$dbname = 'mydb';
$dbhost = 'myhost';
$dbuser = 'myuser';
$dbpass = 'mypass';
$conn = mysqli_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass, $dbname);

if (!$conn){
    die("could not connect " . mysqli_connect_errno() . mysqli_connect_error());
}

$qry = "SELECT name, date, artist, owner, style FROM paintings";
$result = mysqli_query($conn, $qry);

$posts_array = array();

if ($result->num_rows > 0){
    while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)){
        global $user_ID;

        $new_post = array(
                        'post_title' => $row['name'],
                        'post_content' => 'Artist: '.$row['artist'].'&nbsp Style: '.$row['style'].'&nbsp Date: '.$row['date'].'&nbsp &nbsp Images: &nbsp &nbsp Documents:',
                        'post_author' => $user_ID,
                        'post_type' => 'pages',
                        );

        $posts_array[]=$new_post;
    }
} else {
    echo "no resulting rows";
}

mysqli_close($conn);

foreach ( $posts_array as $post) {
    $post_id = wp_insert_post($post);
}