10 most famous paintings
Compared to his later paintings, the strips of color are spaced apart, with a neutral background showing between them. He's not yet covering the entire canvas with saturated color, nor exploiting possibilities of using brushes to create texture in the paint itself. These details from Van Gogh's painting The Restaurant de la Sirene, at Asnieres in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum , show how he experimented with his brushwork and brushmarks after exposure to the paintings of the Impressionists and other contemporary Parisian artists.
Edgar Degas, Four Dancers, c.
Oil on canvas. In the National Gallery of Art , Washington. This is possibly Whistler's most famous painting. Its full title is "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. His mother agreed to pose for the painting when the model Whistler had been using fell ill. He initially asked her to pose standing, but as you can see he gave in and let her sit down.
On the wall is an etching by Whistler, "Black Lion Wharf. The symbol wasn't always the same, but it changed, and its shape is used to date his artwork. It's known he'd started using it by It's Hope II is a beautiful example of Klimt's use of gold leaf in paintings and his rich ornamental style. Look at the way he's painted the garment worn by the main figure, how it's an abstracted shape decorated with circles yet we still 'read' it as a cloak or dress.
How at the bottom it melds into the three other faces. In his illustrated biography of Klimt, art critic Frank Whitford said:. It's a symbolism that's still considered valid nowadays given that gold is still regarded as a valuable commodity. Klimt lived in Vienna in Austria and drew his inspiration more from the East than the West, from "such sources as Byzantine art, Mycenean metalwork, Persian rugs and miniatures, the mosaics of the Ravenna churches, and Japanese screens.
Yale University Press. Page p This painting was created by Picasso in , during his Blue Period a time when tones of blue dominated Picasso's paintings; when he was in his twenties. It features the artist Angel Fernandez de Soto, who was more enthusiastic about partying and drinking than his painting 1 , and who shared a studio with Picasso in Barcelona on two occasions.
The painting was put up for auction in June by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation after an out-of-court settlement had been reached in the USA on ownership, following a claim by descendants of the German-Jewish banker Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy that the painting had been under duress in the s during the Nazi regime in Germany.
Pablo Picasso, The Tragedy, Oil on wood. It's from his Blue Period, when his paintings were, as the name suggests, all dominated by blues. While planning and working on his enormous painting Guernica, Picasso did many sketches and studies. The photo shows one of his composition sketches, which by itself it doesn't look like much, a collection of scribbled lines.
Instead of trying to decipher what the various things might be and where it is in the final painting, think of it as Picasso shorthand. Simple mark making for images he held in his mind. Focus on the how he's using this to decide where to place elements in the painting, on the interaction between these elements.
This famous painting by Picasso is enormous: 11 feet 6 inches high and 25 feet 8 inches wide 3,5 x 7,76 meters. Picasso did this portrait painting in when he was The subject a Catalan tailor, Mr. Minguell, who it is believed Picasso was introduced to by his art dealer and friend Pedro Manach 1. The style shows the training Picasso had in traditional painting, and how far his painting style developed during his career.
That it's painted on paper is a sign that it was done at a time when Picasso was broke, not yet earning enough money from his art to paint on canvas. Picasso gave Minguell the painting as a gift, but later bought it back and still had it when he died in The painting was put on canvas and likely also restored under Picasso's guidance " sometime before " 2 , when it was photographed for a book by Christian Zervos on Picasso.
Next time you're in one of those dinner-party arguments about how all non-realist painters only paint abstract , cubist, fauvist, impressionist, choose your style because they can't make "real paintings," ask the person if they put Picasso in this category most do , then mention this painting. Accessed 3 June The auction estimate had been three to five million pounds.
This enormous painting nearly eight square feet by Picasso is heralded as the one of the most important pieces of modern art ever created, if not the most important, a crucial painting in the development of modern art. The painting depicts five women -- prostitutes in a brothel -- but there's much debate about what it all means and all the references and influences in it.
Georges Braque, Woman with a Guitar , Oil and charcoal on canvas. It shows the interior of Matisse's painting studio, with flattened perspective or a single picture plane. The walls of his studio weren't actually red, they were white; he used red in his painting for effect. On display in his studio are various of his artworks and bits of studio furniture.
