Maria Karpenko
Maria Karpenko was born in Moscow, Russia, and moved to Germany at the age of 6 with her family. She won a national art competition in elementary school in Germany and started painting oil on canvas at the age of 9. She had her first solo exhibition at the age of 10, selling more than a dozen paintings. Local newspapers profiled her in articles with titles like "A 'Phenomenon': First Exhibition at Age 10."
Before Maria started painting, she spent about two years visiting museums and galleries in Europe. She was enthralled by French Impressionism and chose Claude Monet as her mentor. Maria’s parents took her to Claude Monet’s house and garden in Giverny, France. She studied his work and the work of other impressionists by flipping through artbooks countless times. She copied a few of Monet's paintings to learn and practice his technique. The Walk (Argenteuil) (1875) and Poppies (1873) are among the paintings she copied. She quickly moved on to her own paintings—mostly landscapes and floral compositions.