Greatest Paintings Ever
List of Top 300 Famous Works of Art By World's Finest Old Masters and the Most Famous Painters: 1300-Present.
Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art - HOMEPAGE

The Greatest Paintings Ever (c.1300-Present)

This list of over 300 masterpieces encompasses works in tempera, oils and watercolours, across all the painting genres, by Europe's most famous Old Masters, as well as modernist and contemporary paintings in acrylics and other media by the world's most famous artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. Selected by our Editor, Neil Collins LLB MA, these top 300 works exemplify all major periods/movements in the history of art, and serve as a basis for further study into the world of fine art painting. Although it includes many examples of abstract art, it is weighted in favour of figurative painting and other forms of representational art. For a list of important dates in the chronological evolution of painting, see: History of Art Timeline. For details and images of the greatest parietal art of the Stone Age epoch of Prehistory, from the Chauvet and Altamira caves, see: Cave Painting. For a list of the best 3-D art, please see our Greatest Ever Sculptures: Top 100. For a list of the greatest fine artists in history, please see: Best Artists of All Time: Top 10.

Paintings Listed Chronologically under Artist's Name
A - B - C - D - E-F - G - H - I-J - K - L - M - N-O - P - Q-R - S - T - U-V - W-Z

Josef Albers (1888-1976)
Ex-Bauhaus Dutch-born Abstract Expressionist painter
Homage to the Square (1964) oil on wood, Tate Collection

Albrecht Altdorfer (1480-1538)
German painter, noted for religious works, landscapes, etchings and woodcuts
Battle of Alexander at Issus (1529) oil on panel, Alte Pinakothek Munich

Fra Angelico (1387-1455)
Dominican Friar, Florentine religious painter, early Renaissance
The Annunciation (c.1450) fresco, San Marco, Florence

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-93)
Italian Mannerist painter, known for his surrealist portrait faces of fruit & vegetables
Emperor Rudolf II as Vertumnus (1591) oil/wood, Skoklosters Slott, Swedenue

Frank Auerbach (b.1931)
German-born Expressionist noted for use of extreme impasto painting technique
Head of J.Y.M. No.1 (1981) oil on board, Southampton Art Gallery, UK

Francis Bacon (1909-92)
Greatest ever Irish painter, noted for his disturbing Expressionist works of contemporary art
The Screaming Pope (1953) oil on canvas, William Burden Collection, New York
Figures in a Landscape (1956-7) oil, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Portrait of George Dyer Talking (1966) oil, Private Collection

Max Beckmann (1884-1950)
German Expressionist artist linked to Neue Sachlichkeit movement, Otto Dix and Grosz
Self-Portrait with a Red Scarf (1917) oil, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
Self-Portrait in a Tuxedo (1927) oil on canvas, Harvard Museum
Self-Portrait in Olive and Brown (1945) oil on canvas, Detroit Institute of Arts

Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516)
Top Venetian painter of the Italian Renaissance, with father Jacopo, brother Gentile
St Francis in Ecstasy (1480) oil & tempera, Frick Collection, New York
The Doge Leonardo Loredan (1501-4) oil on wood, National Gallery, London

Bernardo Bellotto (1721-80)
Venetian painter, nephew & pupil of Canaletto
Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice (1741) oil, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
View of the Ponte delle Navi Verona (1745) oil on canvas, Private Collection

George Bingham (1811-79)
American frontier painter, worked mainly in Missouri
Fur Traders Descending the Missouri (1845) oil, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Arnold Bocklin (1827-1901)
Leading Swiss painter of 19th century, along with Hodler
Centaurs' Combat (1873) oil on canvas, Kunstmuseum, Basel

Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516)
Real name Jerome van Aken, Dutch 15th century moralising artist, early Surrealist
Garden of Earthly Delights (1504) oil on wood, Prado Museum, Madrid
The Last Judgement (Triptych) (1505-10) oil on wood, Bildendenkunste, Vienna

Fernando Botero (b.1932)
Columbian contemporary painter & sculptor noted for obese figures
The Collector (1974) oil on canvas, R. Learner Collection, Madrid

Alessandro Botticelli (1445-1510)
One of the greatest Florentine painters of the early Renaissance
Birth of Venus (1482-6) tempera, Uffizi, Florence
La Primavera (1478) tempera, Uffizi, Florence

Francois Boucher (1703-70)
French Rococo painter, draughtsman, etcher and designer
Madame de Pompadour (1758) oil on canvas, Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Jozef Brandt (1841-1915)
Polish painter, noted for large-scale paintings of 17th century cossack battles
On Reconnaissance (1876) oil on canvas, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Georges Braque (1882-1963)
Greatest 20th century French artist, joint-inventor of Cubism, noted for collages, still lifes
Nude (1907-8), Cuttoli Collection, Paris