The outlines of the furniture in his studio are lines in the paint revealing color from a lower, yellow and blue layer, not painted on top of the red. Matisse painted it on commission from the Russian art collector Sergei Shchukin. I think it's a painting that shows why Matisse has such a reputation as a colorist, particularly when you compare the study to the final painting with its glowing figures.
In her biography of Matisse on page 30 , Hilary Spurling says:. Note the flattened perspective, how the figures are the same size rather than the ones further away from being smaller as would occur in perspective or foreshortening for representational paintings. How the line between the blue and green behind the figures is curved, echoing the circle of figures.
De Kooning was apprenticed to commercial art and decorating firm when he was 12 and attended evening classes at the Rotterdam Academy of Fine Arts and Techniques for eight years. He emigrated to the USA in and began painting full time in De Kooning's painting style was Abstract Expressionism. He had his first solo exhibition at the Charles Egan Gallery in New York in , with a body of work in black-and-white enamel paint.
He started using enamel paint as he couldn't afford artist's pigments. By the s he was recognized as one of the leaders of Abstract Expressionism, though some purists of the style thought his paintings such as his Woman series included include too much of the human form. His paintings contain many layers, elements overlapped and hidden as he reworked and reworked a painting.
Changes are allowed to show. He drew on his canvases in charcoal extensively, for the initial composition and while painting. His brushwork is gestural, expressive, wild, with a sense of energy behind the strokes. The final paintings glance done but weren't. De Kooning's artistic output spanned nearly seven decades and included paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints.
His final paintings Source in the late s. His most famous paintings are Pink Angels c. In the s he worked simultaneously in abstract and representational styles. His breakthrough came with his black-and-white abstract compositions of — In the mids he painted the urban abstractions, returning to figuration in the s, then to the large gestural abstractions in the s.
In the s, de Kooning changed to working on smooth surfaces, glazing with bright, transparent colors over fragments of gestural drawings. American Gothic is probably the most famous of all the paintings American artist Grant Wood ever created. It is now in the Art Institute of Chicago. Grant Wood painted "American Gothic" in It depicts a man and his daughter not his wife 1 standing in front of their house.
The most famous painting in the world, Mona Lisa, has captivated audiences for centuries with her enigmatic smile and mysterious gaze. Painted by Leonardo da Vinci between and , this masterpiece is celebrated for its lifelike portrayal and innovative use of sfumato, a technique that blends colors and tones seamlessly.
World famous art paintings by famous artists
With bold, expressive brushstrokes and vibrant blues and yellows, this painting is a hallmark of Post-Impressionism. The emotional intensity conveyed through the turbulent sky contrasts with the calm village below, making it one of the most beloved and analyzed paintings in art history. Located in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, the painting has undergone several restorations but remains a profound religious and artistic masterpiece.
It stands as one of the most powerful anti-war statements in the history of art and a defining work of the 20th century. As a precursor to Expressionism, The Scream resonates with viewers through its raw emotional power and has become one of the most recognizable paintings in the world. The painting depicts the Roman goddess Venus emerging from the sea on a shell, symbolizing beauty, love, and divinity.
It depicts a battalion of civic guardsmen in a group photograph. The primary function of these guardsmen was to protect their city. As such, they were entrusted with protecting gates, patrolling streets, fighting fires, and generally keeping the city in order. The artwork has attracted so many individuals throughout history, attracting record numbers to the art museum in The Hague, where it is presently kept.
Girl with a Pearl Earring c.
Art paintings by famous artists
Joseph Guillotine to devise a device that would increase the efficiency of the ax and thus make killings more humane. David was there in the middle of it. He had joined the Jacobins early in the Revolution, a political organization that would eventually become the most zealous of the different rebel factions. Ophelia is regarded as one of the major classics of the Pre-Raphaelite period.
Millais created a striking and unforgettable image by combining his interests in Shakespearean topics with keen attention to natural detail. Millais, on the other hand, was able to demonstrate both his technical ability and aesthetic vision. Before the production of this iconic artwork, there was a great deal of testing. James Whistler requested his mother to model for him while standing up, but she found it too difficult.
