Born in 1965 in Kewaskum, Wisconsin, where he now lives with his wife Jennifer, and their
young children, Dan's interest in art emerged as a teenager. Studies at the American Academy
of Art in Chicago, Illinois and his voracious appetite for museums and the modern masters such
as John Singer Sargent, Alphonse Mucha, Nicolai Fechin, Joaquin Sorolla, Carl von Marr as well
as a host of other French and American impressionists have inspired him.
Dan has a particular interest and appreciation for modern Russian art and the sumptuous
canvases of the painters Nicolai Fechin, Isaac Levitan and Ilya Repin. As Dan says, their
paintings are "completely loose yet deliberate and faithful, not at all flashy."
Indeed, the powerful and evocative beauty of Gerhartz's paintings are also due in large
measure to looseness, honesty and faithfulness of his style. Dan's paintings embrace a range of
subjects, most prominently the female figure in either a pastoral setting or an intimate interior.
He is at his best with subjects from everyday life, genre subjects, sacred-idyllic landscapes or
figures in quiet repose, meditation or contemplative isolation.
His mastery of the female figure, the clothed figure especially, is brilliant. He has drawn
inspiration from the very old tradition of romanticism and symbolism. His absolutely lavish
surfaces, color and lighting are in harmony with his expressionistic brushstroke, application
and modeling of light and shade.
His paintings are sensitive yet evocative creations, which dramatize his bold and ambitious
technique. He is at his very best when he allows himself to explore the surface in a free and
painterly manner, while retaining his sense of other worldliness.
His subjects evoke a timelessness and idealism, yet for the most part Dan has drawn upon his
home and community in Wisconsin, including family and friends. His sense of intimacy and honesty
with regard to his subjests are a direct result of his closeness and proximity to them. A
projection of tranquillity, repose and rich introspection result from his knowledge of the content
of his art.
In Gerhartz's pictures the ordinary or commonplace is transformed into a higher reality and
consequently a sense of greater importance. Emotions are a vital part of his express design, while
his mastery of anatomy, the human form and complex surfaces combine to make his canvases very
powerful visual experiences.