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Mona Lisa Photo sourced from Wikimedia
30 Most Famous Paintings you have to know about
The art of painting is one of the best ways the painter expresses, communicates and gives a definition of what he sees through painting. A painting is often defined as the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the “matrix” or “support”).The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and airbrushes, can be used.
Over the years paintings have become part of life and have often been playing a huge role in art. The history of painting dates to a very long time ago but has developed over the years to become a key part of our history and our life. There are several paintings of different genres and types that have been printed over the years. Let’s take a look at some of the most famous paintings you have to know about;
1.Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci (1503-1505)
Mona Lisa Photo sourced from Wikimedia
Top of our list is none other than the Mona Lisa which is one of the priceless masterpieces that have the highest insurance can never be bought or be sold because it belongs to the people of France, which makes it a national property and the French government cannot price such a masterpiece.
Made by one of the finest and most famous artists Leonardo Da Vinci, this masterpiece is a portrait of Madame Gherardini, personifying the ideal woman of the Renaissance. Several attempts have been made to damage it but have all been futile, and was once stolen in 1911 returning only 2 years later. Its insurance is around $870 million in today’s money.
2.The birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (1486)
The Birth of Venus Photo by Sandro Botticelli Wikimedia
The birth of Venus is another one of the most famous paintings in the world and one of the most renowned masterpiece in the art sphere. The master piece which is among the most protected paintings is a painting done by Sandro Botticelli and is about the myth of the birth of Aphrodite.
According to the painting the beautiful goddess drifts to the shore in a sea shell, driven by the Zephyr’s wind (West wind), and on the shore she is met by one of the Graces. The Birth of Venus is well preserved thanks to the fact that Botticelli applied a protective layer of egg yolk to the painting. This masterpiece is kept in Florence in the Uffizi Gallery.
3.The creation of Adam by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1511)
Michelangelo – Creation of Adam Photo sourced from Wikimedia
The Creation of Adam is a fresco painting by Italian artist Michelangelo, which forms part of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, painted between 1508–1512. It illustrates the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God gives life to Adam, the first man.
Michelangelo’s fresco The Creation of Adam, which adorns the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Palace, is the fourth of the nine famous art pieces of the central composition dedicated to scenes from the Book of Genesis. In addition to depicting ideal human forms, the fresco is one of the first attempts in the history of art to depict the God himself.
4.The last supper by Leonardo Da Vinci (1495—1498)
The Last Supper Restored – Leonardo Da Vinci Photo sourced from Wikimedia
The last supper is a mural painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to between 1495–1498. The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with the Twelve Apostles, as it is told in the Gospel of John – specifically the moment after Jesus announces that one of his apostles will betray him.
Its handling of space, mastery of perspective, treatment of motion and complex display of human emotion has made it one of the Western world’s most recognizable paintings and among Leonardo’s most celebrated works. For more than 500 years of its existence, the famous fresco The Last Supper has been restored at least five times, and the last restoration took 21 years.
5. Sacred and profane love by Tiziano Vecelli (1515—1516)
Sacred and profane Love Tiziano Vecellio, better known as Titian Sacred and Profane Love 18 th Century Oil on Canvas The painting titled Sacred and Profane Love is a painting by Tiziano Vecellio. The painting was painted to celebrate marriage between rich Venetian couple in 1514. In the painting the two ladies on each corner/side of the painting, are leaning against a rim, which is opened and filled with water.
The painting was a scene taken from the story of Venus and Adonis. In this painting the lady/Venus on the right is holding a lamp, which symbolize heavenly love and everlasting happiness and the lady/bride on the left in a wedding gown represent earthly love. In the center of the painting, there is a small chubby cupid, who blends the water of love.
6.The ancient of days by William Blake (1794)
Blake ancient of days Photo sourced from Wikimedia
This popular artwork by William Blake is now in the British Museum, London. Along with the original name, two more versions are widespread: The Great Architect or The Creation. The literal name of the painting, The Ancient of Days, is the phrase that was used as the name of God.
