Top 10 Most Famous Paintings of All Time: Paintings are the great examples of art, a good painting is enough to hold all your attention and take it deep, so you dive in it with all your soul. Each painting has its theme and a purpose behind its competition.
There are millions of paintings available in this world with a unique theme or a new purpose. Some of them stand out of others for their mesmerizing creation and their unique purposes.
This article is about the most famous paintings in the world that anyone would love seeing and them.
These arts are done by people that got popularity after taking their thoughts on that canvas just like the Picasso, that Spanish painter and the god of several most famous paintings.
Top 10 Most Famous Paintings of All Time
So I am going to take your attention to this art and inspiration that these visionary artists created by picking up just their brush and some white space on that wooden board. Get ready to blow your mind by seeing these most famous paintings and their artists.
1). The Last Supper
This Leonardo’s creation comes among the world’s most famous paintings as a masterpiece created by the master of the art. The artists used a back wall of 460 cm × 880 cm to create this amazing scenery, the wall was of Santa Maria Delle Grazie church situated in Milan, Italy.
So this was not any museum material as it was created to be one of the church’s parts in 15th-century. The theme shows Jesus taking dinner or the supper with his followers, so it was named ‘The Last Supper.’
This painting in the Santa Maria church caused controversy those days to Mary Magdalene, a Jewish woman, one of the Jesus followers as some people claimed that it is Mary sitting next to Jesus.
The Last Supper is an Italian creation displayed by Leonardo da Vinci, and this picture today is not in very good condition due to the environmental impacts and other factors. There are several restorations already done to save the creation, but despite all of these efforts, there is very less originality remains for this picture.
2). Starry Night
When this painting came to light, it was also considered as one of the most famous paintings of all time. This creation was designed by Vincent van Gogh, a Dutch painter in the year 1889 and this one went widespread among Vincent van’s entire collection.
Museum of Modern Art in New York set this painting there, and now it is from their permanent collection. The painting shows the view that was clear from Van’s room’s window that was east-facing.
Starry Night is known as a well-designed piece in modern culture where the artists showed his village and views he saw that night.
The oil canvas was used to create this Starry Night addition and the exciting thing about this art is that Van didn’t just create one view, but he observed different environmental situations like sunrise, moonrise, windy days, and rainy days as well and this art was a combination of all these weather conditions.
For additional details, the painting was investigated for the color and material used and some scientists confirmed that the artists used ultramarine, cobalt blue, Indian yellow and zinc yellow as well.
3). Night Watch
It is a 1642 creation by Rembrandt van Rijn, a Dutch painter and this piece of art is now situated at the Amsterdam Museum. This fine piece of painting is known as being from the Dutch Golden Age paintings.
The total size is 363 cm × 437 cm, this art got famous for widely using the effect of light and shadow to enhance the men present in the scenery. There is another thing used which take some great artistic skills and that is the motion feature, so the men present in this art looks like they are in motion.
The completion year was 1642 in Dutch Golden Age. The art shows the captain and his crowd following him. Captain showed in this picture was Frans Banning Cocq along with his second in command Willem van Ruytenburch.
So this one is also one of the most famous paintings named ‘Night Watch.’ the painting faced some alterations such as that dark varnish was removed in 1940 that gave it a dark scene.
In 1715, when this painting reached to the Amsterdam from the Kloveniersdoelen, all four corners were trimmed to fit it properly as this was a common thing before the 19th century.
4). School of Athens
The School of Athens was the greatest creation of Raphael, the Italian artist. It is said that the creation year was between 1509 and 1511 when Raphael was on the project of rooms’ decoration at Apostolic Palace.
The room was named ‘The Stanza Della Segnatura’ for which this creation was used for decoration purposes. This art ‘The School of Athens’ is a form of Philosophy as it includes some philosophers like Plato and Aristotle and others. It was recognized as the second painting after the first one named La Disputa.
This art is a form of his classic artistic skills and this was considered as Raphael’s masterpiece for the perfection, so it comes among the most famous paintings.
As per the records, the Commentators suggested that the painting depicted nearly every Greek philosopher of that time, but there is no proper identification made to recognize each of them separately.
5). Guernica
It is an oil painting created by Pablo Picasso, a Spanish artist in the year 1937. He carted this Guernica art while studying at his home in Paris on the Rue des Grands Augustins street.
The main colors chosen for the painting are gray, black, and white, it represents anti-war, and it received a high rating by many art critics as being the most powerful anti-war paintings.
