The pupils of the fourth grades of the primary school of Pandino (Italy) created some works by Leonardo Da Vinci, born in Florence in 1452.

* Osman Hamdi Bey was an important intellectual and painter of the Ottoman Empire who lived in the late 19th century.

* ‘The Turtle Trainer’ is one of his most well-known works and was painted in two different versions in 1906 and 1907.

* The painting depicts a man in traditional clothes trying to tame turtles with a ney in his hand and a nakkare on his back.

* The work symbolises the modernisation efforts of the Ottoman society of the period and the difficulties in this process.

* ‘Turtle Terbiyecisi’ is considered one of the most iconic works of Turkish painting and still attracts great interest today.

EXCELLENT JOB, GUYS!!!

Hikmet Çetinkaya-Turkey

He was born in 1958 in Hasanşeyh, Konya. After completing his high school education in Denizli, he graduated from Gazi University, Gazi Faculty of Education, Department of Painting in 1982. He participated in numerous art fairs in Turkey and other countries at international level. In 2001, he successfully represented his country at the Stockholm International World Art Fair in Sweden, to which he was invited. This fair was a turning point for the artist, he focused on his poppy-themed works and began to be known as the ‘’Poppy Man’’.

In addition to his studio in Turkey, he continued his art works in his studio in Paris, which he opened in 2002, for five years. Çetinkaya opened an art house called Arc-En-Ciel Maison D’art Paris and participated in many artistic activities. In 2013, he continues his art works simultaneously in his studio in Toronto, Canada and in his studio in Ankara, Turkey.

He organized the exhibition in Paris-Unesco with 45 artists participating from Turkey. In order to strengthen Turkish-Greek friendship, he organized art events called “Anatolia’dan Esintiler” in Athens and Patmos, Crete, Santorini and Mykonos. He participated in art symposiums in Bulgaria/Plovdiv - Austria/Pörchlan - Canada/Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, Kyrgyzstan/Bishkek, Australia/Canberra, and gave live performances and seminars.

He held 121 personal exhibitions, 40 of which were abroad, in America, Canada, Russia, Austria, France, China, Australia, Greece, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia and Cyprus, and participated in more than 800 group exhibitions. He has introduced more than 10,000 works to the art world with his brush, which he has not let go of for 40 years, starting in 1976.

He prepared and presented art and culture programs under the name of “Hikmet Çetinkaya’nın Atölyesi” consisting of 60 programs on Halk TV. The exhibition space in the Nazım Hikmet Congress & Art Center built by the Ankara / Yenimahalle Municipality was named "Hikmet Çetinkaya Exhibition Area" and the artist was given the greatest award in his life. For the first time in the Photography Art Institution (FSK), the artist's Documentary was prepared and presented by photographer Selma Seyitdanlıoğlu in the Tekin Ertuğ Workshop.

Member of the International Plastic Artists Association.

Dikmen received her pre-university education at the Robert College in Arnavutköy finishing in 1942. Six years later in 1948, she completed her education at the Painting Department of the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, and then went to Paris, France. In 1953, she graduated from the Art history Department of the Ecole du Louvre in Paris, and worked three years with Fernand Léger and two years with Sengier Chastel and Roger Chastel. In 1953, she opened her first solo exhibition, and the next year she had her first solo exhibition in Turkey.

In 1957, Dikmen participated in the exhibition of contemporary Turkish arts exhibition in Edinburgh, Scotland, and then in similar exhibitions during 1962 in Paris, Brussels, and Vienna. In 1968, she organized a retrospective exhibition gathering both her old and new works.

She died on 16 September 2000.

Osman Hamdi Bey was an important Ottoman painter, archaeologist, and museum curator, born in Istanbul in 1842. He was one of the first Turkish artists to paint in a Western style. One of his most famous paintings is The Tortoise Trainer. He greatly contributed to the development of museology in Turkey and founded the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. He achieved many firsts in both art and science. He passed away in 1910.

Hikmet Çetinkaya-Turkey