Anna used existing black and white photos, drawings, newspaper clippings, and shots taken directly off of a TV screen to act as source materials from which she painted these portraits.
Her goal was to simply create a realistic image of how they might have looked in life; and in some cases to reveal or emphasize information about the artists that was not previously known to her. She wanted to show Vincent Van Gogh at age 13 with his red hair, blue eyes, and freckles—a far different image from his later and more familiar tortured self-portraits. Toulous Lautrec enjoyed dressing up in costumes for parties. Anna painted him in his silk Japanese Shogun outfit. All portraits (painted between 1996-1998) are oil on masonite panels, approximately 9” x 12”. Click on each portrait to see greater detail.