15 MOST ICONIC PAINTINGS AND WHERE TO SEE THEM

28/1/2020

Among the millions of paintings that are displayed in countless art galleries and museums around the world, a few only are recognized by people of all ages and cultural background and continue to amaze and evoke emotions in the minds of people for centuries to come.

Here is a list of the 15 most famous paintings and where to see them with your own eyes.

15) The Two Fridas - Frida Kahlo

This is the first large scale painting done by the mexican artists and her most recognised work.
It is a double self-portrait, depicting two versions of Kahlo seated together and is showing Frida's two different personalities. One is wearing a white European-style Victorian dress while the other is wearing a traditional Tehuana dress. The painting was created in 1939.

Location : Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City

14) The Card Players - Paul Cezanne

The Card Players is a famous oil painting by Paul Cezanne, who was a renowned post-impressionist French artist. He painted this remarkable artwork during his final period, which was in the early 1890s. It depicts two provencal peasants immersed in their mundane activities as they smoked their pipes and played cards.

Location: Musee d'Orsay, Paris

13) The Third of May 1808 - Francisco Goya

The painting depicts an execution of masses of Spanish countrymen by French soldiers in the town of Medina del Rio Seco. Goya's painting reveals the fear and suffering of the Spanish, while Napoleon's troops show no mercy. Painted in 1814-1815.

Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid

12) Bal au Moulin de la Galette - Renoir

The painting is considered the most impressive work of the artist and is regarded as one of the happiest compositions. The Moulin de la Galette was an open-air dancehall and café that was frequented by many artists living in Paris. Renoir attended sunday afternoon dances and enjoyed watching the happy couples.

Location: Musee d'Orsay, Paris

11) Las Meninas - Diego Velazquez

Las Meninas is the most famous work of the spanish artist and one of the most analized and talk about painting in the world. The painting represents a scene from daily life in the palace of Felipe IV. In the painting we see Princess Margarita in the centre accompanied by her friends, doña Marcela of Ulloa who is speaking to Diego Ruíz Azcona, Velázquez himself painting, José Nieto Velázquez in a doorway at the back of the painting, and on the wall at the back there is a mirror reflecting the image of the monarchs King Felipe IV and Mariana of Austria.

Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid

10) Persistance of Memory - Salvador Dalì

This surrealistic masterpiece depicts a dream state, the melting and distorted clocks symbolize the passage of time that we experience while dreaming. In the painting, four clocks are prominently on display in an otherwise empty desert scene. The clocks are not flat as you might expect them to be, but are bent out of shape, appearing to be in the act of melting away.

Location: Museum of Modern Art, New York

09) The Night Watch - Rembrandt

This massive painting was commissioned by a militia captain and his 17 militia guards in 1642 to paint their company. With effective use of sunlight and shade, the painter leads the eye to the three most important characters among the crowd: the two gentlemen in the centre and a crouching woman in the background.

Location: Riijksmuseum, Amsterdam

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08) The Kiss - Gustav Klimt

The Kiss depicts a man and woman dressed in highly decorated gowns embracing and sharing a passionate kiss. The work is composed of conventional oil paint with applied layers of gold leaf and is considered a masterpiece of the early modern period. Painted in 1908.

Location: Belvedere Museum, Wien

07) Guernica - Pablo Picasso

Guernica is one of Pablo Picasso most famous paintings, showing the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon innocent civilians. Picasso’s purpose in painting it was to bring the world’s attention to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by german bombers. Painted in 1937.

Location: Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid

06) - Girl with the Pearl Earring - Vermeer

Sometimes referred to as “the Dutch Mona Lisa”, the Girl with a Pearl Earring depicts a European girl wearing an exotic dress, an oriental turban and an large pearl earring. The painting isn’t dated and it is unclear whether this work was commissioned.

Location: Mauritshuis, The Hague

05) The Scream - Edvard Munch

The Scream is the best known and most frequently reproduced of all Edvard Munch’s motifs. With its expressive colours, its flowing lines and striking overall effect, its appeal is universal. The painting shows a frightened person screaming, its figure is ambiguous and it is hard to say whether it is a man or a woman, young or old.

Location: National Museum, Oslo

04) The Birth of Venus - Sandro Botticelli

The painting depicts the goddess Venus (or Aphrodite as she is known in Greek mythology) emerging from the sea as a fully-grown woman arriving at the shore upon a shell in accordance with the myth that explains her birth. It's considered to be the most iconic work of the Italian Renaissance period.

Location: Uffizi Gallery, Florence

03) The Last Supper - Leonardo da Vinci

This is one of the world's most admired and reproduced painting. It's a 15th century mural painting representing the scene of The Last Supper when Jesus announces that one of his Twelve Apostles would betray him.
Unfortunatly due to the methods used, environmental conditions, as well as intentional damage, very little of the original painting remains today.

Location: Santa Maria delle Grazie Church, Milan

02) Starry Night - Vincent Van Gogh

Despite never being famous as a painter and struggling to make a living as an artist during his lifetime , he is considered among the most famous and influential figures in the art history.
This iconic painting depicts the view from the east-facing window of the painter's room at Saint-Remy de Provence, just before sunrise, with the addition of an idealized village.
It is regarded as the finest work of Van Gogh and one of the most recognized paintings in the world.

Location: Museum of Modern Art, New York

01) Mona Lisa - Leonardo da Vinci

The most famous painting of all time, painted during the Renaissance in Florence. The sitter’s mysterious smile and her unproven identity have made the painting a source of ongoing investigation and fascination. The painting was stolen from the Louvre by an italian thief in 1911 who believed Leonardo's painting should have been returned for display in an Italian museum, it was recovered only 2 years when the thief was finally caught.

Location: Musée du Louvre, Paris