Sonia Gadra

Contact Sonia at sgadra@me.com or through her website SoniaGadra.com

Sonia's interest in art began as a child in Manhattan where she was inspired by the beauty and cultural diversity of New York City.  As a young adult, she was fortunate to be part of the legendary center of artistic expression New York had become.  She developed fine art skills with some of the most talented instructors in the city and at some of the most renowned museums, galleries and art schools in the world.

As her career progressed, she traveled to Europe, the Caribbean, Central and South America.  The breathtaking scenery in these locations inspired her to develop an eye for detail and led to a period of landscape painting of which she is particularly proud.

She later began an intensive study of the chiaroscuro style of Caravaggio and Rembrandt and further developed her own interpretation of the "old masters" technique at The Art Students League of New York City.  Her initial period of study was with David Leffel, aka a modern Rembrandt.

Her work at the Art Students League inspired her to stretch the limits of her abilities.  She soon began studying portraiture with acclaimed portrait artist Raymond Kinstler as she continued to work with Leffel.  At the Woodstock School of Art, she further developed landscape painting techniques working with Mary Ann Goetz.

She currently studies portrait painting with Danni Dawson at The Art League School in Alexandria, Virginia, where she previously studied with Robert Liberace.  In 2018 completed the intensive course, Drawing, Painting and Art History at the Florence Academy of Art, Italy. She is a member of the Copyist Program at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC and has been a copyist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City as well as The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland.

While her work is mainly in classical realism, she enjoys displaying a diversity of styles in still life, landscapes, portraits, and impressionistic representations.