The total dimension is 3.49 meters tall and 7.76 meters wide. It depicted the suffering of people that are in chaos with a horse, bull, and flames.
The artist created this Guernica in the response of that dropping of bombs in the town Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, so this picture displays all the pain and suffering of people and animals there.
When this painting came to light and everyone understood the true meaning, it was exhibited at ‘International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life’ that was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937.
Later, it also got to some other venues around the world; this was the exhibition with the purpose of getting some funds for Spanish war relief, so this made its place among the most famous paintings.
6). Mona Lisa
It is probably the well-known painting named as ‘The Mona Lisa’ by the famous artist Vinci. The duration of creating this art was 1504 and 1519 when Da Vinci started this painting in 1503 0r 1504 and continued it till 1519 which is also the death year of this artist.
In the world of art, it is the most famous piece designed on canvas, the woman depicted in this art was Lisa Gherardini, a woman from Gherardini family, Italy. The artist depicted it just right and his artistic skills can be well seen in the facial expressions of this woman on the canvas.
Now, this great art is stirred at Louvre, world’s largest art museum, Paris, France. Leonardo da Vinci was recognized as the greatest artist in the world after his creation Mona Lisa was found and to be explored by all, it was brought to the Louvre museum.
Each year over six million people come to visit this fabulous art piece in Pairs. Also, the fans of Leonardo have a great love for this creation. Its amazing history makes it one of the most famous paintings in the world.
7). The Creation of Adam
This creation was a Fresco by the artist Michelangelo in which he used watercolors to give it a fresco look. This painting was a part of Sistine Chapel’s ceiling having a dimension of 4.8 m x 2.3 m and the duration was 1508–1512.
Like its name, the Fresco is about Adam who was left by the God being the first man on the earth and the painting depicts God giving life to Adam.
The story of Adam and God is recognized as the icon of humanity, so these types of religious paintings have their importance. As the painting was designed in the 15th century, so several imitations have been made yet to keep it alive and without any harm.
Due to its religious values, it comes as one of the most famous paintings, it depicts how God gave breath to Adam. There are several religious paintings along with this one in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican covering a total of 12,000 square feet area.
8). Landscape with the fall of Icarus
It was painted on canvas have a dimension of 28.9 in × 44.1 in and this was also considered among the most famous paintings of all time which now reside at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.
The painting took place by the artistic skills of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, a Dutch artist. The origin year was not founded exactly, but according to some records, it was created around 1560 or 1558. Also, the exact painter was not found, but then, some research happened and Bruegel the Elder was announced as the original artist.
The painting depicts the fall of Icarus, but people are unaffected by it and the fall adds no difference in their activities. Instead of paying attention to that fallen man, they all are simply doing their daily works.
This one is recognized among the most famous paintings was designed using the technique of pointillism in which the painting was aerated using individual dots.
As per the Greek mythology, Icarus was able to fly with the feathers made by his father that were secured with beeswax, but Icarus went close to the sun, the wax melted and he fell into the water ignoring his father warning.
9). A Sunday Afternoon on the Island Of La Grande Jatte
This painting depicts a crowd of people resting at a park with their children and pets. There is a lake also and it used Pointillism that is using small dots of color to create a seamless painting.
The artist painted it in 1884 and this painting got several views at the Impressionist exhibition held in Paris, 1886. Later, there were some changes made and got done in 1889.
The character was Georges Seurat and this painting was his most loved work that viewers all over the world admired his skills.
It was done on a canvas which shows a park and the edge of the River Seine. Georges Seurat used to work in the French army and returned in 1880 and there he started his painting studio in Paris.
This painting was his greatest achievement that got famous by ‘La Grande Jatte’ and this art made him the leader of the art world.
10). The Birth Of Venus
The painting ‘The Birth of Venus’ got the place in the year 1482 to 1485 and the goddess Venus standing nude on the shell.
Botticelli was the painter for this Venus art who was an Italian painter known as Sandro Botticelli. This painting is situated at the Uffizi Gallery, an art museum in Italy. It includes the Christian views and is considered among the most famous paintings.
The painting also shows the God of wind blowing at the just born lady and the wind is shown by light blue lines. Also, the lady with the wind god Zephyr blows but less forcefully. They are putting blowing efforts to take the lady to the edge of the water.
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Conclusion
These are all the most famous paintings when it is about the arts of ancient days. These superior pieces show different stories of different times and cultures. These few pieces can ever be forgotten even after ages will be gone.