Top 10 Most Famous Paintings

There are so many works of art around the world, some which are more recognised than others. I often look at paintings that sell for millions and think; "what a load of rubbish, there's much better pieces of artwork than that", but that's not the case with every expensive artwork. Some of the most famous paintings are actually, when looked into with more detail, very astonishing in the amount of skill and artistry that was put into them. 

There will be paintings that you will feel deserve to be on this list, and maybe should be, however, this is based on my opinion and so have chosen them myself. Here's my list then of the top 10 most famous paintings, hope you enjoy. :)


1. Mona Lisa - Leonardo da Vinci

The Mona Lisa is the most well-known painting in the world, and was painted by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. The women in the painting is thought to be the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, Lisa Gherardini, with speculation to her age as 24.


It is on permanent display at the Musée du Louvre in Paris. Da Vinci spent four years painting the Mona Lisa.

There is still much debate about her
half smile, art historians are still not completely sure what it represents, but it holds a different idea for different people. There is also still some debate to the Mona Lisa having no eyebrows. 


2. Starry Night - Vincent Van Gogh

The Starry Night painting was the work of Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh.
The painting was done from Van Gogh's memory and depicts the view outside his sanatorium room window at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence at night. It is one of Van Gogh's most famous works.


During Van Gogh's early life he wanted to dedicate his life to evangelization of those in poverty. Many believe that this religious endeavour may be seen in the eleven stars of the painting. In Genesis 37:9 the following statement is made: "And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."


3. The Dream - Pablo Picasso

The Dream is an oil painting by Pablo Picasso. It has been said that it was painted in one afternoon by a then 50-year-old Picasso, depicting his 22-year-old mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter. The erotic content of the painting has been noted repeatedly by Art critics.


The painting had to go through a $90,000 repair after Wynn, whilst showing the painting to some friends, accidentally put his elbow through the canvas, puncturing it in the left forearm of the figure and creating a six-inch tear.


4. Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci

The Last Supper painting was created by Leonardo da Vinci for his patron Duke Ludovico Sforza and his duchess Beatrice d'Este, based on the final few days of Jesus based on the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of John.
The painting covers an end wall of the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. It is a large painting measuring 15 feet × 29 ft.


Leonardo started in 1495 and completed in 1498, although he did not continuously spend time painting it. However, there is speculation to the beginning date, as its uncertainty is arisen from the fact that archives and documents that could have given a more precise dating have been destroyed. 


5. The Creation of Adam - Michelangelo

The Creation of Adam is a segment of Michelangelo's fresco Sistine Chapel ceiling painted circa 1511.  It is the most well-known of the Sistine Chapel fresco panels, thought to illustrate the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God breathes life into Adam, the first man.


Where the hands meet in the middle, barely apart, the image has become one of the single most iconic images of humanity. Some say that the famousness of this segment of Michelangelo's fresco is only rivalled by that of da Vinci's Mona Lisa.


6. Girl with a Pearl Earring - Johannes Vermeer

The Girl with a Pearl Earring is a painting that uses the pearl earring as the focal point. The artwork is kept in the Mauritshuis gallery in The Hague. It is the work of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer and is one of his most, if not the most famous piece of his art. It is on occasion referred to as "the Dutch Mona Lisa" or "The Mona Lisa of the north".


This painting was not dated, it is unsure whether this work was ever commissioned. Very little is known about Vermeer and his artworks. 
The most recent restoration of this painting was in 1994, and it was discovered that the black background is in fact intended to be a deep enamel-like green.


7. Guernica - Pablo Picasso

The Guernica was created by Pablo Picasso in response to the bombing of Guernica, on 26 April 1937, during the Spanish Civil War.
After its completion, Guernica was shown-off around the world on a world-tour gaining popularity.

Guernica conveys the sufferings of war and the grief it inflicts upon individuals, especially innocent civilians. Since then, Guernica has become an anti-war 'symbol' as it were and has considerably grown in status.
It is a very large painting displayed on a mural-sized canvas measuring 11ft x 25.6 ft.


8. The Scream - Edvard Munch

The Scream is the name given to each of four versions of a composition, created as both paintings and pastels, by the artist Edvard Munch between 1893 and 1910, all of which show a figure with an agonised expression against a landscape with a tumultuous red sky.

The painting has been the target of some high-profile thefts. This includes the theft in 1994, to which it was recovered several months later. And the one in 2004, where both The Scream and Madonna was stolen from the Munch Museum, being recovered two years later.


9. Luncheon of the boating party - Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Luncheon of the Boating Party is a painting by artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The painting depicts a group of Renoir's friends relaxing on a balcony at the Maison Fournaise along the Seine river in Chatou, France. Paul Lhote is in the upper right and Gustave Caillebotte is in the lower right. Paul Lhote was in several of Renoir paintings incuding "Dance in Bougival" with Susan Valadon and "Country Dance" with Aline Charigot. Gustave Caillebotte an impressionist, painted "Marche" and "Paris, A Rainy Day".


10. The Kiss - Gustav Klimt

The Kiss was painted by the Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt between 1907-08 who was 45 at the time, and is one of his best-known works. The painting depicts a couple embracing, their bodies entwined in elaborate robes decorated in a style influenced by the contemporary Art Nouveau style and the organic styles of the earlier Arts and Crafts movement.

The Kiss is renowned because of its tender representation of the female model who is tightly embraced within the overall geometry of the picture.

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