The main character of the painting is God at the moment of creation, who does not establish order, but limits freedom and denotes the limits of imagination.It draws its name from one of God’s titles in the Book of Daniel and shows Urizen crouching in a circular design with a cloud-like background. His outstretched hand holds a compass over the darker void below.
7. The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer (1665)
Girl with a pearl earring is an oil painting by Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer, dated back to 1665. Going by various names over the centuries, it became known by its present title towards the end of the 20th century after the earring worn by the girl portrayed there.
The work has been in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague since 1902 and has been the subject of various literary and cinematic treatments. It is often referred to as the northern Mona Lisa. This is not only because of its extraordinary popularity, but also because the expression on the girl’s face is difficult to capture and explain.
8.The Night Watch by Rembrandt Van Rijn (1642)
The Night Watch Photo sourced from Wikimedia
Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, also known as The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch, but commonly referred to as The Night Watch is a painting done by Rembrandt van Rijn in 1642 . It currently in the collection of the Amsterdam Museum but is prominently displayed in the Rijksmuseum as the best-known painting in its collection. The Night Watch is known as one of the most famous Dutch Golden Age paintings.
Initially people who discovered the painting thought that human beings in the painting were standing against a dark background, and gave it the name The Night Watch. Later however they got to realize that it was a layer of soot which made the painting dark but the action infact take place during the day. However, the painting replenished the treasury of famous art pieces under the name The Night Watch.
9.The Sistine Madonna by Raffaello Santi (1512)
Raphael – The Sistine Madonna Photo sourced from Wikimedia
The Sistine Madonna, also called the Madonna di San Sisto, is an oil painting by the Italian artist Raphael. The painting was commissioned in 1512 by Pope Julius II for the church of San Sisto, Piacenza, and was finished between 1513–1514. The canvas was one of the last Madonnas painted by Raphael and one if the most famous paintings of all time.
The painting has a little secret, the background, which looks like clouds from a distance, upon close examination is the heads of angels. And the two angels depicted in the picture below have become the motif of numerous postcards and posters over the years. The painting was moved to Dresden from 1754 and is well known for its influence in the German and Russian art scene.
10.Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix (1830)
Liberty Leading the People is a painting by Eugène Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled King Charles X. A woman of the people with a Phrygian cap personifying the concept of Liberty leads a varied group of people forward over a barricade and the bodies of the fallen, holding the flag of the French Revolution in one hand and brandishing a bayonetted musket with the other. The figure of Liberty is also viewed as a symbol of France and the French Republic known as Marianne.
The painting is sometimes wrongly thought to depict the French Revolution of 1789.Delacroix depicted Liberty as both an allegorical goddess-figure and a robust woman of the people. The mound of corpses and wreckage acts as a kind of pedestal from which Liberty strides, barefoot and bare-breasted, out of the canvas and into the space of the viewer.
11. The Madonna Litta by Leonardo Da Vinci (1491)
Madonna_Litta Photo sourced from Wikimedia
The Madonna Litta is a late 15th-century painting, by Leonardo da Vinci, which is stored in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. It depicts the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Christ child, a devotional subject known as the Madonna lactans. The figures are set in a dark interior with two arched openings, as in Leonardo’s earlier Madonna of the Carnation, and a mountainous landscape in aerial perspective can be seen beyond.
In his left hand Christ holds a goldfinch, which is symbolic of his future Passion.The painting takes its name from the House of Litta, a Milanese noble family in whose collection it was for much of the nineteenth century. There is a hypothesis that the figure of the baby was not painted by Leonardo da Vinci, but belongs to the brush of one of his students. This is evidenced by the unusual baby pose, which is different from da Vinci’s artistic style.
12.Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1560)
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus dated to around 1555 -1560 is an oil painting attributed to Pieter Bruegel the Elder.on canvas measuring 73.5 by 112 centimetres (28.9 in × 44.1 in) currently displayed in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels. It shows the Greek mythological figure, Icarus, plunging into the sea in the lower right-hand corner, a parable on human aspiration.