Cecily Brown (b.1969)
British-born painter, notorious for her shocking gestural figuration painting
1000 Thread Count (2004) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Ford Madox Brown (1821-93)
English Romantic painter, part of Pre-Raphaelite circle
The Last of England (1852-5) oil on canvas, Birmingham Art Gallery

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525-1569)
Dutch artist, greatest painter of genre-paintings & people landscapes of his period
Tower of Babel (1563) oil on wood, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Hunters in the Snow (1565) oil on panel, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Gustave Caillebotte (1848-94)
French Impressionist and art collector
Young Man at his Window (1876) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Robert Campin (1375-1444)
Tournai-based Dutch Master of Flemalle, key founder of Early Netherlandish School
Entombment Triptych (1410) gold leaf on panel, Courtauld Institute, London

Canaletto (1697-1768)
Venetian painter & draughtsman, noted for precise architectural pictures of Venice
Basin of San Marco on Ascension Day (c.1740) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisa da) (Italian, 1573-1610)
Greatest early 17th century Italian painter, founder of Tenebrism
Judith and Holoferns (1599) oil on canvas, Palazzo Barberini, Rome
Conversion on the way to Damascus (1601) oil on canvas, Cerasi Chapel, Rome
Supper at Emmaus (1601) oil & tempera, National Gallery, London
The Entombment (1602-4) oil on canvas, Vatican City

Annibale Carracci (1560-1609)
Bologna-based painter, involved in transition from Mannerism to the Baroque era
Wall and Ceiling Frescos in the Farnese Gallery (1595-1600), Rome

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906)
Highly influential Post-Impressionist artist, forerunner of Cubism
The Card Players (1885-90) oil on canvas, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
Still Life with Plastic Cupid (1895) oil on canvas, Courtauld Institute, London
Les Grandes Baigneuses (1906) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Russian-born, Paris-based avant-garde painter, illustrator, stained glass artist
The Fiddler (1911) oil on canvas, Kunstsammulung Nordrhein-West Falen
War (1964-6) oil on canvas, Kunsthaus, Zurich

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978)
Noted for haunting, shadowy, semi-Surrealist Italianate townscapes
Place d'Italie (1912) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900)
American landscape painter, pupil of Thomas Cole, follower of Hudson River School
Cotopaxi (1862) oil on canvas, Detroit Institute of Arts

Thomas Cole (1801-48)
American founder of Hudson River School, top landscape painter of early 19th century
American Lake Scene (1844) oil on canvas, Detroit Institute of Arts

John Constable (1776-1837)
England's greatest ever naturalistic landscape painter, early plein-air artist
Boatbuilding Near Flatford Mill (1815) oil, Vicoria & Albert Museum, London
The Hay Wain (1821) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London

John Singleton Copley (1738-1815)
One of the greatest 18th century American artists, history painter, portraitist
The Death of Major Pierson (1782-4) oil on canvas, Tate Gallery, London

Lovis Corinth (1958-1925)
German painter, printmaker - drypoints and lithographs
Self-portrait with Skeleton (1896) oil on canvas, Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus
Ecce Homo (1925), oil on canvas, Basel, Kunstmuseum

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875)
Romantic French landscape painter, one of the world's most popular artists
Bridge at Narni (1826) oil paint on canvas, Louvre
Ville d'Avray (c.1867) oil on canvas, Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York
Woman with a Pearl (c.1870) oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris

Antonio Allegri Correggio (1489-1534)
High Renaissance Italian artist of Emilia, noted for altarpieces, devotional works
The Nativity (1530) oil on panel, Staatliche Kunstammlungen,Dresden

John Sell Cotman (1782-1842)
Founded Norwich School of English landscape art, with John Crome
Chirk Aqueduct (1804) watercolour, Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Gustave Courbet (1819-77)
Top 19th century artist, leader of French Realism movement
Studio of the Painter: A Real Allegory (1855) oil, Musee d'Orsay, Paris

Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, 1472-1553)
German painter, woodcut artist, noted for portraits, nudes, history paintings
Portrait of Luther and Wife (Diptych) (1529) oil on wood, Uffizi, Florence

Aelbert Cuyp (1620-91)
Dordrecht Dutch Realist landscape painter
River Landscape with Horseman and Peasants (1658) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London

