What makes a painting “famous?” Is it the genius of the artist, the timeless beauty of the strokes, or the way it continues to spark curiosity centuries later?
As the most famous paintings are not just artworks hung on the wall, but they are evidence and clues of past culture, tradition, and silent stories of generations. The mysterious smile of Mona Lisa and the dreamlike skies of Starry Night have crossed the borders and proved themselves masterpieces.
Including these masterpieces, I’ve curated a list of the most famous paintings of all time on WiseToast. If you are an artistically minded person, then follow up and read to explore the collection.
39 Most Famous Paintings That Steal Hearts
1. Mona Lisa
- Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
- Title: La Gioconda
- Technique: Sfumato
- Created: 1503-1519
- Market Value: Over $1 Billion (speculative price)
- Location: Louvre Museum
I’d like to kickstart the list with Mona Lisa, which is probably the most famous and highly admired painting in the world. This painting is a portrait of a lady called Gherardini and is renowned because the lady’s expression is indecipherable. Moreover, it’s reserved in the Louvre Museum behind bulletproof glass.
- Why Famous: Mona Lisa is famous for Leonardo da Vinci’s mastery, her mysterious smile, lifelike detail, and the intrigue built by history and theft in 1911.
2. The School of Athens
- Artist: Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino)
- Title: The School of Athens
- Technique: Fresco painting (tempera on plaster)
- Created: 1509–1511
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Apostolic Palace, Vatican City
The School of Athens was painted by Raphael, a well-known Renaissance painter, and was completed in two years with approximately 52 figures. Raphael painted the famous philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle, waking in the middle, along with other philosophers on the sides.
- Why Famous: The School of Athens is famous for its stunning Renaissance art that showcases great philosophers like Plato and Aristotle in perfect harmony of art and ideas.
3. The Night Watch
- Artist: Rembrandt van Rijn
- Title: Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1642
- Market Value: Never sold before
- Location: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Night Watch is one of the most popular pieces of work by Rembrandt. It depicts an entire city moving out, led by its captain. A unique aspect is its dark varnish that gives an impression of a night scene. Moreover, it is currently housed in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
- Why Famous: Night Watch is famous because of its dramatic use of light, dynamic composition, and lifelike detail.
4. The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
- Artist: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
- Title: The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1608
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: St. John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta
This painting by Caravaggio shows a realistic depiction of a murder moment of murder in a prison. The gloom of the picture and the expressions of the onlookers make it a true classical masterpiece. It is displayed in St. John’s Cathedral in Valletta, Malta.
- Why Famous: The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist is famous for its dramatic storytelling, religious significance, and Caravaggio’s powerful use of realism.
5. Girl with a Pearl Earring
- Artist: Johannes Vermeer
- Title: Girl with a Pearl Earring
- Technique: Oil on canvas and Chiaroscuro
- Created: 1665
- Market Value: Dutch law prevents its sale
- Location: Mauritshuis Museum, The Hague
Girl With a Pearl Earring is often known as the Dutch Mona Lisa because the expression on the girl’s face is hard to understand. Johannes Vermeer followed the oil on canvas and chiaroscuro techniques while preparing this painting.
- Why Famous: Girl With a Pearl Earring’s captivating gaze, masterful use of light, and mysterious allure make it an iconic masterpiece.
6. The Birth of Venus
- Artist: Sandro Botticelli
- Title: The Birth of Venus
- Technique: Tempera on canvas
- Created: 1484–1486
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli is a painting that depicts the emergence of Goddess Venus from the sea as a beautiful woman. The shy posture of Goddess Venus and her endlessly admired beauty are the most striking parts of this painting.
- Why Famous: The Birth of Venus is celebrated for Botticelli’s masterful use of myth, beauty, and composition. These aspects make it an iconic symbol of Renaissance art, beauty, and elegance.
7. Dogs Playing Poker
- Artist: Cassius Marcellus Coolidge
- Title: Dogs Playing Poker (series of 18 paintings)
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1894–1910
- Market Value: One of the paintings (A Bold Bluff and Waterloo) sold together for $590,400 at the Doyle New York auction in 2005
- Location: Many are in private collections
Painted in 1903 by C.M. Coolidge, this painting has 18 images of dogs sitting around a poker table and playing cards. This painting was an iconic depiction of Americans during the early part of the 19th century. This may be a part of the inspiration for the climax of The Animal Farm, a famous novel by George Orwell.
