Having been considered as a 'fashionable' and 'cliché' composer of his day, Hahn's compositions are possibly not as well-known as they ought to be. Portraits of Painters for Piano however, is one of many compositions that shatter these prejudices held, representing the engaging diversity of the composer's music.

Venezuelan-born Reynaldo Hahn (1875-1947) entered the Paris Conservatoire at 10 years old. He received a high standard of musical education from Decombes, Lavignac, Dubois and Massenet before becoming a prolific and versatile composer himself, writing works for all genres. For Hahn, music was a magical art and his compositions often contain expressions of his otherwise hidden emotions and moods. Portraits of Painters is made up of four movements based on the poems of Marcel Proust, depicting four different artists. Hahn's Portraits of Painters contains a variety of different features, making for a pleasant and evocative work for intermediate pianists.