In Greek mythology, Icarus succeeded in flying, with wings made by his father Daedalus, using feathers secured with beeswax. Ignoring his father’s warnings, Icarus chose to fly too close to the sun, melting the wax, and fell into the sea and drowned. His legs can be seen in the water just below the ship. The sun, already half-set on the horizon, is a long way away; the flight did not reach anywhere near it.
13.The school of Athens by Raffaello Santi (1509–1511)
The School of Athens is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. The fresco was painted between 1509 and 1511 as a part of Raphael’s commission to decorate the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. The wonderful painting depicts a congregation of several philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists from Ancient Greece.
Those featured in the painting include Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Archimedes, and Heraclitus. The Italian artists Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo are also featured in the painting, shown as Plato and Heraclitus respectively.The School of Athens is regarded as one of Raphael’s best known works, and has been described as Raphael’s masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the Renaissance.
14. Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez (1656)
Las Meninas is a 1656 painting in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age. It has been regarded as one of the most widely analyzed works in Western painting, due to the way its complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and the uncertain relationship it creates between the viewer and the figures depicted.
The painting depicts five-year-old Infanta Margarita in front of a portrait of her parents. The picture includes several plans: the characters pose for the painter, are reflected in the mirror, and leave the room. Such a composition expands the dimensions of the canvas, making it three-dimensional. This masterpiece, now housed in Museo del Prado in Madrid, is considered the highest achievement of Velazquez himself.
15.The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist by Michelangelo Da Caravaggio (1608)
The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist is an oil painting created by the Italian artist Caravaggio, measuring 3.7 m by 5.2 m. It depicts the execution of John the Baptist shows the moment of the murder of John the Baptist in prison in an incredibly realistic manner. The semi-darkness of the painting and the expressions on the faces of the characters make it a true legacy of art.This masterpiece by Caravaggio is kept at St. John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta
The painting also depicts a nearby servant girl who stands with a golden platter to receive his head. Another woman, who has been identified as Herodias or simply a bystander who realizes that the execution is wrong, stands by in shock while a jailer issues instructions and the executioner draws his dagger to finish the beheading. The scene, popular with Italian artists in general and with Caravaggio himself, is not directly inspired by the Bible, but rather by the tale as related in the Golden Legend.
16.The Return of The Prodigal Son by Rembrandt Van Rijn (1661–1669)
The Return of the Prodigal Son is an oil painting by Rembrandt and part of the collection of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. It is among the Dutch master’s final works, likely completed within two years of his death in 1669. It depicts the moment of the prodigal son’s return to his father in the Biblical parable and it is a renowned work described as a picture which those who have seen the original in St. Petersburg may be forgiven for claiming as the greatest picture ever painted.
In the painting, the son has returned home in a wretched state from travels in which he has wasted his inheritance and fallen into poverty and despair. He kneels before his father in repentance, wishing for forgiveness and the position of a servant in his father’s household, having realized that even his father’s servants had a better station in life than he had. However, his father receives him with a tender gesture and welcomes him as his own son.
17.Christ Carrying The Cross by El Greco (1580)
Christ Carrying the Cross is an oil painting done by El Greco and produced early in his Toledo period circa de 1580. The psinging depicts Christ in a moment of personal reflection as he carries the cross to his death, therefore committing the ultimate sacrifice for humankind. In the painting, Christ’s eyes are lifted up to the heavens as he begins his walk towards his crucifixion.His gentle hands wrap around the cross as a stormy night floods the background.
Christ Carrying the Cross is a painting which is 105x79cm and is one of numerous similar paintings by El Greco. It is currently in the El Greco room in the New York art collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. El Greco focused primarily not on the divine, but on the humanity of Christ in this painting which makes it one of the most famous paintings.