- Why Famous: It’s iconic for its humorous, anthropomorphic portrayal of dogs in human-like poker scenes, blending art, satire, and pop culture attraction.
8. Portrait of Madame Recamier
- Artist: Jacques-Louis David
- Title: Portrait of Madame Récamier
- Technique: Neoclassical style
- Created: 1800 (unfinished)
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Louvre Museum, Paris
This portrait shows Parisian socialite Juliette Récamier sitting on a stylish sofa in a simple dress with bare arms. At first, this painting was unfinished, but steeped in the neoclassical fashion that became a reason for its fame. In addition, it showcases the ideal of feminine elegance.
- Why Famous: Portrait of Madame Recamier’s elegance, minimalist background, and Jacques-Louis David’s neoclassical style made it an iconic masterpiece of early 19th-century art.
9. No.5, 1948
- Artist: Jackson Pollock
- Title: No. 5, 1948
- Technique: Pollock’s Drip
- Created: 1948
- Market Value: $140 million in 2006
- Location: Private location
This famous painting by Jackson Pollock is a signature piece of art that depicts the chaos raging within Pollock at the time of painting. The many swirls and meshes make it a unique piece of work. For these reasons, it was one of the most expensive paintings ever sold by an American artist, as it was sold for $140 million in 2006.
- Why Famous: No.5, 1948 is a landmark abstract expressionist painting by Jackson Pollock and is celebrated for its drip technique and record-breaking $140M sale.
10. The Son of Man
- Artist: René Magritte
- Title: The Son of Man
- Technique: Surrealist style
- Created: 1964
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Private collection
The Son of Man, painted by René Magrittees, is a piece of artwork that shows his own self in a black suit, but with an apple instead of his face. Although the apple isn’t looking straight, it creates an illusion of falling straight from heaven.
- Why Famous: The Son of Man is iconic for its surreal, mysterious imagery in which a man is standing in a suit with his face obscured by an apple.
11. The Rape of Proserpina
- Artist: Peter Paul Rubens
- Title: The Rape of Proserpina
- Technique: Oil on copper
- Created: 1636-1637
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, Spain
The Rubens’ The Rape of Proserpina is an oil on copper painting that often reminds me of Bernini’s Rape of Proserpina sculpture. It depicts a dramatic Baroque masterpiece, showcasing Pluto’s abduction of Proserpina with Rubens’ signature energy, movement, and powerful use of color.
- Why Famous: It’s renowned for being a portrait copy of Bernini’s masterful Baroque sculpture that captures dramatic motion.
12. Massacre of the Innocents
- Artist: Peter Paul Rubens
- Title: Massacre of the Innocents
- Technique: Oil on panel
- Created: 1611–1612
- Market Value: Sold for £49.5 million in 2002
- Location: Art Gallery of Ontario
Massacre of the Innocents is based on a Biblical event of the Massacre of the Innocents when Herod the Great, king of Judea, ordered the killing of all the male children in Bethlehem. Peter Paul Rubens tries to strike a chilling note in the viewers’ minds.
- Why Famous: The Massacre of the Innocents’ dramatic intensity, vivid realism, and emotional power make it a standout Baroque painting by Rubens.
13. A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
- Artist: Georges Seurat
- Title: A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
- Technique: Pointillism
- Created: 1884–1886
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
Created by Georges Suerat, it shows the relaxed atmosphere of people on a lazy Sunday afternoon on an island. This painting is an excellent example of pointillism, where many dots are joined together to create an image.
- Why Famous: It’s renowned for pioneering pointillism, vibrant colors, and capturing 19th-century Parisian leisure in meticulous detail.
14. The Wounded Angel
- Artist: Hugo Simberg
- Title: The Wounded Angel (Haavoittunut enkeli)
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1903
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Ateneum Art Museum, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki
The painting with two gloomy boys carrying an angel on a stretcher with a bandaged forehead and a bloodied wing makes people curious in a second. And the direct gaze of the boy to the right touches the viewers’ souls. The composition is still considered one of the finest works of art since 1903, and it was produced in the same year by Finnish symbolist painter Hugo Simberg.
- Why Famous: The Wounded Angel is celebrated for its haunting, emotional depiction of a fragile angel that evokes deep empathy and mystery.
15. American Gothic
- Artist: Grant Wood
- Title: American Gothic
- Technique: Oil on beaverboard
- Created: 1930
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
American Gothic symbolizes the grit and determination of Americans during the Great Depression. In this painting, Grant Wood shows a stern-looking couple standing in front of a house with Gothic windows.
