It is well known that art collectors from all around the world are eager to own the world’s most acclaimed paintings. However the most famous paintings are not necessarily the most expensive ones. They are priceless, therefore , they are owned and found in museums around the world and infrequently sold.
Here are the 10 most famous paintings of all time.
10. Birth of Venus
The Birth of Venus is a painting that surely most of us (if not everyone) has seen it . Painted by Sandro Botticelli around 1485 – 1487 which demonstrates the birth of the goddess Venus (known as Aphrodite in Greek mythology ) .
9. Water Lilies
Water Lilies (or Nympheas) illustrates Claude Monet’s own flower garden at Giverny. Is a series of nearly 250 oil paintings which are on display at museums all around the world . New York’s Metropolitan museum of Art is displaying exactly this one.
8. Night Watch
The Night Watch is one of the most famous paintings by Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn. It demonstrates a city guard moving out, led by Captain Frans Banning Cocq and his lieutenant, Willem van Ruytenburch. It was named Night Watch because of a dark varnish (which was removed in the 1940s) that was coating the painting that gave the wrong effect that it was a night scene . The painting is on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
7. The Scream
Another well know paint named The Scream is painted by Norwegiean artist Edvard Munch . Is is a series of expressionist paintings and prints where he created several versions of The Scream demonstrating an agonized figure against a blood red sky. The one shown above was painted in 1893 and is on display in The National Gallery of Norway
6. Girl with a Pearl Earring
The Girl with a Pearl Earring was painted by Johannes Vermeer also know as “The Dutch Mona Lisa”. It is not dated and it is not known if this work was instructed . However, Tracy’s Chevalier historical novel fictionalizes the circumstances of the painting’s creation . In June 2014, it returned to the Mauritshuis museum from Bologna, Italy which stated that the painting would not leave the museum in the future.
5. Guernica
One of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history,[3] and is one of Picasso’s best known works. The painting was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country town in northern Spain, by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy at the request of the Spanish Nationalists. The painting can be seen in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.
4. The Creation of Adam
It demonstrates the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God gives life to Adam, the first man. Central to the ceiling decoration are 9 scenes from the Book of Genesis .
3. The Last Supper
It demonstrates the scene of The Last Supper (also known as the Passover meal) when Jesus declares that one of his Twelve Apostles would betray him. Leonardo da Vinci created this masterpiece in 1495 and finished it in 1498.
2. Starry Night
Starry Night is one of his most famous paintings and was created by Vincent Van Gogh . It shows the village of Saint-Rémy under a twirling sky, in a view from the asylum towards north. He was clearly unappreciated as an artist in his time but we can surely say that his work has inspired many other artists. New York’s MoMA has displayed his collections since 1941.
1. Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci during the Renaissance in Florence. He began work on Mona Lisa in 1503-1504 and completed her before he died in 1519. Today, the painting can be seen in the Louvre in Paris where 6 million people see the painting each year.
