companies struggling to recruit and retain people with the right skills. This is a common problem in terms of hiring individuals for leadership roles.

Finally, international competition is a commonly cited problem for UK businesses. As serial entrepreneur Stephen Fear points out, UK businesses competing on the world stage face increasing pressure, particularly from dynamic Asian entrepreneurs.

Many Advantages of Doing Business in the UK

For foreign businesses seeking to expand their company’s reach, the UK is a business-friendly destination that confers a variety of commercial advantages.

Firstly, it has a large and dynamic marketplace, with almost 5.6 million private sector businesses operating in the sovereign states, employing 26.9 million workers. The UK economy hosts countless industries, and is distinguished for its creative, financial services, fintech, hospitality, and tourism sectors. Outside of London, the economic focus is typically construction, agriculture, and manufacturing, with automotive, shipbuilding, textiles, and steel particularly strong manufacturing sectors.

The UK has left the EU. However, its physical location makes the country an ideal gateway to Europe, providing easy geographical access to more than 68 million EU citizens while offering the convenience of operating in an English-speaking country. In fact, compared with much of the EU, the UK is one of the easiest countries to do business in, with the World Bank Group ranking the UK as the eighth most business-friendly nation in the world.

Operating in the UK provides businesses with the benefit of access to highly educated, skilled, specialized workers. With more than 30 million working-age adults, the country boasts the second largest-talent pool in Europe. With a meritocratic, points-based immigration system, the UK also makes it easier for businesses to attract and hire highly skilled foreign employees.

Finally, but very importantly, the UK government has incentivized business expansion and investment in the UK through the creation of enterprise zones. Presenting the added benefit of governmental support, simplified local authority planning, and significant tax breaks, enterprise zones are ideal locations for companies branching out in the UK to establish new operations.

Best known as a Renaissance painter and sculptor, Leonardo da Vinci was also an inventor, architect, draftsman, and military engineer, making him the epitome of a true Renaissance man. In this article, we explore the artist’s life and most celebrated works.

Leonardo da Vinci was born in Vinci, in the Republic of Florence, on April 15, 1452

Born Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, he was born out of wedlock.

Da Vinci’s father, Ser Piero da Vinci, was a successful notary, while his mother, Caterina, was from the lower classes. His parents both married other people the year after his birth. Caterina married a local artisan, and da Vinci’s father married Albiera Amadori.

Following Amadori’s death in 1464, Leonardo da Vinci’s father married three more times. From all of these marriages, da Vinci eventually acquired 16 half-siblings in total, of whom 11 survived infancy, the youngest born when Leonardo da Vinci was 46 years old.

Little is known about da Vinci’s childhood, and much is shrouded in myth

Tax records indicate that he grew up in the household of Antonio da Vinci, his paternal grandfather, although it is possible that he spent a good portion of his early years in the care of his mother.

Leonardo da Vinci’s father spent most of his time in Florence, although the young Leonardo is believed to have been close to his paternal uncle, Francesco da Vinci. Despite being descended from a long line of notaries, Leonardo da Vinci received a somewhat rudimentary, informal education in reading, although many attribute this to the fact that his talent was discovered quite early.

In the mid-1460s, da Vinci’s family moved to Florence

Florence was a center of culture and thought for Christian Humanism at the time. At the age of 14, da Vinci became a “garzone,” or studio boy, at the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, a leading Florentine painter and sculptor.

Soon after da Vinci started his apprenticeship, Verrocchio’s own master, the great sculptor Donatello, died. At the age of 17, Leonardo da Vinci became Andrea del Verrocchio’s apprentice, training with him for seven years. Other notable painters apprenticed in the same workshop included Perugino, Ghirlandaio, Lorenzo di Credi, and Botticelli. It was here that Leonardo da Vinci was exposed to theoretical training, as well as mastering a variety of technical skills, including metal working, chemistry, metallurgy, and mechanics, in addition to the artistic skills of drawing, painting, modelling, and sculpting.

When da Vinci was 20, he was offered membership in the painters’ guild of Florence

He declined the offer, however, opting instead to remain with Andrea del Verrocchio until 1478, when da Vinci became an independent master.

Leonardo da Vinci started his first commissioned piece, The Adoration of the Magi, in 1482. However, he never actually completed the work, relocating to Milan halfway through, where he worked for the ruling Sforza clan as a sculptor, painter, architect, engineer, and designer of court festivals.

Da Vinci painted The Last Supper between 1495 and 1498, while based in Milan

A tempera and oil mural painted on plaster, the painting was created to adorn the refectory of a monastery in Milan. Measuring 15 by 29 feet, it is the artist’s only known fresco still in existence today. The painting depicts the Passover dinner, when Jesus Christ addressed the Apostles, telling them, “One of you shall betray me.”

Scholars believe that the Mona Lisa depicts Lisa del Giocondo

In 1499, the French invaded Milan, forcing the Sforza family to flee. Da Vinci left, too, reportedly settling in Venice for a time, before returning to Florence. There, he painted a series of paintings that included La Gioconda, the 21-by-31-inch masterpiece that is best known as the Mona Lisa today.