- Why Famous: American Gothic’s striking portrayal of rural American life, iconic stoic figures, and timeless symbolism made it a cultural and artistic icon.
16. The Flower Carrier
- Artist: Diego Rivera
- Title: The Flower Carrier
- Technique: Oil and tempera on masonite
- Created: 1935
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Painted by the most popular Mexican painter of the 20th century, Diego Rivera, this painting shows how a person is struggling to carry a huge flower basket on his back. This painting idea depicts how helpless a man is in carrying out his dreams in life.
- Why Famous: Its powerful depiction of struggle and dignity in labor, combined with Diego Rivera’s bold colors, makes it an iconic social realist painting.
17. Whistler’s Mother
- Artist: James Abbott McNeill Whistler
- Title: Whistler’s Mother
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1871
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France
Also known as “Arrangement in Grey and Black. The Artist’s Mother,” it is one of the most famous paintings by American artist James McNeill Whistler. In this painting, Whistler depicts his mother sitting on a chair against a grey wall. This painting is called a grisaille painting because the artist has used only black and grey shades in this painting.
- Why Famous: Whistler’s Mother is famous for its simplicity, compositional balance, and emotional depth, which symbolize motherhood and 19th-century portraiture.
18. The Persistence of Memory
- Artist: Salvador Dalí
- Title: The Persistence of Memory
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1931
- Market Value: Estimated over $150 million (Now, Priceless)
- Location: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City
This painting by the Spanish artist Salvador Dali is a classic example of surrealism, where hard and soft things are present side by side. In this painting, a soft image of a clock slides in the background of a hard table that depicts the value of time.
- Why Famous: The Persistence of Memory is a surreal portrait of melting clocks in a dreamlike landscape that makes Dalí an icon of surrealism and modern art.
19. Portrait of Dora Maar
- Artist: Pablo Picasso
- Title: Portrait of Dora Maar
- Technique: Oil on canvas, Cubism
- Created: 1937
- Market Value: Sold for $45 million at Christie’s in 2020
- Location: Private Collection
Pablo Picasso is one of the most accomplished Spanish painters, and his skill is most evident in this painting. He is the founder of Cubism, which is shown in the same picture from different angles. This picture is about a woman’s face, believed to be that of Picasso’s lover, shown from different angles.
- Why Famous: It’s famous for Picasso’s striking Cubist style, vivid colors, and capturing the intense, complex personality of his muse, Dora Maar.
20. Portrait de L’Artiste Sans Barbe
- Artist: Vincent van Gogh
- Title: Portrait de l’Artiste Sans Barbe (Self-Portrait without Beard)
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1889
- Market Value: Sold for $71.5 million at Christie’s in 1998
- Location: Private collection
This painting by Van Gogh is an interesting piece of artwork that shows the artist (Van Gogh) without his beard. It is also one of the few paintings sold by Van Gogh, and it fetched a whopping $71.5 million in 1998, making it one of his most expensive paintings ever sold at that time.
- Why Famous: It’s Picasso’s iconic 1901 self-portrait that showcases his emotional depth and innovative style.
21. Cafe Terrace at Night
- Artist: Vincent van Gogh
- Title: Café Terrace at Night
- Technique: Oil on canvas, Post-Impressionist
- Created: 1888
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands
Painted by Vincent Van Gogh, this painting shows an everyday setting in bright colors. A simple dinner at a cafe along a street is well depicted in this simple painting. This was the first time ever that Vincent expressed his love for the sky, and later in the Starry Night.
- Why Famous: Van Gogh’s Cafe Terrace at Night is famous in post-impressionist art because of its vibrant colors, a glowing café scene, and an expressive night sky.
22. Composition 8
- Artist: Wassily Kandinsky
- Title: Composition 8
- Technique: Oil on copper
- Created: 1923
- Market Value: Estimated at around $20–30 million (Now, Priceless)
- Location: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City
Kandinsky is often known as the founder of abstract art, a form that uses shapes and symbols instead of real people. Composition 8 is one of his first paintings that expounds the abstract art model of his own prepared painting ideas.
- Why Famous: It’s celebrated for Kandinsky’s masterful use of geometric shapes and bold colors, which make it a key moment in abstract art history.
23. The Kiss
- Artist: Gustav Klimt
- Title: The Kiss (Der Kuss)
- Technique: Oil on canvas with gold leaf
- Created: 1907–1908
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
One of the first pieces of art in the Art Nouveau style, this painting used gold leaf as the background. This painting is celebrated for its intricate patterns and representation of romantic passion during the Golden Age.