Salvador Dali (1904-89)
Spanish artist, most famous member of Surrealism movement and avant-garde sculptor
The Persistence of Memory (1931) oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art
Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (1936), oil on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748-1825)
Greatest French Neoclassicist painter
Oath of the Horatii (1785) oil on canvas, Louvre
Death of Marat (1793) oil on canvas, Musee Royaux des Beauxarts, Brussels
Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1801) oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris

Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
Leading Impressionist painter & sculptor, noted for his ballerinas
L'Absinthe (1876) oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay, Paris
The Dancing Class (1873-5), Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Prima Ballerina (1877) pastel on paper, Musee d'Orsay, Paris

Eugene Delacroix (1798-63)
Painter, draughtsman, lithographer, leader of French Romanticism art movement
Death of Sardanapalus (1827) oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris
Liberty Leading the People (1830) oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris

Andre Derain (1880-1954)
French painter, printmaker, sculptor; Fauvist, Cubist, adherent of Primitive art
Lady in a Chemise (1906) oil painting, Private Collection

Otto Dix (1891-1969)
With George Grosz, the leader of the Neue Sachlichkeit Expressionist movement
Portrait of the Journalist Silvia von Harden (1926) oil, Musee Moderne Paris

Duccio Di Buoninsegna (1255-1319)
Most famous painter of the Sienese School of proto-Renaissance painting
Madonna and Child, tempera on panel, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Rucellai Madonna (1285) tempera, Uffizi, Florence

Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)
French avant-garde Dada artist, noted for his "ready-mades" & conceptual art
Nude Descending a Staircase No.2 (1912) oil on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)
German printmaker, painter, self-portraitist, greatest Northern Renaissance artist
The Apocalypse: The Four Horsemen (1498) woodcuts, Various Locations
The Four Apostles (2 panels) (1526) oil on wood, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

E-F

Thomas Eakins (1844-1916)
The greatest 19th century American painter, mainly of portraits
Max Schmitt in a Single Scull (1871) oil, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Gross Clinic (1875) oil on canvas, University of Pennsylvania

Adam Elsheimer (1578-1610)
German painter, etcher, draughtsman, noted for small-scale paintings on copper
Flight into Egypt (1609) oil on copper, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Rainer Fetting (b.1949)
Member of 1980s Neuen Widen group of German Expressionists & figurative painters
Large Shower (1980) acrylic on canvas, Private Collection

Jean Honrore Fragonard (1732-1806)
One of the greatest French Rococo painters, top pupil of Francois Boucher
The Swing (1767) oil on canvas, Wallace Collection, London
The Bolt (1777) oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris

Sam Francis (1923-1994)
Leading second generation American Abstract Expressionist painter
Around the Blues (1957-62) oil on canvas, Tate Gallery, London

Lucian Freud (b.1922)
Painter, draughtsman, Berlin-born grandson of Sigmund Freud
Girl with a White Dog (1952) oil on canvas, Tate Gallery, London

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840)
The greatest German Romantic landscape artist of the 19th century
Winter Landscape (1811) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London
Man and Woman Gazing at the Moon (1830-5) oil on canvas, Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Henry Fuseli (1741-1825)
Swiss-born Romantic painter, draughtsman, active in England
The Nightmare (1781) oil on canvas, Detroit Institute of Arts

Note: For more information about the world's greatest modernist art styles and periods, please see: Modern Art Movements.

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88)
Englands greatest 18th century portrait and landscape artist
Mr and Mrs Andrews (1750) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London
Jonathan Buttall: "Blue Boy" (1770) oil, Huntington Library and Gallery, San Marino

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)
French Post-Impressionist, noted for primitivism and colourist scenes of Tahiti
Brooding Woman (1891) oil on canvas, Worcester Art Museum, MA
Annah The Javanese (1893) oil on canvas, Private Collection
Girl with a Fan (1902) oil on canvas, Folkwang Museum, Hessen

Artemisia Gentileschi (1597-1651)
Female Italian Renaissance artist, one of the top Caravaggisti
Judith Beheading Holloferns (1620) oil on canvas, Uffizi

GENRE: Best Genre-works, see: Best Genre-Painters.

