How do we become the artists we want to be? Charting a course and setting sail for the unknown plays a role. We begin, learning how to harness composition, drawing, values and color. But how did we come to be standing on the shore, one foot on the sand, one over the gunwale, ready to push off? The primum movens is our connection to artworks that captured our imaginations, moved us. Works that pluck a string that thrums in our soul, that make us want to create art that does the same for others, that shares the most extraordinary and ineffable aspects of the human condition. Click on the images below to read how these artworks inspire our leading artists.