- Why Famous: Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss is iconic for its gold-leaf details, sensual intimacy, and Art Nouveau style that captivates viewers worldwide.
24. Bal du moulin de la Galette
- Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir
- Title: Bal du moulin de la Galette
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1876
- Market Value: Estimated at over $150 million
- Location: Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France
Bal du moulin de la Galette translates into “Pastry Chef” and is a vivid description of city life. This painting is one of the expensive paintings expected as its small part was sold for $78.1 million at Sotheby’s in 1990. However, it’s not for an auction and also not for sale.
- Why Famous: It’s celebrated for capturing lively Parisian social life with vibrant light, color, and movement in the Impressionist art era.
25. Olympia
- Artist: Édouard Manet
- Title: Olympia
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1863
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Olympia by Edouard Manet created quite a controversy as it showed a nude white woman lying on the bed and attended by a black lady. She has a gaze and subtlety that indicate she is a mistress. It is also a good early example of the realism style.
- Why Famous: Olympia shocked 19th-century audiences with its bold realism, provocative nudity, and challenge to traditional artistic norms.
26. The Third of May
- Artist: Francisco Goya
- Title: The Third of May 1808
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1814
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
This painting by Francisco Goya shows Napoleon’s attack on the Spaniards. This is one of the first Spanish paintings to show war in the night light. Goya depicts the execution of Spanish civilians by Napoleon’s soldiers, which also shows their cruel nature.
- Why Famous: It’s renowned for its powerful depiction of the execution of Spanish civilians, which depicts Goya’s dramatic realism and emotional intensity.
27. Las Meninas
- Artist: Diego Velázquez
- Title: Las Meninas
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1656
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, Spain
Las Meninas (1656) by Diego Velázquez shows Infanta Margaret Theresa and her attendants. This painting blends reality, perspective, and royal reflections into a masterpiece full of mystery. In addition, it creates a relationship between viewers and itself while encouraging them to focus on natural beauty.
- Why Famous: Las Meninas’ masterful composition, perspective play, and complex interplay of viewer, subjects, and artist make Velázquez’s work iconic.
28. The Arnolfini Marriage
- Artist: Jan van Eyck
- Title: The Arnolfini Marriage
- Technique: Oil on oak panel
- Created: 1434
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: National Gallery, London, United Kingdom
This painting is one of the oldest preserved ones, dating back to 1434. It was done by Jan van Eyck and portrays the Italian businessman Giovanni Arnolfini and his pregnant wife in their home at the Flemish city of Bruges.
- Why Famous: Jan van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Marriage is renowned for its detailed realism, symbolic depth, and innovative use of oil paints in 1434.
29. The Scream
- Artist: Edvard Munch
- Title: The Scream (Skrik in Norwegian)
- Technique: Tempera and pastel on cardboard
- Created: 1893
- Market Value: Approximately $120 million
- Location: National Gallery, Oslo, Norway
The Scream is a painting by Edvard Munch of Norway, and it shows the distorted face of a figure against a bloody sky. The hill landscape in the background adds to this picture’s charm. It is also one of the first few paintings done in expressionist style, where the reality is blurred to give more importance to emotions.
- Why Famous: The Scream’s vivid colors, haunting expression, and universal portrayal of anxiety make it an iconic symbol of human emotion and modern art.
30. Water Lilies
- Artist: Claude Monet
- Title: Water Lilies (Nymphéas)
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: Series painted between 1896 and 1926
- Market Value: Individual canvases have sold for $50–$80 million+
- Location: Multiple places
Water Lilies, painted by Claude Monet, is a series of 250 oil paintings based on his own flower garden. These paintings are located in different art museums worldwide, including Musée de l’Orangerie (Paris), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), and the Art Institute of Chicago.
- Why Famous: Monet’s Water Lilies is iconic for its innovative use of color, light, and reflection, which capture nature’s beauty in an impressionistic, tranquil style.
31. Starry Night
- Artist: Vincent van Gogh
- Title: Starry Night
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1889
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, USA
Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh shows the village of Saint-Remy under a swirling moon with stunning shining stars. It is one of the most famous paintings in modern culture and is currently housed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
- Why Famous: Starry Night is famous for its vivid colors, swirling patterns, and emotional depth, which symbolize Van Gogh’s inner turmoil and brilliant use of brushstrokes.
32. Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
- Artist: Pieter Bruegel the Elder
- Title: Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1560
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
This painting by Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel shows man’s indifference to the suffering of his fellowmen. It is a powerful theme shown in a rather simple way with Icarus, the Greek character suffering underwater, and people going on with their work.
- Why Famous: It’s famous for subtly depicting Icarus’ fall in a busy landscape, which highlights human indifference to others’ tragedy.
33. The Creation of Adam
- Artist: Michelangelo Buonarroti
- Title: The Creation of Adam
- Technique: Fresco painting on wet plaster
- Created: 1511–1512
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo shows how God created Adam while showcasing Adam and God’s hands meeting each other. It is one of the paintings that adorn the 12,000 square feet area of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City.
- Why Famous: The Creation of Adam is famous for its masterful depiction of God giving life to Adam, which is a pure topic of Renaissance art, anatomy, and divine themes.
34. The Last Supper
- Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
- Title: The Last Supper (Il Cenacolo)
- Technique: Tempera and oil on plaster
- Created: 1495–1498
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy
The Last Supper is a painting that depicts the last meal that Jesus had with his disciples. Displayed at the dining hall of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, this painting has also created much controversy around Mary Magdalene, the supposed character sitting next to Jesus.
- Why Famous: Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece is celebrated for its dramatic composition, emotional depth, and groundbreaking use of perspective.
35. Guernica
- Artist: Pablo Picasso
- Title: Guernica
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1937
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Guernica by Picasso depicts the bombing of the Spanish city of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. It is a black and white painting that shows the role of Italians and Germans in this bombing.
- Why Famous: Picasso’s Guernica powerfully depicts the horrors of war that symbolize suffering and political protest with bold, dramatic imagery.
36. Saturn Devouring His Son
- Artist: Francisco Goya
- Title: Saturn Devouring His Son
- Technique: Fresco-Secco
- Created: 1819–1823
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Museo del Prado in Madrid
The painting depicts the myth of the Titan Cronus (Saturn in Roman myth), who, fearing that one of his children would overthrow him, swallowed them. The imagery is gruesome and visceral; Goya’s treatment is raw and horrifying. However, it’s not a prettified myth told as allegory so much as a nightmare made flesh.
- Why Famous: A terrifying depiction of myth and mortality, painted in Goya’s late life when he was disillusioned and ill, it reflects raw human fear and despair.
37. Dance at Bougival
- Artist: Auguste Renoir
- Title: Dance at Bougival
- Technique: Classical and Impressionist
- Created: 1883
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston, Massachusetts
The painting itself captures the movement, light, color, and atmosphere, which mark the hallmarks of Impressionist technique. Also, historically, this painting is part of a trilogy of “dance” paintings Renoir did for Paul Durand-Ruel. Dance at Bougival is often considered the most romantic and accessible of the three.
- Why Famous: Dance at Bougival is famous for its lively depiction of modern life: an outdoor scene, a couple dancing, and the café environment in Bougival.
38. Salvator Mundi
- Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
- Title: Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World)
- Technique: Oil on canvas
- Created: 1499–1510
- Market Value: $450.3 million
- Location: Unknown
Salvator Mundi depicts Christ in Renaissance dress, blessing with one hand and holding a crystal orb in the other. This painting symbolizes his role in salvation & dominion over the heavens. Leonardo’s rendering of light and tone, the delicate modeling of Christ’s features, and the unusual orb (transparent, almost supernatural) look really amazing.
- Why Famous: Salvator Mundi is famous partly for its attribution to Leonardo da Vinci, its contested authenticity, and its long, mysterious history of disappearance and rediscovery.
39. Liberty Leading the People
- Artist: Eugène Delacroix
- Title: Liberty Leading the People
- Technique: Dramatic pyramidal composition
- Created: 1830
- Market Value: Priceless
- Location: Louvre Museum
Liberty Leading the People commemorates the July Revolution in France, which overthrew King Charles X. The painting mixes allegory (Liberty as a woman, often called Marianne) with actual realism. Ordinary people of various classes (workers, bourgeoisie) march, fighting, stepping over dead bodies; Liberty holds the tricolour flag (France’s flag).
- Why Famous: Liberty Leading the People has become a symbol not just for France but globally for revolution, freedom, and resistance.
Before You Go for More Searches
This was the list of the most famous paintings of all time that carry the cultural light, evidence, and admiration of emotions. Most of them are preserved in the museums for the next generation to think of their generational geniuses.
These paintings reflect human art and a sense of adoption history from different ages. Which one did you like the most and why?