Theodore Gericault (1791-1824)
French painter, lithographer, early leader of French Romanticism
Raft of the Medusa (1819) oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris
Portrait of a Kleptomaniac (1823) oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent

Giorgione (Giorgio da Castelfranco) (1477-1510)
Venetian genius, considered one of the founders of modern painting
The Tempest (1508) oil on canvas, Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice

Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337)
Proto-Renaissance artist, noted for Padua frescos and non-Byzantine style of art
Frescos in the Cappella Degli Scrovegni (1304-6) Padua, Italy

Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
English watercolourist. Could have been England's greatest landscape artist, according to Turner
Berry Pomeroy Castle, Devon (1798) watercolour, Sothebys London

Francisco Goya (Spanish, 1746-1828)
Highly original and influential Spanish painter, printmaker, draughtsman
Naked Maja (Maja des Nuda) (1800) oil, Prado Museum, Madrid
The Colossus (1810) oil painting, Museo del Prado, Madrid
The Third of May 1808 (1814) oil on canvas, Prado Museum, Madrid
Saturn Devouring his Son (1823) oil on canvas, Prado Museum, Madrid

El Greco (Domenikos Theotocopoulos) (1541-1614)
Greatest Greek painter, active in Spain; large-scale austere religious paintings
Burial of Count Orgaz (1586) oil on canvas, Church of Sainto Tome, Toledo
View of Toledo (1610) oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-93)
English oil painter noted for nocturnal townscapes
Nightfall Down the Thames (1880) oil on board, Leeds City Art Gallery

Juan Gris (1887-1927)
Spanish painter, sculptor, illustrator; leading Cubist after Picasso and Braque
Portrait of Pablo Picasso (1912) oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago

George Grosz (1893-1959)
With Otto Dix, leader of Neue Sachlichkeit German Expressionism movement
Pillars of Society (1926) oil on canvas, Nationalgallerie, Berlin

Matthias Grunewald (1475-1528)
Greatest German Northern Renaissance artist after Albrecht Durer
Isenheim Alterpiece (1512-15) oil on panel, Musee d'Unterlinden, Colmar

Francesco Guardi (1712-93)
Venetian painter noted, along with Canaletto for his urban landscapes of Venice
Grey Lagoon (1765) oil on canvas, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan

Frans Hals (1582-1666)
First greatest artist of the 17th century Dutch Realist School of art
The Laughing Cavalier (1625) oil on canvas, Wallace Collection, London

Wilhelm Hammershoi (1864-1916)
Danish painter noted for his quiet interiors in muted colours
Interior with a Girl at the Clavier (1901) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Erich Heckel (1883-1970)
German painter and graphic artist
Nude on a Sofa (1909) oil on canvas, Private Collection

HISTORY: For the top narrative artists, see: Best History Painters.

David Hockney (b.1937)
Greatest English daughtsman, noted for bright acrylic scenes/portraits of California
A Bigger Splash (1967), acrylic on canvas, Private Collection
California Seascape (1968) watercolour on paper, Arts Council Collection, London
Mr and Mrs Clarke and Percy (1971) acrylic on canvas, Tate Collection, London

William Hogarth (1697-1764)
One of the greatest pioneers of English figurative art
The Rake's Progress (8 scenes) (c.1735) oils, Sone Museum, London
Marriage a la Mode (6 scenes) (c.1743) oils, National Gallery, London

Hans Holbein The Younger (1497-1543)
Famous German portraitist - one of the greatest ever portrait painters
Lady with the Squirrel and a Starling (1526-8) oil on panel, National Gallery, London
The Ambassadors (1533) oil on oak, National Gallery, London
Portrait of Henry VIII (1540) oil on wood, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte, Rome

Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-78)
Dutch painter, printmaker, noted for genre-paintings, and mastery of perspective
View down the Corridor (1662) oil on panel, Dyrham Park, UK

Winslow Homer (1836-1910)
American artist, famous for his realist genre works and sea-paintings
Snap the Whip (1872) oil on canvas, Butler Institute of American Art, Ohio
Eight Bells (1886) oil on canvas, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover

Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
Famous American oil painter, watercolourist, noted for lonely urban scenes
House by the Railroad (1925) oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art
Gas (1940) oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art
Nighthawks (1942) oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago

Note: For more information about the world's greatest contemporary and postmodernist art styles and periods, please see: Contemporary Art Movements.

I-J

Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (1861-1933)
Danish artist noted for his tranquil interiors; influenced by Dutch Realists
Interior (1896) oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867)
French Classical academic style oil painter noted for history and subject paintings
Bather of Valpincon (1808) oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris
The Grand Odalisque (1814) oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris

Alexei von Jawlensky (1864-1941)
Russian Expressionist painter, noted for highly coloured Fauvist-style portraits
Head (c.1910) oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Head of a Woman (1911) oil on cardboard, National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

Wassily Kandinsky (1844-1944)
Russian-born painter, printmaker, founder of Der Blaue Reiter Expressionist group
The Blue Rider (1903) oil on canvas, Private Collection
Interior, My Dining Room (1909) oil on canvas, Stadtischegallerie, Munich

