12 Most Famous Paintings of all Time

One of the oldest art forms, painting has been around ever since our ancient ancestors first started producing charcoal creations on cave walls. While countless generations of artists have left their mark over the millennia, only some artworks have succeeded in transcending time and culture to be revered around the globe. Now exhibited in museums and art galleries, these fabulous paintings count among the most important, impressive, and influential paintings of all time.

[carpediem]

Very hard to select the 12 most famous paintings. The selection is definitely very good.
Just a few honorable mentions:
- The Sistine Chapel (Michelangelo)
- The school of Athens (Raffaello)
- Las Meninas (Velasquez)
- Bal du moulin de la Galette (Renoir)
- The third of May 1808 (Goya)
- Wanderer above the sea fog (Friedrich)
- The Tower of Babel (Bruegel the Elder)
- The Son of Man (Magritte)
- Napoleon crossing the Alps (David)
- The garden of earthly delights (Bosch)
- The birth of Venus (Botticelli)
- Guernica (Picasso)
- The raft of the Medusa (Géricault)
- Turquoise Marilyn (Warhol)
- The wedding at Cana (Veronese)
- Arnolfini portrait (van Eyck)
- Girl with balloon/Love is in the bin (Banksy)
- Liberty leading the people (Delacroix)
- A Sunday afternoon on the island of La Grande Jatte (Seurat)

[twraven]

I have been fortunate to have seen all of these, all in their home museums, and most multiple times on exhibition tours. Art is so much fun and these are certainly some of the most iconic works in history. Nicely voiced over too. Well done.

[agubamachukwuebuka]

For me Sistine chapel paintings by Michelangelo is number one. None of the paintings here can rival it.

[amymcginty]

The list is incomplete without the tremendous contributions of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, The Last Judgement being one of the greatest.

[ofelialopez]

I had the opportunity to see the Mona Lisa in Louvre museum in Paris , but many other paintings were equally magnificent 😊

[ArtHistorywithAlder]

So hard to pick 12, but pretty good selections. I love how art tells the human story throughout history and places and is able to connect people across time, place, and culture!

[peterscocca]

OMG
I have seen all of these.
But, then, I've been blessed to visit many museums on 5 continents.
Seeing your list reminds me just how blessed.

[melindadouglas]

I’ve seen 6 out of 12. I hope to one day see them all!

[brandonsheumaker]

It may not technically be a "painting, " but I think the Sistine Chapel ceiling deserves to be on this list, probably #2.

[exessex]

5:30 Munch himself said that at sunset on that particular day when the sky turned red, he heard "an infinite scream passing through nature" which left him "trembling with anxiety." His famous figure by the fjord is thus hearing, not emitting, a scream.

[brianmcallister]

I am pleased that you included my most favorite painting, Girl With a Pearl Earing. You mentioned the word "captivating" in your dialogue. It is a word that immediately came to mind when I first saw Johannes Vermeer's incredible painting. That enigmatic glance would have me contemplating the work for hours should I ever visit the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague.

[florenciabalori]

I don't agree 100%, I think that Guernica, The Garden of Earthly Delights and The Birth of Venus or the Sixtine Chapel should have been included. I know it's tough though...

[tennesseedime]

I’ve seen so many of these without fully realizing what I was looking at. I regret that

[discostu]

Wonderful, only one omission in my opinion, "Dogs Playing Poker"

[maryjanealvarez]

I am from the Philippines, but somehow I was able to have the means to tour Paris for 2 weeks and saw the Mona Lisa painting at the Louvre. I am grateful for this opportunity.

[Sara]

Blessed to have seen most of these in person. They truly are extraordinary. I'm surprised there was no modern art like Banksy. I just saw it a few years ago in Amsterdam. I think most people know his work but just don't realize it's him. Girl with Balloon? The one that made headlines last year when it was shredded at auction?? That's pretty famous and iconic.

[bobdobalina]

One of my all time favourite paintings is Magdalen With The Smoking Flame by Georges de la Tour. Two versions of this exist, one in The Louvre and one in The Los Angeles County Museum Of Art. Both were painted circa 1640.
I prefer the Los Angeles version. Apparently a local gypsy girl posed for the work. She crops up in a couple more of de la Tour's paintings of Mary Magdalen. She was clearly a beautiful woman - and a real one, too - but we have no idea who she was or what her life was like and yet, hundreds of years after her death she is immortalised in these wonderful paintings.
What I find fascinating is the oil in the candle, it's so lifelike, there's a real sense of how thick and impure it is. The light the candle throws and the shadows it creates really give a sense of what life was like before gas and electricity, how dark the night actually is.

[johnsain]

Very smart to exclude Pieter Bruegel the Elder : The Tower of Babel (Vienna) (1563) belongs in place of "The Scream".

[vforvendetta]

My dream is to be an artist, I paint landscapes like Bob Ross. A few days ago I made an attempt at the starry night painting, it kinda came out good. Love the video.

[wilbnbd]

Of the twelve I would rate Rembrandt (Night Watch) and The girl with Pearl and the Gothic as outstanding for lighting, perspective, color spectrum/shades used, and realism. Of course everyone would clamour to shout me down, but I hold onto my opinion. Thanks for focusing on the efforts put in by artists to register what they focussed on as very enchanting or realistic etc.