Do let me know in the comments about your favorite ones! If you have extraordinary information about these paintings, you can contact us and share this with us, so WiseToast.com can add your preferences to the article.
I dont think there can be ONE compiled list of the most famous paintings since there are a lot of countries with their own cultures and eras and mindsets, and its a broad area to categorize, but I think you did a good enough job anyway. However I feel that this list is quite narrow, there are quite a few revolutionary movements you missed like dadaism, de stijl, minimalism, abstract expressionism, to name a few. However you did a good job, thank you
I think that I completely agree with your comment.
I like paint and I love drawing especially on myself
I did not like any of them
wdyc?
Dadaism and surrealism are so closely related I’ll count it, de Stijl might as well be minimalism ( which is covered in Mark Rothko’s piece #30), but is definitely congruent with Kandinsky’s innovation (piece #19), Jackson Pollock’s piece is THE DEFINITION of abstract expressionism and you sir are dumb.
Agree. So many men, so many minds! What one considers interesting, someone may consider absurd. Is it actually possible to make a list of the best paintings?
I think this is a well group of choices. Of course, there are millions of paintings, but I can go with this list. I lean towards, Monet, Picasso, Van Goh,, I have no additions to your list, you made good choices.
Agreed
I love fine art when I see it I feel geek..lol love me some Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci
Tell me do you live art or just those artists because their famous
As I exited an art gallery some years ago the curator of the museum asked if I enjoyed my visit. I told him that there were a few exhibits that I really liked. He told me that that pleased him as if there was but one that I liked they had done their job.
Although each artist has great sense of art but I like william tyller painting. His Painting has a meaning and lesson to everyone that took my attention and that’s how the artist should be.
Starry Night. I could look at it hours.
Could someone explain the art of Mark Rothko please.
It’s based majorly on the experience of looking at it. Try visiting the Rothko chapel if you’re ever in Huston. He was a very emotional and contemplative man.
I love Guernica. It’s so expressive!
Yes I like it too
Concerning the Night Watch: It’s Rijksmuseum not Riksmuseum
For me the best has been picasso
I have seen 5 of them so far and it makes me sad that some are not possible to see. It’s a good thing we can at least see them like this.
The Pollock shown in entry #32 isn’t No. 5 — it’s actually Autumn Rhythm, located at the Met in NYC. 🙂
my favourite is #19
It’s abstract and everybody can make out it in their way.
i love that piece work
am a fun of art from Uganda
This cannot be possible that no painting from the Indian or Arab or Chinese Culture can be present on this list. I could ask “Why is that so?”
The only present are the Western Cultures . Does
other cultures of the world haven’t got any grandeur?
Dear Friend, I don’t know about Indian or chineese, but as far as the arab world is concerned, they did not paint in those early days, or if they did it was on the snad. Nevertheless they wrote poetry 🙂
However now I have gathered around 150 middle eastern artists in my website:
plastic-artist.fr/
i love it
hy men could some one explain about the school of athens
The Mona Lisa isn’t famous because of her smile.
There are two main factors that experts believe contributed to the painting’s immense fame.
1). All the publicity it got when it was stolen.
2.) The fact that Da Vinci always carried the painting with him, died with it next to him, and said “This is my best painting.”
Aa a matter of fact it was bought by Napoleon. After that I didn’t heard he “sleep” with her anymore…
I like several of them, the Van Goghs, the Rivera, the Seurat. Pls note that the caption has Suerat, which is incorrect. I have long loved the Dali, have tried for years to write a poem based on it, but nothing says it better than the image itself.
I think the Pollock IS No. 5 and not No. 32 as someone has suggested. No. 32 is quite different in colour but I am no expert, and searching on the numbers also brings up the NO. 5 when looking for 32.
I know these paintings are beautiful, but it is NO help with my work!
You’re using an incorrect photo of ‘The Kiss’, that’s not it!
And also Saturn Devouring His Son should be in top 35 I think. It’s pretty nasty painting though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Devouring_His_Son
no, it’s called vore
Thanks! It helps with my homework.
Night Watch is the best.
La Moulin de la Galette and Massacre of the Innocents are the reality of the history.
Monalisa is my favorite.
Sad.. where is Frida Kahlo and her amazing art??? 🙁
Not a single woman artist is represented here. This is another list simply perpetuating the myth of western male superiority. There are many great paintings by women and it is tedious that lists like this systematically overlook the work of women and no one even comments on it.
My favorite artist is Van Gogh because I think the way he does his work is amazing. The way he draws pictures, he put marks. Like he puts a lot of marks and then it turns into a picture. I think that’s pretty impressive.
