Famous Paintings of the World

A painting is an expression of the soul of an artist on a canvas. It is one of the many ways in which the soul finds utterance. As an art, painting is perhaps one of the oldest ones developed by man. Even today, one can find examples of prehistoric cave paintings which are testimony to man's primordial urge to express himself through colors. This article has a compilation of some of the most famous paintings of the world, by great painters.

Every piece of art like a painting, is an invitation to delve into the imaginative world of an artist, in search of beauty and truth. Standing in front of great paintings, you cannot help but feel moved and not to mention immensely awed by the profundity of expression. Only a person who has ever tried his luck with a brush can appreciate the wizardry of these master painters. When you think of great painters, some of the prominent names that come to mind are Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, Monet, Salvador Dali, Goya and many more masters of visual expression. I am especially a fan of most of the famous paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. The polymath genius leaves me dumbstruck with the range of fields that he explored and excelled at, in a single lifetime.

What Makes a Great Painting

What makes a great painting is difficult to define. Every great artist has his own unique style of expression. There are so many different painting styles and each has its share of master painters. A visit to an art gallery seems like a boring idea to many until they fall in love with their first painting. It is such a joy to have your favorite painting grace your home walls. In the next section I list out some of the most famous paintings of the world. You will find a wide variety of paintings in this list from various artists, belonging to different eras and representative of different painting styles and world cultures. You will find Pablo Picasso famous paintings in this list, as well as paintings of the other famous painters. One could have made a subject wise classification as 'famous paintings of flowers' or 'famous paintings of women', but the complexity of the subjects involved makes this a very naïve classification scheme. So here, I purely list the famous paintings of the world and leave the classification to you. This includes examples of renaissance paintings, as well as examples of modern art from the recent past.

List of Famous Paintings of the World

It is difficult to present a complete famous paintings list here, as they are truly many. The ones I list here, are (not surprisingly) some of the costliest paintings ever sold in auctions. Here is the promised list of famous paintings.

• Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh
• Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
• The Dream by Pablo Picasso
• Corner of the Garden at Montgeron by Claude Monet
• Woman III by Willem de Kooning
• Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt
• The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci
• The Persistence of Memory by Dali
• The Potato Eaters by Vincent Van Gogh
• No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock
• Garcon a la Pipe by Pablo Picasso
• The Last Judgment by Michael Angelo
• Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur by Pablo Picasso
• Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier by Paul Cézanne
• Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens
• Bal Au Moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
• Garçon à la Pipe by Pablo Picasso
• Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh
• American Gothic by Grant Wood
• Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer
• The Three Graces by Raphael
• The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp by Rembrandt
• Luncheon of the Boating Party by Pierre Auguste Renoir
• The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso
• Bal Au Moulin de la Galetteby Pierre-Auguste Renoir
• The Young Martyr by Paul Delaroche
• Philosopher in Meditation by Rembrandt

I am sure that I have missed many great works and this list is painfully inadequate, but then it's not possible to list every great work here. Just consider this list to be a representative one.

These are some of the most famous paintings of the world. To truly appreciate the enigmatic smile of Mona Lisa, you have to visit the Louvre once in your lifetime. I am sure that these great paintings will make you pick up a brush and try your hand at this unique form of expression.