Whistler was able to exhibit his approach in tonal arrangement and harmony in this painting. Arrangement in Grey and Black No. The Gross Clinic, a painting produced in that features local physician Samuel David Gross, is perhaps his most well-known and grandiose effort for the city of Philadelphia. Tulp Its modernity stems from both its selected matter — a typical Sunday afternoon picture of working-class Parisians at leisure at the Moulin de la Galette — and its free Impressionist-style brushwork.
The picture was a proposal by Sargent to depict the young socialite rather than a commission. Seurat was able to catch a fascinating picture of aristocratic Parisian life in the nineteenth century despite its remote position. The image prompted a slew of interpretations and was chastised for being too technical. However, upon its debut, it was hailed as a great work of precise proportions.
This vibrant outdoor view painting is a stunning work of art, depicting the viewpoint of a carefree observer who enjoys the pleasures of his environment without moral concern. The color is brighter, and the attention is pulled to the steep edges of neighboring sections, which form irregular patterns that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. The eyes are challenged by the long-term partition of this region into a large item and backdrop theme; the distant and close areas are both different.
Geometric art paintings by famous artists: Learn about the lives and styles of 40 of the most famous artists in the world, from Renaissance masters to contemporary creatives. See examples of their paintings, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night, and Frida Kahlo's Self-Portrait.
A night sky swirling with vivid blue spirals, a dazzling golden crescent moon, and constellations depicted as radiating spheres dominate the oil-on-canvas artwork. One or two flame-like cypress trees loom over the scene to the side, their black limbs curving and undulating to the motion of the partly obscured sky. A structured settlement lies in the distance in the bottom right of the canvas, among all of this activity.
The modest houses and the thin spire of a church, which stands as a beacon against undulating blue hills, are made out of straight, controlled lines. Despite his own dire financial condition, Van Gogh had always supported the work of his friends, particularly Bernard and Gauguin. The Scream , comparable only to Mona Lisa , may just be the most famous human image in Western art history.
Its ambiguous, skull-shaped head, extended hands, huge eyes, flaring nostrils, and oval mouth have been ingrained in our shared cultural awareness; the whirling blue environment, particularly the blazing orange and yellow sky, has spawned a slew of interpretations about the scenario represented. Toulouse-Lautrec was inhabited. Created in the early 16th century, its enigmatic smile and groundbreaking techniques in portraiture have made it a subject of fascination for centuries.
Depicting the goddess Venus emerging from the sea, it has become a symbol of idealized femininity and natural beauty. Its cubist shapes and monochromatic palette convey the horrors of conflict. This iconic painting is often seen as a representation of the American Midwest. It remains one of the most famous surrealist works ever created. This monumental painting by Rembrandt is famous for its dramatic use of light and shadow and its revolutionary approach to portraiture.
It showcases a group of city guards, immortalizing them in a composition teeming with life and movement. Its deteriorating condition adds to its aura as a fading but undying beacon of art history. A triumph of pointillism, this painting captures the leisurely life of Parisians in a local park. Marking the birth of Impressionism, the name of this painting inspired the name of the entire movement.
An iconic painting of the Romantic period, it encapsulates the feeling of the sublime, facing the infinite and the unknown. A woodblock print rather than a painting, this iconic image fits comfortably in great art. Its stylized depiction of a monstrous wave has become a symbol of the irresistible force of nature and has had a broad influence across various art forms.
The painting captures a sense of stillness and introspection amid the backdrop of the city. This painting is both a celebration of human dignity and a social critique.
Abstract art paintings by famous artists
Showcasing peasant women collecting leftover grain was controversial in its time for its direct portrayal of societal inequality. This painting is an iconic representation of the Renaissance spirit. Featuring influential thinkers like Plato and Aristotle at the center, it celebrates the intellectual and artistic advancements of the era.
Capturing a joyful afternoon among friends, this painting is a testament to the Impressionist love of life. Its vibrant color palette and dynamic composition encapsulate a moment of pure delight. Painted while van Gogh was in the asylum, this work is a brilliant example of the emotional power of color and form. A seminal work in the Neoclassical style, this painting depicts a scene from Roman legend.
Modern art paintings by famous artists
Its focus on civic duty and moral integrity resonated with viewers at its creation years before the French Revolution. This masterpiece encapsulates the Impressionist fascination with light, offering a snapshot of a typical Parisian scene rendered in delicate, dappled sunlight. The rich tableau painting explores suffering, judgment, and eternal damnation themes.