18.Perseus and Andromeda by Peter Paul Rubens (1622)
Perseus and Andromeda is a 1622 painting in the Hermitage Museum by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens of the ancient Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda after the former’s defeat of the Gorgon. The painting depicts Perseus, in the centre of the painting, surrounded by three putti, one holding the shield with Gorgon’s reflection, one wearing the hero’s helmet, while the third holds the winged horse Tobiano Pegasus.
Above, Victory, the goddess of glory, is depicted in the act of placing a crown on the hero’s head. Two other putti free Andromeda from the rock to which she is tied. Cetus, the sea monster defeated by the hero, is shown below. The painting Perseus and Andromeda was painted in the classical Baroque style. Thanks to the almost monochrome coloring, the characters harmonize well with the dark stone background.
19.Deposition from the Cross by Giorgio Vasari (1540)
This painting, a representative of Vasari’s early style, was produced for the Camaldoli monks at their monastery outside Florence. Completed in 1567, this work was commissioned by a group of monks and depicts Christ on the cross along with the surrounding people.
This painting reflects Mannerism because if the paintings religious overtone and its distorted figures. Chiaroscuro is also evident in this work. The religious tone reflects the time period as the Reformation and Catholic Reformation occur during this time.
20.The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali (1931)
The Persistence of Memory is a 1931 painting by artist Salvador Dalí and one of the most recognizable works of Surrealism. First shown at the Julien Levy Gallery in 1932, since 1934 the painting has been in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, which received it from an anonymous donor.
It is widely recognized and frequently referred to in popular culture, and sometimes referred to by more descriptive titles, such as “Melting Clocks”, “The Soft Watches” or “The Melting Watches. According to the author himself, the picture was painted as a result of abstract associations that Dali had at the sight of processed cheese.
21.The Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel The Elder (1563)
The Tower of Babel was the subject of three paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The first, a miniature painted on ivory, was painted while Bruegel was in Rome and is now lost. The two surviving paintings, often distinguished by the prefix “Great” and “Little”, are in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam respectively.Both are oil paintings on wood panels.
The Rotterdam painting is about half the size of the Vienna one. In broad terms they have exactly the same composition, but at a detailed level everything is different, whether in the architecture of the tower or in the sky and the landscape around the tower. The Vienna version has a group in the foreground, with the main figure presumably Nimrod, who was believed to have ordered the construction of the tower, although the Bible does not actually say this.
22.The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch (1500-1510)
The Garden of Earthly Delights is the modern title given to a triptych oil painting on oak panel painted by the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, between 1490 and 1510. It has been housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain since 1939.
The triptych is literally overflowing with figures, fantastic constructions, monsters, caricatures of reality, which will take at least a month to examine in detail. The phantasmagoric surrealistic world created by Bosch is absolutely incompatible with any of the existing religions.
23.Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man by Salvador Dali (1943)
Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man is a 1943 painting by Salvador Dali. The painting was done during Dali’s stay in the United States from 1940 to 1948 and it is said to be one of his most recognizable paintings. It depicts a man scrambling out of an egg while an adult woman and child look on. The work is on view at the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida where it currently resides.
Dalí uses the leaking yellow “yolk” of the egg to map the world onto the egg.The man emerging from egg is the “New Man” referenced in the title, and the “Geopoliticus Child” can be seen crouching in the lower right-hand corner.The New Man emerges from the egg where North America should be, breaking through the rising power of the US and resting his hand on Europe to support his emergence.
South America and Africa are both enlarged relative to Europe, conveying the growing importance of the so-called “third world.”The draped cloth represents the placenta.The androgynous figure who the Geopoliticus child holds on to is pointing at the New Man, showing the child the “new historical period it will represent.
24.Blue Dancers by Edgar Degas (1897)
Blue Dancers is an 1897 pastel by Edgar Degas, now in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, which it entered in 1948 from the State Museum of Modern Western Art. It was in Durand-Ruel’s collection and then until 1918 it was in Sergei Shchukin’s collection in Moscow.
Degas was obsessed by the art of classical ballet, because to him it said something about the human condition. He was not a balletomane looking for an alternative world to escape into. Dance offered him a display in which he could find, after much searching, certain human secrets.
