Lorelle Rau Studios

A spectacular evening of art and connection last night at capitolcontemporarygallery. Such beautiful work, such engaged community! If you haven’t had a chance to see the work currently hanging be sure to stop by the gallery.

BORN ON THIS DAY | REIJI HIRAMATSU

Born on this day in 1941, Japanese painter Reiji Hiramatsu is celebrated for bringing the centuries-old tradition of Nihonga into conversation with modern Western painting.

Born in Tokyo and raised in Nagoya, Hiramatsu developed a distinctive approach to landscape through traditional Japanese materials and techniques, creating richly decorative visions of flowers, water, changing seasons, and the natural world.

A pivotal moment came in 1994, when Hiramatsu encountered Claude Monet’s monumental Water Lilies at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris before traveling to Monet’s garden at Giverny. Recognizing the influence of Japanese art within Monet’s work, Hiramatsu began an artistic dialogue of his own—reinterpreting the water lily pond through the language of Nihonga.

The resulting works bring that exchange full circle: Japanese aesthetics influenced the Impressionists, and generations later, Impressionism returned as inspiration for a Japanese painter. Hiramatsu’s landscapes transform familiar subjects through brilliant fields of blue, gold, blossoms, moonlight, and water, bridging traditions across cultures and centuries.

Happy birthday to Reiji Hiramatsu. 🌸

IMAGES

1. Reiji Hiramatsu in his studio
Photo: Ou Tanka
1. Monet and Water Lilies
Reiji Hiramatsu
1. Flowers and Moon
Lithograph
Reiji Hiramatsu
Courtesy of Japanese Painting Gallery
1. Cherry Blossom
Lithograph
Reiji Hiramatsu
Courtesy of Japanese Painting Gallery

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT | GARRY NALBANDYAN

Garry Nalbandyan Garry Nalbandyan is an artist whose work represents a harmonious synthesis of music and painting. A professional violinist and award-winning musician, he has performed extensively across Europe for many years.

His journey in visual art began in early childhood, evolving from a youthful hobby into a profound form of self-expression through expressive landscapes and portraits.

Ignoring rigid academic frameworks, the artist trusts his intuition, striving to fill every canvas with “live” emotional energy. His works are in private collections worldwide, including Russia, Germany, the USA, Georgia, and Armenia.

A project from 2025 - these abstract works pairs so well with the green walls, plant life, and linear light fixtures.

A beautiful installation from 2024 - bringing landscapes into a building gives it such life, such vitality. These hallways truly came alive once we added these paintings.

LOCAL ARTIST SPOTLIGHT | DANIEL SOMMERS

Daniel Sommers is a figurative and landscape oil painter whose work explores spiritual, symbolic, and human themes through a classical approach to representation. Drawing from the traditions of allegorical painting, he seeks to create images that invite reflection on mortality, redemption, creation, and the relationship between the temporal and the eternal.

Sommers is pursuing a degree in 2D Fine Art, where he studies drawing, painting, and the foundations of classical image-making. His work is influenced by the visual language of Baroque and early modern painters, as well as his interest in symbolism, realism, and the search for meaning within ordinary experiences.

Working primarily in oil, Sommers combines careful observation with imaginative composition to create paintings that bridge the visible and the abstract.

BORN ON THIS DAY | GUSTAVE CAILLEBOTTE

Born on August 19, 1848, in Paris, Gustave Caillebotte was a French painter, collector, and patron who occupied a distinctive place within the Impressionist movement. His paintings combined the movement’s fascination with modern life and changing light with an unusually precise, almost photographic approach to perspective and composition.

Caillebotte turned his attention to both the rapidly changing streets of Paris and the quieter world of family life, interiors, gardens, and leisure. His unconventional viewpoints and carefully constructed spaces gave his paintings a striking modernity that set him apart from many of his Impressionist contemporaries.

He was also instrumental in supporting the movement itself, financially assisting fellow artists, helping organize Impressionist exhibitions, and assembling an important collection of their work. After his death, part of that collection was accepted by the French state, helping secure Impressionism a place in France’s national collections.

Caillebotte died on February 21, 1894, in Gennevilliers, France, at just 45 years old. Today, he is recognized not only as an important patron of Impressionism, but as an innovative painter in his own right.

PHOTO / PAINTING CAPTIONS

1. Gustave Caillebotte, Self-Portrait, c. 1892
Oil on canvas
1. 5 × 32.5 cm
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
2. Gustave Caillebotte, Young Man at His Window, 1876
Oil on canvas
116 × 81 cm
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
The figure is Caillebotte’s brother, René, looking out from the family’s Paris apartment.
3. Gustave Caillebotte, The Orange Trees (Les Orangers), 1878
Oil on canvas
3. 9 × 116.8 cm
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Depicting Caillebotte’s brother Martial and their cousin Zoé in the garden of the family estate at Yerres.
4. Gustave Caillebotte, Portraits in the Country (Portraits à la campagne), 1876
Oil on canvas
A quiet scene of women gathered outdoors at the Caillebotte family estate in Yerres, reflecting the artist’s intimate observations of domestic and upper-class leisure.