I don’t understand paintings but The scream by Edward Munch has dragged me in into this wonderful world. Old guitarist by Pablo Picasso is also my favourite painting. I emphasise again I don’t understand paintings.
35 paintings not one female artist named! Nothing from anything outside Western culture!
Yes 35 paintings and not one female artist named! Also, not one Japanese artist named, not one black artist named, not one artist under sixteen named. None of these are complaining but we simply must complain if there is a gender imbalance, right?
Please!
There is no doubt that women have produced great art but the point here is not to fight a crusade for equality but to admire paintings.
If there was interest in female paintings then it would be viewed or popular. Painting wasnt exactly a female profession until recent times. Name me 2 famous female generals, 3 famous astronomers, 4 female pioneer medical researchers. It is a struggle because they werent involved to the same extent as men. Next you will claim obese gays, or eskimos are under represented. For fucks sake
I are right but this is just example what adverts do to people mind
Ugly painting are sold for million and the art is forgotten
I also agree that Picasso was a great artists, but I believe Las Meninas by Valazquez is an amazing piece. As well as Dali.
I know these paintings are beautiful, I like several of them, the Van Goghs, the Rivera, the Seurat. i also have listed some of the famous indian painters and Famous paintings techniques. the link is in My name . Kudos to your efforts 😀
The “Meninas” of Velazquez is for me the best, you can feel the atmosphere in the room of the painting, it is like a photo taken at that moment, for the revolutionary method of painting, innovation and beauty it is The Painting.
Starry night 🌌
Wat is kunst? kennen? ja!
Media is kunst.
$
Very nice images. But I’m quite disappointed because there is no painting from India.
Raja Ravivarma ‘s paintings are rearlly great painting and please add those paintings. Indians are the real Art lovers..
Night watch is the best thinks
You could have mentioned the artist name along with the painting details. Makes us do extra homework by googling the artist of the painting.
Where is the art of Degas?? Any masterpiece would fetch an astronomical price if it ever landed on tbe art market (as the Pollocks did) so I have trouble with the decision to include multiple Picassos and Van Goghs, and instead choosing to omit at least one painting by another master, like Whistler, or even a Boldoni (my personal favorite portaiter if the 19th century). And the name of the artist of the Juliette Recamier portrait is missing.
Whoops. I see Whistler’s Mother made the cut after all. 😊
Great job Ahmed Raza. The very nature of the topic, choosing from the world’s best artwork, is mind boggling. No one can make a ‘complete ‘ list or a ‘perfect’ list. You came closest to completion or perfection than most others who dared take up this daunting task. Congratulations. Please give us more. May be the best statues. Or the best architectural masterpieces. Thanks.
My favorite is the girl with the pearl necklace, soemthing about her eyes, good looking women too, for the top piece has to be The Creation of Adam, its epic on a scale I cant even imagine.
The spolarium should be in here
Who painted 7#
The girl with the pearl earring touches me with her look….it transcends over centuries. Most other paintings I find a bit boring children of their own time.
ya dat gross and I DISAGREE
I love everything in the world EVERYTHING even bugs and paintings. But the best picture is the don of man. HE HAS (Chuckles) An APPLE FOR A FACE!
(trinidad’s brother) OOPS SORRY MEANT (chuckles) SON OF MAN!!!!
MICHIALANGELO GREATLY PAINTING THE SISTINE CHAPEL ON HIS BACK WINS “THE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE AWARD”
Just like a list of favourite pop, rock or classical songs or the most beautiful women in the world,these compilations will be highly subjective so I will take them as entertaining & fun rather than comprehensive and exhaustive. Just back from Morocco, and some of the art there was simply stunning. No Asian ,Persian,Chinese,female artists’ or my favourite, Carravaggio in the style of Chiaroscuro. Where is the super at Emmaus?
Nothing by Piero della Francesca! Rothke compared to Piero is a kindergartner dipping his hands in paint and saying, Gee! , what a good boy am I.
Unbelievable that dogs playing poker would make this list, and not a single Titian or Georgia O’Keeffe.
The Creation of Adam,
Excellent and Pure Painting
Like the handing over of authority, power; in such an enduring, strikingly innocent gait.
Whatever the value of this list may be, it’s quite astonishing to see a relative majority of the pieces (9!) comes from the low countries, besting culturally ever-dominant France (7). Van Gogh alo seems the most famous painter, according to the list (3)
Where is Aivazovsky, the greatest Russian master of marine art? Are you kidding me!
La moulin de Gallette seemed so life like and depicted a casual evening in a loving city.
“Pastry Chef” that’s how you paint!
Drawing is my chilhood hobby and visvualizing these paintings of these famous artists really made my day. Thanks for Sharing!
Love “Massacre of the Innocents” by Peter Paul Rubens the most. It is very difficult to paint multi-figure painting.
And where is John William Waterhouse’s paintings?
The Kilmt painting is a copy, and not a very good one.
Yes me too I like the painting
I am at the beginning of a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours and for me it is a toss up between Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ & Matisse’s ‘The Dance’. Both for their colour, movement and composition.
“Portrait of Dora Maar” EYE CATCHING AND BEAUTIFUL
Shame on you for not including Georgia O’Keefe. There are many great paintings that this list neglected to include. It’s only male artists who have created the best paintings in the history of fine art…really?
I love looking at these most famous paintings. I usually spend a long time soaking in the particular elements which lend to the overall attraction. One of these that stops me every time – I can’t get by it without being rapt by its haunting appeal – is Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring. Amazing and captivating.
I am saddend by the lack of knowledge, & deplorable writing skills of some of these comments. Western culture did not allow women to openly paint, let alone read. This is why you see very few women artists represented until the present time. Other cultures (China, India…) do have their own beautiful examples of art & culture, but oil paints, cloth canvas, ghesso, acrylics… were not typically utilised until more recent times. This is why we have museums, to learn, study, enjoy, & appreciate every cultures’ unique artistry. You may not find all visually appealing, but art is for individual interpretation & provokes inner contemplation. Just a thought. I enjoyed viewing the paintings & appreciate that in my modern world, I have the ability to see that which was at one time, unattainable. No Alphonse Mucha??
I paint and now I believe I am an unknown genius because by definition I paint only from my mind and not from real life. I love those capable of realism for their ability to put reality on canvas or board but I frustrate my self trying to emulate them, I soar when I paint with the freedom of my thoughts. My canvases are given not sold, they are like children to me and now as I age, I wish them to return, it will not happen. perhaps a few hundred years from now they will still be hung and admired, discussed and interpreted, studied and imitated and valued.
🎨list of many refined male artists 🖼 very good
Pollock with an ‘O’ if we are nitpicking
Great list. But I would have included La Belle Dame Sans Merci by Sir Frank Dicksee
Interesting choice.
Arts(Paintings)are my hobby from childhood, I love
Everything in the world even bugs and paintings.
My favourite is the culture of India, something about
Cultural festival and images on temples the famous to message to add together in the world.
My favorite from this list is the Mona Lisa because it most clearly depicts the essence of woman – how she can be deep in thought yet not betray anything but calm tranquility on the surface. Makes one wonder at her strength.
Great pieces of work, unfortunately Black Artists, Caribbean Paintings, Paintings of India and Africa are not represented.
Painting is something that the mind should feel happy about. Good energy should come.
Great collection. I haven’t seen the “Old musician” by Picasso before. He is a genius, so use of color. My first thing was “The only alive here is the guitare”, second one followed: “Ars longa, vita brevis est”.
Nice but the paitings are reality and not imagination
I like the one with Elvis the king and dolphins on velveteen too the best one
Actually “Starry Night” is only one of a number of paintings by Van Gogh on the subject.One hangs in the Musee d’orsay in Paris. Its title is Starry night over the Rhone and I much prefer it to the one That hangs in Museum of Modern Art .
You might also check what Blue Poles is worth . The Australian Government bought it back in the 1970’s for a World record price of $1.3 million many moons ago and it may not have cost them $140.million but I am sure it is worth much more than that lets say $350-400 million ?
all the drawings are beatyful and hard to draw.also theres some drawing I know is fameouse when I was little.so when I was little it look like it a hard work to do and it gave me the idea that it was famouse.
Three brilliant female artists:
The Dance – painting by Paula Rego.
Self Portrait – painting by Suzanne Valadon.
A Little Night Music – painting by Dorothea Tanning.
Not even one of them included!
Nevertheless, I enjoyed your selection of male artists work, and have always thought that the expressions on the faces of the Mona Lisa, and The Girl With A Pearl Earring both show a particularly high degree of female intelligence. I think they are both just saying non-verbally…please don’t underestimate me! My personal opinion only. Delia Marheineke.
Where’s the great waves of kangawa?
No idea
Why do you say 35 then list 45 and then not show 5 of them?