25.The Kiss by Gustav Klimt (1907–1908)
The Kiss is an oil-on-canvas painting with added gold leaf, silver and platinum by the Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt. It was painted at some point in 1907 and 1908, during the height of what scholars call his “Golden Period”. It was exhibited in 1908 under the title Liebespaar (the lovers) as stated in the catalogue of the exhibition.
The painting depicts a couple embracing each other, their bodies entwined in elaborate beautiful robes decorated in a style influenced by the contemporary Art Nouveau style and the organic forms of the earlier Arts and Crafts movement. The painting now hangs in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere museum in the Belvedere, Vienna, and is considered a masterpiece of Vienna Secession (local variation of Art Nouveau) and Klimt’s most popular work.
26.Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet (1872)
Impression, Sunrise is an 1872 painting by Claude Monet first shown at what would become known as the “Exhibition of the Impressionists” in Paris in April, 1874. The painting is credited with inspiring the name of the Impressionist movement. It depicts the port of Le Havre, Monet’s hometown. It is now displayed at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. The two small rowboats in the foreground and the red Sun being the focal elements.
In the middle ground, more fishing boats are included, while in the background on the left side of the painting are clipper ships with tall masts.Behind them are other misty shapes that are not trees but smokestacks of pack boats and steamships, while on the right in the distance are other masts and chimneys silhouetted against the sky. In order to show these features of industry, Monet eliminated existing houses on the left side of the jetty, leaving the background unobscured.
27.The Scream by Edvard Munch (1893)
The Scream is a composition created by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893. The agonized face in the painting has become one of the most iconic images of art, seen as symbolizing the anxiety of the human condition. Munch’s work, including The Scream, would go on to have a formative influence on the Expressionist movement.
Munch recalled that he had been out for a walk at sunset when suddenly the setting sun’s light turned the clouds “a blood red”. He sensed an “infinite scream passing through nature”.Munch created four versions, two in paint and two in pastels. The first painted version was the first exhibited, debuting in 1893. It is in the collection of the National Gallery of Norway in Oslo.
28.The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh (1889)
The Starry Night is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. Painted in June 1889, it depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Remy-de-Provence, just before sunrise, with the addition of an imaginary village. It has been in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City since 1941.
Van Gogh was seeking respite from plaguing depression at the Saint-Paul asylum in Saint-Rémy in southern France when he painted The Starry Night. It reflects his direct observations of his view of the countryside from his window as well as the memories and emotions this view evoked in him. It is one of the most famous masterpieces in the art world.
29.The Great Wave of Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai (1831)
The Great Wave off Kanagawa is a woodblock print that was made by Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai, probably in late 1831 during the Edo period of Japanese history. The print depicts three boats moving through a storm-tossed sea with a large wave forming a spiral in the centre and Mount Fuji visible in the background.
The Great Wave off Kanagawa has been described as “possibly the most reproduced image in the history of all art” as well as being a contender for the “most famous artwork in Japanese history”. It has influenced several notable artists and musicians, including Vincent van Gogh, Claude Debussy, Claude Monet, and Hiroshige.
30.Souvenir From Havre by Pablo Picasso (1912)
Souvenir from Havre’ was created in 1912 by Pablo Picasso in Analytical Cubism style. Souvenir from Havre marked the beginning of the synthetic period of the Spanish cubist Pablo Picasso: brighter colors appeared, not inherent in analytical cubism. Monochrome works gave way to color again.
Still lifes predominated in the famous art pieces of this period; real objects were used to dilute the abstractness.Matisse painted ‘The Young Sailor’ in 1906, at the height of his involvement with the Fauves. The sitter of this picture is an eighteen-year-old fisherman, Germain Augustin Barthélémy Montarges, from the small Mediterranean village of Collioure, near the Spanish border.
These are some of the most famous paintings of all time, though there is more in the art world than meets the eye. The art of painting is one of the most renowned works.