With her mysterious slight smile, the subject has been a cause of speculation for centuries. Although she was originally believed to have been a courtesan called Mona Lisa Gherardini, the current school of thought is that the subject was actually Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a prominent Florentine merchant.

The Mona Lisa is the only known da Vinci portrait from that period still in existence today. It is exhibited at the Louvre in the French capital, where it continues to beguile visitors from all over the world.

Relatively few of Leonardo da Vinci’s works of art survive to this day

This is predominantly due to the fact his total output was relatively small in comparison with many other prominent artists.

Other surviving works by the master include:

· Ginevra de’ Benci, a portrait of a popular Florentine woman completed in 1474.

· Vitruvian Man. Dating back to 1485, the ink on paper piece depicts a man in two superimposed positions.

· Da Vinci’s self-portraits, the most famous of which is drawn in red chalk.

· Lady with Ermine, a commission painted with oils on a walnut wood panel, depicting Cecilia Gallerani, the mistress of one of da Vinci’s patrons.

Pseudonymous artist Banksy is as much an enigma in the United Kingdom, believed to be his home country, as anywhere. Despite the British media’s endless speculation over the artist’s true identity, he remains an enigma.

In a 2003 interview published in The Guardian, British writer and journalist Simon Hattenstone described Banksy as being white, scruffy, and 28 years old, commenting that the artist had a silver tooth and wore jeans, a T-shirt, a silver chain, and a silver earring. From what little is known about him, Banksy is believed to have not only started his career as a street artist at 14 after having been expelled from school, but also spent time in prison for petty crime.

As Simon Hattenstone explained, anonymity is vital to Banksy since graffiti is illegal in the UK. Banksy is believed to have spent much of the 1990s in Easton, Bristol, before relocating to London around 2000.

Banksy’s masterpieces often focus on the weighty topics of capitalist greed and government oppression. Having taken the world by storm at a young age in the 1990s, he is perhaps best known for his characteristic stenciling technique. Subjects commonly portrayed in his striking pieces include the royal family, children, policemen, apes, and rats. Banksy’s works are typically publicly displayed on very visible surfaces. He is also notorious for the subversion of classic images and use of copyrighted material.

In addition to his career as a street artist, Banksy has ventured into films, making his directorial debut with Exit Through the Gift Shop. Described by one critic as a wonderful, often hilarious film, the satire about street art was nominated for an Academy Award.

According to some accounts, Banksy started his career as a graffiti artist following his expulsion from school, painting on walls in Bristol with reckless abandon. He credits French street artist Blek le Rat as a source of inspiration in his early days, not only aligning with the Bristolian artist’s political leanings, but also inspiring his use of stencils. Banksy also picked up new ideas from many other graffiti artists of the day. Since the early 1990s, he has been a very active member of the graffiti scene, initially partnering with a Bristolian graffiti crew known as the DryBreadZ Crew, or DBZ for short. Later, he partnered with Inkie, another legendary street artist.

Banksy started experimenting with stencils at 18, following a close shave with the police. As he and his graffiti crew fled from the scene, he found himself stuck behind a garbage truck. Seeing stencil letters on the truck, he was inspired, having found a faster way to paint, reducing the risk of getting caught vandalizing public spaces by police.

With such an unconventional pedigree, the subversive, secretive artist subsequently turned the art world on its head. His trajectory from “bombing” walls in Bristol to respected artist commanding hundreds of thousands of dollars per painting has been breathtaking. When Time magazine featured the graffiti master, painter, filmmaker, and activist in its 2010 “100 Most Influential People” list, he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Lady Gaga, Steve Jobs, and Barack Obama, despite his rather inauspicious beginnings. Over the years, Banksy has left his calling card on walls far and wide, including in Barcelona, Detroit, Paris, San Francisco, and Vienna. Moreover, he has evolved from a street artist to a revered canvas artist and conceptual sculptor.

In order to authenticate his artwork while continuing to protect his anonymity, Banksy established an organization called Pest Control. Concealed behind an email address, he continues to control his own narrative. His last known interview remains The Guardian piece with Simon Hattenstone, which dates back almost two decades.

Banksy’s most famous works include Napalm, depicting the girl from the renowned 1972 Vietnam War photograph. Naked and crying, she is flanked by Ronald McDonald and Mickey Mouse, skipping obliviously by her side. The depiction is arguably Banksy’s most unforgiving, unashamedly confronting its audience with the harrowing contrast between innocence and the utter horror of human cruelty.

Despite the seriousness of his messages, Banksy has also been known to temper his social commentary with humor. In 2013, he staged a pop-up in New York City’s Central Park, selling original stencil paintings for $60 apiece. As was subsequently pointed out, with the sidewalks of Manhattan “littered with people selling Banksy rip-offs,” it is perhaps unsurprising that most people walked past without batting an eye.

Since the early 2000s, Banksy has recycled his iconic Girl with Balloon motif several times. The composition is simple, with a young girl gesturing toward a heart-shaped balloon that is floating away. In 2018, a rendition came up for auction at Sotheby’s. After the hammer fell, the audience watched in astonishment as the bottom half of the piece dropped into a device built into the frame and was shredded. Subsequently retitled Love is in the Bin, the piece actually increased in value, demonstrating what a powerful cultural force Banksy has become.