50 Most Famous Paintings of All Time in the Art History (Ranked)

The Principles of True Art is not to portray, but to evoke Jerzy

As rightly said in the words of Jerzy Kosinski, the painting is what catches the eye of the viewer and also tells a story behind portraying the emotions of the artist and evokes him to action. Every painting is one of the famous paintings of all time itself as every Artist makes a painting with all his heart and sweat.

Theres always a hidden inspiration behind to prepare that masterpiece whether it be your devotion for someone, your inspiration from something, your depiction of social evils of the society.

We have curated a list of 50 unbeatable paintings of all times and have stood out in the entire art Industry:

Composition 8

This geometrical sort of painting was made in 1923 by Vasily Kandinsky. It was one of the best pieces of postwar by Vasily. Kandinsky also evolved an abstract style that reflected the utopian artistic experiments of the Russian avant-garde.

Royal Red and Blue

This awkward-looking color strokes painting was an abstract color-field art made in 1954 by the Artist Mark Rothko. This Abstract Painting was also one of the highest sold painting in the Sothebys Auction fetching a whopping price of $75.1 Million.

Starry Night

The Starry Night was also one of the most famous paintings of the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. He created it in 1889. It is the depiction of a view of the east-facing a window of his asylum room, just before the sunrise. The painting became famous because of its modern aesthetic touch and is safeguarded in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City since 1941. Many creators have even tried making something similar too but could not achieve the success.

Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

Italian artist Caravaggio made this Oil painting. This masterpiece is also considered one of the most important works in Western painting. The painting shows also different sides of death and human cruelty and how its scale and shadow daunt and possess humans nowadays. This painting was completed in 1608 and was celebrated worldwide by its a clear depiction of the dark world too.

Guernica

The Very famous Artist Pablo Picasso of all times also made this portrait in 1937 as a political rejoinder to the Nazis devastating casual bombing practice on the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. The picture also depicts the pain and agony of civilians who were attacked too in the tragedies of war. This painting still keeps alive the suffering of people and also the dark massacre day.

Night Watch

The night watch is one of the best and famous paintings in the collection of the Amsterdam Museum. The Night Watch is one of the most famous Dutch Golden Age paintings made in 1642 by Rembrandt Van Rijn. This famous painting also depicts the eponymous company moving out, led by Captain Frans Banninck Cocq and his lieutenant, Willem Van Ruytenburch. The dramatic use of yellow and red shades also highlights the important characters of the famous paintings attracting our eyes towards them too.

The Persistence of Memory

This artwork is also one of the very famous paintings by the artist Salvador Dali completed in 1931. The painting is a depiction of Melting clocks and is one of the most recognized works. This Surreal piece of work is the representation of Dalis theory of Softness and Hardness which is central to the thinking of the time. This modern work of art was very much appreciated by everyone and now this sits in the museum of modern art, New York City.

Luncheon on the Boating Party

The Luncheon on the boating party is one of the most famous paintings made in 1881 by the French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. This Painting was also one of the best painting in the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition in 1882. This painting is a true example of wealthiness, the beautiful impression of strokes and also an amazing art style.

No. 5, 1948

One of the most priced painting by Jackson Pollock, an American painter also not surpassed until April 2011. The painting was made from liquid colors and is one kind of an abstract art sold at a whopping price of $140 million. It was also painted on the fibreboard with different hues of brown, grey, white and yellow paint all mixed up together forming the shape of a birds nest.

Water Lilies

Water lilies is not just one single painting but also a series of approximately 250 oil paintings all depicting flower garden at his home in Giverny. These series is painted by French impressionist Claude Monet. All these series were also very expensive and one of them was sold for 18.5 million in an auction in London.

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

This oil painting is also kept in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels. This painting is depicting a scene from Greek mythology where Icarus succeeded in flying with wings made of beeswax by his father. However, he flew too close to the sun and ended up drowning in the sea which is also shown in the painting. However, studies also suggest that this painting is probably a version of a lost original by Bruegel.

Las Meninas

The Las Meninas was also made by the leading Spanish artist of Golden age in 1956 by Diego Velazquez in the Madrid city. This painting is considered as one of the best and most important paintings of modern art history depicting different stories and angles in the picture also. Also, every viewer of this picture interprets a different story of the pictures due to the involvement of many subjects in the painting.

Three Musicians

The Three Musicians is the title given to the two similar oil paintings and collage made by the great Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. They both were completed in Paris, France around 1921 and was considered as one of the most Synthetic Cubist Style Paintings. Each of this painting portrays Harlequin, a Pierrot and a Monk also, who is believed to be representing Picasso.

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

The A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte is one of the most famous paintings of George Seurat made in 1884. This painting depicts a lot of Parisians chilling on a Sunday afternoon on the banks of the River Seine. This painting was also made on a large canvas using the pointillist technique.

Impression, Sunrise

The Impression, Sunrise portrays depicts the port of Le Havre, the hometown of Cloud Monet, at sunrise, a red sun and also two rowboats being the main elements of the masterpiece. The painting was made by Claude Monet in 1872 and was unique in its own way too.

The Triumph of Galatea

Triumph of Galatea was also a fresco made in 1514 by the Italian Painter Raphael for the Villa Farnesina in Rome. It was a commissioned work by one of the richest men Sienese banker Agostino Chigi. The bright colors and the decoration of different figures in the image are said to be inspired by the ancient Roman sculptures, which make its placed also in our top 50 list of famous paintings in the world.

