There are so many amazing paintings in art history, and certain pieces of work become truly famous. Starry Night, for example, is so well known that you can find it on coffee mugs, t-shirts, and magnets. CNN Style has compiled a list of the most famous artworks in the world.
1. Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
The most famous painting in the world, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa captures mystery, sensuality and contentment. Through his use of sfumato, the sensuous curves in her hair and clothing are echoed by the undulating imaginary landscape.
The enigmatic smile of the subject, Lisa Gherardini, wife of Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo is iconic. She has captured the minds of viewers from Francis I to Napoleon Bonaparte.
2. The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch
Bosch’s work pushed against traditional Flemish painting, using vivid imagery to illustrate moral ideas and stories. His Garden of Earthly Delights is a triptych that portrays paradise on the left, hell on the right, and humanity’s progression toward sin in the middle.
Bosch’s imaginative iconography has fueled rowdy scholarly debates for centuries. The central panel depicts a pleasure garden with nude figures cavorting with fantastical animals and feasting on enlarged fruits.
3. The Creation of Adams by Michelangelo
One of the most well-known panels from the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam depicts God giving life into man.
Many have interpreted this painting in various ways. For example, MD Frank Lynn Meshberger has argued that the shape of God’s drapery and hand closely resembles a human brain.
He suggests that this reflects the idea that artistic and intellectual talent is a gift from God.
4. Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez
Velazquez was the official portraitist for King Philip IV, who ruled Spain during a time of conflict and uncertainty. The painting depicts Philip and his second wife, Mariana of Austria, with their daughter Margaret Theresa.
The painting is renowned for its use of depth, with overlapping figures and scales to suggest spatial distance. It has also been interpreted as a soulful meditation on the evanescence of self.
5. The Scream by Edvard Munch
The Scream (or Skrik in Norwegian) is the most famous painting by Edvard Munch. It is believed to depict an autumn sky turned blood red from the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883.
The swirling movement of the sky and landscape is balanced by the hard lines of the bridge. The foreground figure appears to have his or her hands cupped around the sides of his or her face in a look of terror or awe.
6. Guernica by Pablo Picasso
Guernica is a mural-size painting that uses multiple perspectives and distortions reminiscent of Picasso’s earlier Cubist style. While it depicts the bombing of a small town, it is not specific to any one event and became an anti-war symbol for decades after its completion.
Poet Juan Larrea went to Picasso’s home and convinced him to make the bombing the subject of his work. He began drawing preliminary sketches shortly thereafter.
7. The Last Supper by Michelangelo
The Last Supper is an example of Renaissance single-point linear perspective. Da Vinci’s mastery of artistic aesthetics, geometry and mathematics can be seen throughout the painting’s composition.
This large fresco is located on the refectory wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie monastery in Milan, Italy. Seeing it is one of the most memorable experiences when visiting the city.
8. Venus by Sandro Botticelli
Now seen on everything from sneakers to suitcases, the Italian Renaissance painter’s depiction of Venus has been reimagined in photoshoots for celebrities like Pamela Anderson and Lady Gaga. It has even graced the cover of The New Yorker twice.
The painting shows the Goddess of Love rising from a shell on a cliff blown gently to shore by Zephyr and Chloris, personifications of the wind. She is accompanied by the Horae, or Goddesses of the Seasons.
9. The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo
Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam is a fresco painted on the Sistine Chapel ceiling and depicts God touching Adam to endow him with life. Unlike other portrayals of an imperial God, Michelangelo shows a God that is approachable and intimate.
The simple touch of God’s finger has been seen as a symbol of Christ, who would come to reconcile man with God after the Fall.
10. Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez
Velazquez creates a sense of opulence and grandeur with the use of rich fabrics and ornate jewelry. The painting also uses textures to add to its sense of realism.
The varying scales of the figures heightens the illusion of depth. Velazquez also incorporated references from Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait.