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A List of The 50 Greatest Paintings in the History of
Art.
| I and the Village,
circa 1911 by
Marc
Chagall Russian, 1887-1985 |
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The Conquest of Constantinople by
Jacob Tintoretto, 1519 - 1594 Italian
High Renaissance Painter |
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The Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife
Giovanna Cenami, circa 1434 by
Jan Van
Eyke Flemish, 1395-1441 Northern
Renaissance |
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Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, circa 1555 by
Pieter
Brueghel the Elder
Dutch, 1525-1569
Northern Renaissance
The power of this painting lies
in its fundamental composition of contrasting lights and darks
and its poetic observation of human frailty.
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| Fate of the Animals, circa 1913 by
Franz Marc, Expressionist /
Fauvist, German, 1880-1916
To Franz Marc painting acted
as an intersection between the conscious and unconscious part
of his inner being. One can here the voice of his soul
through color, form and the dynamic energy of his
masterful compositions.
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Three Women
by
Fernand
Léger
French,
1881-1955
Cubist Painter |
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| Reclining Nude by
Amedeo Modigliani Italian, Expressionist Painter,
1884-1920
Modigliani perceived beauty and represented it in a way
that others could see it, too. |
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| Agony in the Garden (St. Zeno Altarpiece
Detail) circa 1460 by
Andrea
Mantegna |
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| The breathtaking
sensuality of
Klimt's
The Kiss is a glowing juxtaposition of colors. The
extraordinary jewel like background in which Klimt places his
figures brings to mind Byzantine art. The figures in The Kiss,
like icons, are eternal and enduring. |
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| Table Set in a Garden by
Pierre
Bonnard French, 1867- 1947,
Nabi
Painter |
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| Maesta: Descent into Limbo, circa 1308 by
Duccio di Buoninsegna, Italian Byzantine Style
Painter of the Sienese School, 1255-1319 |
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| A Young Woman and a Girl Putting a
Baby to Bed in a Cradle in an Interior by
Pieter de Hooch |
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Madonna of the Rocks, circa 1478 by
Leonardo
da Vinci
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| Nighthawks by
Edward Hopper, Contemporary
Realist, American, 1882-1967 |
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Allegory of the Battle of Lepanto by
Paolo
Veronese
Italian,
1528-1588 Mannerist
Painter |
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The Death of Actaeon, circa 1565 by
Titian,
1485-1576, Italian
High Renaissance Painter |
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The Banker and His Wife by
Quentin
Metsys
Flemish,
1465-1530 Northern Renaissance |
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The Dream is
Picasso's finest painting. In this hauntingly curious
portrait of his secret lover Marie-Therese Walter, Picasso depicts
the transformation of his woman into an enlightened being.
Captivated by her beauty and spirit she shows up in many of
Picasso's paintings. The Dream contains a hidden phallus in
the upper part of the woman's head as well as other parts of the
painting.. |
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Christ's Descent into Limbo by
Giovanni Bellini, 1430-1516, Venetian
Renaissance Painter |
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The Scream by
Edvard Munch, Norwegian, 1863-1944
Symbolist/Expressionist |
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| The Triumph of Flora, circa
1627-28 by
Nicolas Poussin French,
1594-1665, Baroque Painter |
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| Evidence Eternelle, 1930 by
Rene Magritte, Surrealist Painter, French, 1898- 1967 |
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Baptism of Christ by
Andrea del Verrocchio
Italian,
1435-1488
Early
Renaissance |
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| Ram's Head White Hollyhock Hills by
Georgia
O'Keeffe American, 1887-1986 Abstract/ Symbolist Painter |
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| The Picnic, c.1862-1863 by
Edouard Manet French, Impressionism,
1832-1883 |
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| In the Mountains, circa 1867 by
Albert
Bierstadt |
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Good
Government in The City, c. 1338 by
Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
There is a great joy
and genius in his work.
Ambrogio effortlessly accomplishes the
most complex combinations of colors and shapes while seamlessly
incorporating every element of his picture into a single splendid
design. Ambrogio' s paintings are simply wonderful and well
worth the trip to Siena to view his incredible
masterpieces. |
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Hieronymus Bosch's The
Garden of Earthly Delights (1504) is part of triptych that
illustrates the creation of the world, original sin and the misery
of hell. This enigmatic and extraordinary fantasy world depicts
nudes frolicking along side fantastic otherworldly creatures, all
cavorting about the world
totally consumed in sinful pleasures. |
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| Portrait Pope Innocent by
Francis Bacon |
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Dempsey and Firpo, 1924 by
George
Bellows American,
1882-1925 Ashcan School |
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Paul
Klee
1879-1940 Swiss Expressionist Painter
Fish Magic captures the feeling of the supernatural, the
charming, and the wild. |
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Purple Plums by
Georges Braque,
French 1882-1963,
Fauvist/
Cubist
Painter
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| Charmes de la Vie Champetre by
Francois Boucher, French, 1703-1770,
Rococo
Painter |
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| The
Peaceable Kingdom is a tantalizing world
of complex and unanswered riddles.
Edward Hicks created a sense
of radiance from within that invites the viewer into his
unforgettable world of yearning and imaginings. |
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| The Charge of the Lancers, 1915
by Umberto Boccioni
Italian, 1882-1916 Futurist
Painter |
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Max
Ernst
1891-1976,
Natural History German painter and
member of the Dadaist movement. Ernst is considered the founder of
surrealism. His evocative, seemingly autobiographical
paintings deal with an internal primordial essence, healing
and transcendence. |
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| The Conversion of St. Paul, circa
1601 by
Caravaggio Italian, 1573-1610 Baroque Painter |
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Jean Auguste Ingres rejected
the socially created restraints binding artists of his day.
Odalisque is a stunningly mysterious and seductive art-work. |
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| Carnival of Harlequin by
Joan Miro
Spanish, 1893-1983 Surrealist Abstract Painter |
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Metamorphosis of Narcissus, c.1937
by
Salvador Dali's
This painting has a timeless truth that is absolute
and eternal. |
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Stag Hunt by
Lucas
Cranach German, 1472-1553
Northern Renaissance |
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Joseph Turner 1775-1851,
British Romantic
Painter Burning of the Houses of Parliament
Colors govern this spellbinding
composition, reality and the imaginary are woven into a single tale
of destruction and beauty. |
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| The Virgin and Child with Two Music-Making
Angels in a Rose Garden by
Rogier van der Weyden |
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| Still Life of Peaches and Pears, 1888-90 by
Paul Cezanne |
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Nevermore by
Paul Gauguin has a
mysterious emotional quality. The elusive quality of the painting
transports the viewer to the wild beauty of the islands where
Gauguin lived and painted. |
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Vincent Van Gogh's
Starry Night Over the Rhone, c. 1888 blurs the difference between reality and the
dreamers trance. With this painting more than any other Van Gough
takes us into the artist's inner eye. The churning blue and sky and
gelatinous landscape are breathtaking and have a mysterious claming
effect on the viewer (at least for me) |
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| The Lamentation by
Giotto Di Bondone
is imbued with a delicate harmony and deep emotionalism. Giotto
is an artist who reminds us of
what was central in Medieval life. His colors are translucent
and calming. The Lamentation
is a delicate, beautifully crafted
masterpiece. |
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| American Gothic by
Grant Wood,
American, 1892-1942 Regionalist Painter |
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| The Garden of Love by
Peter
Paul Rubens Flemish 1577-1640 Baroque Painter |
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Henri Rousseau's
The Dream transports the viewer to a magical realm.
Rousseau simplified this painting with larger figures and made use
of bolder colors in this intensely powerful masterpiece. |
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Buffalo Bull's Back
Fat
by
George Catlin
American, 1796-1872
Realist Western
Painter |
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The Birth of Venus by Sandro
Botticelli
1444-1510
Florentine
Early
Renaissance Painter The
theme is clearly the regeneration of life. The composition is both
identifiable and enigmatic, compelling the viewer to interpret the
painting in terms of pure form and color. |
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Indian Church
by Emily
Carr, Canadian,
1871-1945 Modern
Realist Painter |
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Diego Rivera once referred to
Frida Kahlo' s art as
"agonized poetry", that is an apt description of Las Dos Frida. Like many of her piercing self-portraits,
this painting transcends the physical suffering and emotional
loneliness of the artist and ascends to a
highly cultivated spirituality. |
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Sistine
Chapel: the Last
Judgement, circa
1538-41
by
Michelangelo
Italian, 1573-1610
High Renaissance |
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| The Dance is
infused with vibrant movement and sun-drenched colors.
Matisse sought through surprise to
liberate our conventional vision and free us
to look at shape and color in original way. |
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| Storm on
the Sea of Galilee is
Rembrandt's greatest masterpiece.
The painting gives the viewer a sense of involvement and
anticipation. The dramatic lighting, movement and spectacle give the
impression of an intricate and impassioned drama in progress. |
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The
Gross Clinic, 1875 by
Thomas Eakins,
American, 1844-1916,
Realist Painter |
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The Cafe
by
Tsuguharu Foujita,
Japanese, 1886-1968
Modern Painter
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Goya
1746 -1828 Spanish Painter - The
Colossus, c.1808
There is a special magic in the Goya's gift in portraying the world
around him. He fluently painted the power and frailties of mankind
and the wonder of nature. |
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The Grotto of the Loue, c. 1864 by
Gustave Courbet 1819-1877
French Painter. The role of the Grotto in this narrative represents
stillness, in both the physical and metaphysical. This
representation has a universal context that speaks to primordial
issues within human, societal, and cultural relationships. |
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Sassetta, 1394 - 1450 Italian
International Gothic,
Byzantine Style,
Architect and Painter of the
Sienese School
The Blessed Ranieri Rasini delivering the Poor from the Prison in
Florence Sassetta
possessed the wonderful ability to convey atmosphere and mood.
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The Violin, 1916
by Juan Gris,
Cubist Painter,
Spanish, 1887-1927
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Gelb
Rot Blau
by
Wassily Kandinsky
Russian, 1866-1944
Expressionist
Painter |
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Dormeuse, circa
1931, by
Tamara de Lempicka |
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Spring by
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
1880-1938
The
stylized, extraordinary forms unifies the composition. This painting
is a wry depiction of urban life. |
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Berthe Morisot 1841-1895
Magnificent French impressionist painter. She studied with most of the gifted
painters of her time. A certain kind of magic happens
when you get lost in an image. I am amazed and illumined
by The Butterfly Hunt c. 1874. A glowing and emotive pulse
underlines her work |
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Self Portrait
by Albrecht
Dürer
German, 1471 - 1528
Northern Renaissance |
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Feverish passion can
be felt in
El Greco's View of Toledo
c 1597.
The mystical atmosphere evokes a primitive spirituality |
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Readers Comments
"Art is
truthfulness expressed. It takes in everything - it is the
collective truth of mankind. The painter is the intermediary
between idealism and reality. It is not 'goal' that makes Art
but rather a perception of truth. Art is unquestionably
subjective. Connecting with an individual art-work is a profoundly private
matter. Most modern paintings, that are trendy but are not
brilliant. 80% are nothing more than paint slopped on a canvas
and sold to gullible rubes. Most of us know intuitively what is good. ." -- Babs
Fidgitt, New Orleans, Louisiana (Owner of Babs Fidgitt's Museum
of New and Used Art
"I think a lot of the
wonder of Renaissance art has an appeal because of the use of
symbolism. When I gaze upon Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper I
feel as if I am right there alongside the apostles enjoying a
meal. I can see Judas with his silver coins and want to reveal
all to Christ but would he have listened? This painting has had
a profound effect on my life. There are all sorts of additional
meanings conveyed through this magnificent art- work. I think a
‘great’ piece of art is that it makes you want to keep looking
and continues to arouse your passions."-- Norman Ray Piles,
Little Rock, Arkansas
"I have always
loved the work of Grant Wood, El Greco, Rembrandt, Titian, and
Diego Rivera, with their churning colors and mysterious
atmospheric compositions. When I looked at work by those past
masters, with their compositions so brilliantly constructed, I
used to wonder how they did it and more important, how I could
learn to become a master myself. The answer, I have come to
think is to lock yourself in a room and devote yourself to nine
hours a day of copying their paintings. I dedicated 8 years of
my life to copying everything my favorite artists have ever
created. Yes my personal life suffered as well as my job but if
you are truly to devote your life to art YOU MUST BE COMMITTED.
I now sell my paintings on Ebay for between 40.00 and 90.00
dollars each. I learned how to absolutely carry out my vision by
using precise techniques that portray movement at every step of
the painting process. I was never looking to strike it rich as
an artist. I am able to pay my rent and put food on the table
while chasing my muse. Life is good." Ted Cruthers, Omaha,
Nebraska
"I love
the works of Velasquez and other Baroque masters of the
17th
century.
They seem to have an
understanding
of color and its use to create light
that so called 'Modern Masters' completely lack. I also like way
people dressed back in the 17th century. Ladies knew how to
dress with decorum and modesty." Adnan Ali, Karachi, Pakistan
"Jean Auguste
Ingres
Odalisque
is a rare formal nude portrait. It is an obvious psychological
statement, lifelike yet dreamlike. It's singular statement
relates to Freud's concept of penis
envy or rather repressive sexual fulfillment, which chains
women to an old image, disallows choice and progress, and denies
them individual identity. Ingres was a bamboozling artist and
his career is full of paradoxes. He was obsessed with nudity and
sex yet his bourgeois life never allowed him full expression.
Odalisque is a mystery and
possibly the greatest masterpiece of all time." Dr. Horton
James, Newport Beach, California
"I
adore Willem de Kooning. I also enjoy Picasso, Dali, Julio
Gonzalez, Lynn Chadwick. and Max Ernst . Vincent Van Gough is
definitely and acquired taste." Cameron Miller, NYC, New York
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