View of Toledo

The view of Toledo is one of the surviving two landscapes, which was painted by El Greco. It is also one of the best depictions of the sky and the perfect example of Western Art. The picture is also very natural and real in accordance with the actual city. Landscape Paintings were pretty rare in Spanish artwork of the renaissance period. In this painting, El Greco rearranged the buildings a bit y taking liberty over toledo.

The Tower of Babel

The tower of Babel was made in the year 1563 by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. This famous painting is one of the best depictions of religious art, also in accordance with the book of Genesis in the Bible. Mythologically, it is the origin of why people of the world speak different languages.

The Dance

This Dance painting was made in 1910 by Henri Matisse at the special requests of an Art Collector Sergei Shchukin and a Russian Businessman. The Painting of five nude men dancing depicts liberation and hedonism and use of bright warm colors like red against the green and blue landscape is also very mesmerizing to watch and also has an appeal of modern art.

The Swing

The Swing is an 18th-century oil painting made by Jean-Honor Fragonard in the Wallace Collection in London. The painting portrays a young beautiful woman sitting on a swing amidst the greenery smiling. The painting is also considered to be one of the most beautiful art pieces of all times.

The Gleaners

It depicts threepeasantwomengleaninga field of stray stalks ofwheat after the harvest. The painting is famous for featuring in a sympathetic way what were then the lowest ranks of rural society; this was received poorly by the French upper classes. MilletsThe Gleaners was preceded by a vertical painting of the image in 1854 and etching in 1855. Millet unveiledThe Gleaners at theSalonin 1857. It immediately drew negative criticism from the middle and upper classes, who viewed the topic with suspicion: one art critic, speaking for other Parisians, perceived in it an alarming intimation of the scaffolds of1793.

The Flower Carrier

The Flower Carrier was a masterpiece in true sense curated by Diego Rivera in 1935. This simple symbolic painting also full of vibrant hues carries a very deep meaning behind to tell to its viewers. The geometrical shapes offering colorful contrasts also show the hidden message of Individualism the way the Peasants wife is also helping him carrying the flower basket while he is struggling to stand straight too.

The Kiss

This perfect depiction of early modern art was made by the Austrian Painter Gustav Klimt between 1907 and 1908. This painting is also a beautiful depiction of the chemistry of a couple tangled in the silver and gold sheet and embracing each other by making love and kissing. It is one of the most popular Klimts work.

Portrait de Lartiste Sans Barbe

This is one of the last oil painting of Vincent Van Gogh, which is also the self-portrait without beard and was made in 1889. This self-portrait was one of the most expensive painting of that time, which was sold for a jaw-dropping amount of $71.4 million in New York City in 1998. Van Gogh also gifted this to his mother on her birthday.

Whistlers Mother

The Whistlers Mother is a renowned painting made by the American born Painter Jame McNeill Whistler in 1871. The picture is of Jamess Mother Anna McNeill Whistler displayed in also McNeills own designed frame. This is one of the most famous paintings made outside of America. This painting is known as the American Icon and also as the Victorian Mona Lisa.

Bal du Moulin de la Galette

The Bal du Moulin de la Galette was also painted by a French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 1876. This painting is also kept in Musee dOrsay in Paris and is one of the most celebrated masterpieces. This picture is a real-life depiction of richness where working-class Persians used to gather together and celebrate with music, dance and beautiful dresses back in the 1870s.

The Son of A Man

This painting is so unique in its known because of the feature of Self-portrait made by the astounding Belgian painter Rene Magritte in 1964. This painting portrays a young man donning a formal suit with a sea, sky background and a hovering green apple also covering his face but still his eyes peeking from aside. This picture tells a deep message of a conflicting opinion of what is visible and what is hidden.

Cafe Terrace at Night

The Cafe Terrace at night was made by the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh in 1888. This oil painting was also made in first exhibited in 1891, was also entitled Coffeehouse, in the evening(Caf, le Soir). The painting is currently housed at the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands.

American Gothic

The American Gothic was also painted by Grant Wood in 1930, it is right now kept in the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood created this painting of a farmer standing with a woman beside him who is said to be his sister. Wood got the idea of this portrait from an American gothic house in Iowa and also the people residing in it.

Les Demoiselles dAvignon

This is one of the greatest and also the most famous paintings of the well-known painter Pablo Picasso created in 1907. This painting model 5 nude prostitutes posing in a brothel with disangular body frame and angles. This painting provokes a lot of criticism and controversy as it was regarded as immoral, sexist and racist at the time of the first exhibition. It was drawn in the era of Cubism as it reflects that itself.

The Grand Odalisque

Grand odalisque is an oil painting made by Jean Auguste Ingres in 1814 depicting an Odalisque. This, depicting a sensual and exotic woman laying in an orgy manner. The picture was also widely criticized because of its obscene nature and is now housed in Louvre museum, Paris. This eclectic mix of styles, combining classical form with Romantic themes, prompted harsh criticism when it was first shown in 1814. Critics viewed Ingres as a rebel against the contemporary style of form and content. When the painting was first shown in the Salon of 1819.

The Liberty leading the people

Liberty leading the people is an illustration of the July revolution in 1830 painted by Eugene Delacroix. This one of the very famous paintings portrays a bare breasts woman holding the flag of the French Revolution in one hand and surrounded by men wearing Phrygian caps is classifying the concept of Liberty. The flag that she held also became the national flag of France.

Napoleon crossing the Alps

One of the most famous paintings made by Jacques -Louis David of Napoleon Bonaparte completed around 1805. The Painting shows a royal image of Napoleon riding his horse with his army through the Great St. Bernard Pass in May 1800. The picture depicts royalty and also greatness in every sense.

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50 Most Famous Paintings of All Time in the Art History (Ranked)