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938)
Figurative painter, key member of Die Brucke German Expressionist style
Semi-Nude Woman with Hat (1911) Private Collection
Berlin Street Scene (1913) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Paul Klee (1879-1940)
Expressionist/surrealist fantasy painter and graphic artist.
The Golden Fish (1926) oil/watercolour on paper/board, Kunsthalle, Hamburg
Ad Parnassum, (1932) oil on canvas, Kunstmuseum, Bern

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)
Viennese painter, portraitist, noted for ornate, mosaic-style Byzantine-style works
The Kiss (1907-8) oil & gold on canvas, Osterreichischegallerie, Vienna

Franz Kline (1910-62)
American Abstract Expressionist, influenced by De Kooning
Le Gros (1961) oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980)
Austrian artist, long-term Expressionist painter, printmaker
London, View of the Thames in the Evening (1926) oil, Private Collection

Willem De Kooning (1904-97)
American Abstract Expressionist, but also figurative painter, noted for Woman series
Woman 1 (1950-2) oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Marilyn Monroe (1954) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi (1837-1887)
Russian painter and art critic, theorist of the Russian democratic art movement
Portrait of a Young Woman (1882) oil on canvas

Lee Krasner (1908-84)
Wife of Jackson Pollock, joint pioneer of "action painting" style of abstraction
Composition, 1943 (1943) oil on canvas, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC

Peter Severin Kroyer (1851-1900)
Norwegian painter, fascinated by effects of light; leader of Skagen artist group
Summer Evening on the Southern Beach (1893) oil on canvas, Skagens Museum, Skagen

LANDSCAPE: For the painters, see: Best Landscape Artists.

Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830)
Successor to Joshua Reynolds as Royal Portrait Painter to George III
Sarah Goodin Barrett Moulton: "Pinkie" (1794) Huntington Gallery, San Marino

Fernand Leger (1881-1955)
French Cubist painter, also worked with stained glass, sculpture, ceramics, design
The Two Sisters (1935), Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519)
Creator of the greatest ever portrait in classical art
Lady with Ermine (c.1490) oil on wood, Czartoryski Museum, Cracow
The Last Supper (1495-98) fresco, Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
Mona Lisa (1503) oil on wood, Louvre, Paris

Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (1816-68)
German-born American artist, noted for his portraits and landscapes
Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851) oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Stephan Lochner (1400-51)
Finest 15th century artist of Cologne, noted for his altarpieces
The Last Judgement (c.1440) oil on wood, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

Claude Lorrain (1600-82) (Claude Gellee)
French painter, daughtsman, pioneer of classical Italianate pastoral landscapes
Landscape with the Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca (1648) oil, National Gallery, London

Laurence Stephen (LS) Lowry (1887-1973)
Manchester painter, noted for his industrial townscapes and stick-like people
Coming from the Mill (1930) oil on canvas, Salford Museum & Art Gallery, Salford

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-97)
Famous cartoon-style American Pop-artist
Wham! (1963) magna on canvas, Tate Collection, London

Rene Magritte (1898-1967)
Belgian Surrealist painter, had strong influence on Pop-art movement
La Condition Humaine (1933) oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Empire of Light, II (1950) oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Kasimir Malevich (1878-1935)
Founder of Russian Suprematism movement of geometric abstract art
Black Square on White Ground (1913) State Russian Museum, St Petersburg
Black Circle (1913) State Russian Museum, St Petersburg
White on White (1918) Museum of Modern Art, New York

Edouard Manet (1832-83)
Most influential 19th century modern French artist, associated with Impressionism
Le Dejeuner sur L'Herbe (1863) oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay
Olympia (1863) oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay
A Bar at the Folies-Bergere (1882) oil, Courtauld Institute, London

Andrea Mantegna (1430-1506)
Key early Renaissance artist in Padua, Mantua; noted for foreshortening technique
Ceiling Frescos in the Camera delgi Sposi (1474) Palazzo Ducale, Mantua
Lamentation over the Dead Christ (c.1490) oil on canvas, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Franz Marc (1880-1916)
With Kandinsky, the founder of Der Blaue Reiter Expressionist group, Killed at Verdun
Little Blue Horse (1912) oil on canvas, The Saarland Museum, Saarbrucken
Tiger (1912) oil painting, Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich

Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
Post-Impressionist leader of Fauvism, noted also for his later blue nudes & collages
Luxe Calme et Volupte (1904) oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay, Paris
The Piano Lesson (1916) oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art
Blue Nude III (1952) gouache on paper, Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris

Tommaso Masaccio (1401-28)
One of the greatest Florentine Renaissance painters, master of linear perspective
Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise (1426) fresco, Brancacci Chapel, Florence
The Trinity (1428) fresco, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Antonello da Messina (1430-1479)
Allegedly taught oil painting by Jan Van Eyck; influenced Venetian Giovanni Bellini
Portrait of a Man (1475) oil, National Gallery, London

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)
Possibly the greatest ever artist in the history of art
Genesis (1508-12) and Last Judgement (1535-41) Sistine Chapel frescoes, Vatican

Manolo Millarez (1926-72)
Founder of El Paso ("The Step") avant-garde group, influenced by Surrealists
Painting 150 (1961) oil on canvas, Tate Museum, Liverpool

Jean-Francois Millet (1814-75)
Devout French realist painter of peasants at work, key member of Barbizon School
The Angelus (1859) oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay
Man with a Hoe (1860) oil on canvas, Getty Museum, Los Angelas

Joan Miro (1893-1983)
Spanish Surrealist painter, noted also for his lithographs, etchings, ceramic art
Woman (1934) pastel on paper, Private Collection

Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920)
Bohemian Paris-based Italian painter noted for his Expressionist portraits of nudes
Seated Nude (1916) oil on canvas, Courtauld Institute
Portrait of Jacque and Bertha Lipchitz (1917) oil on canvas, Museum data unknown
Portrait of Chaim Soutine (1917) oil on canvas, National Gallery, Washington DC

Piet Mondrian (1872-1944)
Dutch master, leader of Neo-Plasticism movement of geometric abstraction
Broadway Boggie Woggie (1942-3) oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Creator of the greatest ever Impressionist paintings, devoted to plein-airism
Impression, Sunrise (1873) oil on canvas, Musee Marmottan Monet, Paris
Poppies Near Argenteuil (1873) oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay
Haystack in the Morning, Snow Effect (1891) oil, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Waterlilly Pond (1899) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London

Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964)
Italian painter of muted still lifes, influenced by Jean Chardin & Paul Cezanne
Still Life (1960) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Bertha Morisot (1841-95)
America's leading Impressionist, great grand-daughter of Jean-Honore Fragonard
The Cradle (1872) oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay, Paris

Robert Motherwell (1915-91)
Abstract Expressionist noted for his "Elegy" series inspired by Spanish Civil War
Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 134 (1974) acrylic, Graham Gund Collection

Edvard Munch (1863-1944)
Greatest Norwegian painter, pioneer of Expressionism, noted for his morbid pictures
The Scream (1893) oil tempera & pastel, National Gallery, Oslo
The Madonna (1894) oil on canvas, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo
Puberty (1895) oil painting, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo

N-O

Paul Nash (1889-1946)
Neo-Romantic English painter of visionary landscapes, influenced by De Chirico
"Totes Meer" (Dead Sea) (1940-1),oil, Tate Collection, London

Emil Nolde (1867-1956)
Powerful German Expressionist oil painter, watercolourist, etcher & lithographer
The Prophet (1912) woodcut, various locations
Red Poppies (1920) watercolour on paper, Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York

Julian Opie (b.1958)
British painter, sculptor, printmaker, noted for minimal figurative images
Woman Taking off Man's Shirt in two Written Stages (2003) oil on canvas, Private Collection

William Orpen (1878-1931)
Irish classical academic portraitist, hugely influential in Ireland
Cafe Royal in London (1912) oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Spanish genius, the greatest, most versatile artist in the history of modern art
Life (La Vie) (1903), oil, Cleveland Museum of Art
Blue Nude (c.1904) oil, Picasso Museum, Barcelona
Garcon a la Pipe (1905) oil on canvas, Private Collection
Girl In Chemise (1905) Tate Collection, London
Acrobat and Young Harlequin (1905) Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Portrait of Ambroise Vollard (1909-10) oil on canvas, Pushkin Museum, Moscow
Guernica (1937) oil on canvas, Prado Museum, Madrid
Weeping Woman (1937) oil on canvas, Tate Gallery, London

Piero della Francesca (1420-92)
Umbrian painter, one of the greatest artists of the early Renaissance
The Baptism of Christ (1440-50) tempera on panel, National Gallery, London
Flagellation of Christ (1460) oil & tempera, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino
Portraits of Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza (1465-66) tempera, Uffizi

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
Only participant in all 8 Impressionist exhibitions; introduced Cezanne to plein air
Foxhill, upper Norwood (1870) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London
Bouvelard Montmartre (1897) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Jackson Pollock (1912-56)
Inventor, with Lee Krasner, of "action-painting" style of Abstract Expressionism
No.1, 1950 (Lavender Mist) (1950) oil/enamel/canvas, National Gallery, Washington DC

PORTRAITURE: For the greatest portraitists, see: Best Portrait Artists.

Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665)
Greatest French painter of the 17th century, doyen of academic style of art
Rape of the Sabines (1638) oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris
The Holy Family on the Steps (1648) oil on canvas, National Gallery, Washington DC

Q-R

Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823)
Leading Scottish portrait artist, painted direct onto canvas without sketches
The Rev Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch (1784) Oil, National Gallery of Scotland

Raphael (1483-1520)
Probably the greatest painter of the High Renaissance
School of Athens (1510-11) fresco, Vatican
The Sistine Madonna (1513) oil on canvas, Gemaldegallerie, Dresden
Portrait of Baldassar Castiglione (1514-15) oil on canvas, Louvre Museum, Paris
Portrait of Pope Leo X (1518) oil on wood, Uffizi, Florence

Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky) (1890-1976)
Photographer, painter, draughtsman, sculptor; surrealist and founder of American Dada
Aline and Valcour (1950) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Odilon Redon (1840-1916)
French painter & printmaker, leader member of Symbolist art movement
Cyclops (c.1898) oil on panel, Rijksmuseum, Kroller-Muler, Otterlo

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)
Greatest Dutch Old Master of portraiture, master of etching and chiaroscuro technique
Jacob Blessing the Children of Joseph (1656) oil on canvas, Gemaldegallerie, Kassel
The Nightwatch (1642) oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Syndics of the Cloth-Makers Guild (De Staalmeesters) (1662) oil, Rijksmuseum
Self-Portrait (1669) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Leading member of French Impressionism, greatest painter of "dappled light"
Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880-1) oil, Phillips Collection, Washington DC
Young Boy with a Cat (1868) oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Le Moulin de la Galette (1876) oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay, Paris

Ilya Repin (1844-1930)
Most famous late-19th century Russian painter, teacher at St Petersburg Academy
Bargemen on the Volga (1870-73) oil on canvas, Russian Museum, St.Petersburg
Ivan the Terrible and his Son (1885) oil on canvas, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Jusepe Ribera (1591-1652)
Caravaggesque style Spanish painter, active in Naples
The Holy Trinity (1635) oil on canvas, Prado Museum, Madrid

Bridget Riley (b.1931)
British painter, designer; leader, with Vasarely, of Op-Art movement
Fission (1963) tempera on board, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Movement in Squares (1961) tempara on board, British Council Collection

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82)
British painter, leader of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Proserpine (1882) oil on canvas, Birmingham Museum of Art

Mark Rothko (1903-70)
Russian-born Abstract Expressionist, pioneer of large-scale Colour Field Painting
Yellow and Gold (1956) oil on canvas, Philip Johnson Collection
Untitled (1960-1) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Georges Rouault (1871-1958)
French Expressionist artist noted for religious works, drawings, illustrations
Christ on the Cross (1936) aquatint on paper, Private Collection

Henri Rousseau (1844-1910)
Greatest of French naive (naif) artists, known as Le Douanier
The Dream (1910) oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
Flemish painter, greatest Baroque artist of Northern Europe, taught Anthony Van Dyck
Samson and Deliah (1609) oil on wood, National Gallery, London
Descent from the Cross (1611-14) oil on wood, Catherdal of Our Lady, Antwerp
Rape of the Daughters of Eluccipus (1618) oil, Alte Pinacothek, Munich

Jacob Van Ruisdael (1628-82)
Pupil of his uncle Salomon Van Ruisdael, one of the greatest Dutch landscape artists
The Mill at Wijk Near Duurstede (1670) oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum

Antonio Saura (1930-98)
Spanish painter influenced by Velazquez' Crucifixion and Goya' brooding paintings
Crucifixion 3.85 (1985) oil on canvas, Private Collection

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)
Greatest society portraitist of his era, noted for his supreme painterly technique
The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit (1882) oil on canvas, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Madame X (1884) oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Egon Schiele (1890-1918)
Neurotic Viennese genius, one of the greatest daughtsmen and self-portraitists
Self-Portrait Nude (1910) oil on canvas, Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna
The Embrace (1917) oil on canvas, Osterreichischegallerie, Vienna

Georges Seurat (1859-1891)
Neo-Impressionist French painter, pioneer of Pointillism method of oil painting
Bathers at Asnieres (1884) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London
Sunday on La Grande Jatte (1884-6) oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago

Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942)
British painter, pupil of Whistler, advocate of French avant-garde art in Britain
Mornington Crescent (1908) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Maria Helena Vieria da Silva (1908-92)
Portugese painter, member of Art Informel movement, noted for architectural imagery
Theatre de Gerard Philipe (1975) oil on canvas, Unterlindenmuseum, Colmar

Alfred Sisley (1839-1899)
Anglo-French Impressionist, one of the greatest ever landscape painters
Misty Morning (1874) oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay
Snow at Louveciennes (1878) oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Moret Bridge in the Sun (1892) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Chaim Soutine (1893-1943)
Lithuanian-born painter, leading member of Ecole de Paris Expressionists
Portrait of Oscar Miestschaninoff (1923) oil, Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris
Page Boy at Maxim's (1927) oil on canvas, Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Clyfford Still (1904-1980)
With Rothko & Newman, member of Colour Field Painting style of Abstract Expressionism
Painting 1944 (1944) oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York

STILL LIFE: for the greatest still life artists, see: Best Still Life Painters.

Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828)
With John Singleton Copley, was the greatest exponent of portraiture in early America
George Washington (1796) oil on canvas, Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York

Graham Sutherland (1903-80)
British painter, engraver and etcher, noted for portraits & semi-abstract landscapes
Portrait of Sommerset Maugham (1949) oil on canvas, Tate Gallery, London

Antoni Tapies (b.1923)
Barcelona painter influenced by Klee and Miro, noted for abstract paintings & prints
White and Orange (1967) mixed media on plywood, Private Collection

Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770)
Venetian painter, etcher; greatest Italian painter of the 18th century
Abraham and the Three Angels (c.1730) oil, Scula Grande di San Rocco, Venice
Apollo Bringing the Bride (1751) ceiling fresco, Wurzburg Palace

Jacopo Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) (1518-1594)
Greatest 16th century Venetian painter after Titian
Adam and Eve (1550) oil on canvas, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
The Crucifixion (1565) oil on canvas, Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice
Nativity (1579-81) oil on canvas, Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice
The Last Supper (1592-4) oil on canvas, St Giorgio Maggiore, Venice

Titian (c.1477-1576)
Venice's finest painter and possibly the greatest colourist in the history of art
Portrait of a Man (1512) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London
Bacchus and Ariadne (1522) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London
Venus of Urbino (1538) oil on canvas, Uffizi, Florence
Venus and Adonis (1553) oil on canvas, Prado Museum, Madrid
The Rape of Europa (1559-62) oil on canvas, Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, Boston

For details of colour pigments, as well as natural dyes and hues used in fresco, tempera, encaustic, oils and watercolours, see: Colour in Painting.

Mark Tobey (1890-1976)
American painter noted for abstract works fusing Pollock with eastern calligraphy
White Journey (1956) distemper on paper, Beyeler Collection, Basel

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)
Disabled French aristocrat painter, famous for Parisian night club scenes
At the Moulin Rouge (1892) oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago
Portrait of Yvette Guilbert (1894), oil on canvas, Musee d'Orsay

JMW Turner (1775-1851)
Greatest ever English Impressionistic landscape artist, master of watercolour painting
Burning of the House of Lords and Commons (1835) oil, Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Fighting Temeraire (1839) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London
Dawn after the Wreck (1840) watercolour, British Museum, London
Snow Storm: Steamboat off a Harbour's Mouth (1842) oil, Tate Gallery, London

U-V

Paolo Uccello (1397-1475)
Early Renaissance Florentine painter noted for his witty figurative canvases
Hunt in the Forest (1470) oil, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Battle of San Romano (1440) tempera, National Gallery, London

Maurice Utrillo (1883-1955)
Alcoholic French painter, noted for his "White Period" and street scenes of Monmartre
Flag over the Town Hall, oil on canvas, Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris

Anthony Van Dyck (Flemish, 1599-1641)
After Rubens, the most famous Flemish painter; one of the greatest ever portraitists
Portrait of Cardinal Bentivoglio (1623) oil on canvas, Palazzo Pitti, Florence
King Charles I of England in Hunting Dress (1635) oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris

Jan Van Eyck (Dutch, 1390-1441)
Most famous artist of early Netherlandish School, greatest pioneer of oil painting
Ghent Alterpiece (1432) oil on wood, Saint Bavo Catherdal, Ghent
Man in a Red Turban (1433) oil on wood, National Gallery, London
Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife (1434) oil on wood, National Gallery

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)
Dutch genius, creator of some of the greatest ever Expressionist paintings
Sunflowers (1888) oil on canvas, National Gallery, London
Cafe Terrace at Night, Arles (1888) oil on canvas, Yale University Art Gallery
Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889) oil on canvas, Courtauld Institute, London
Starry Night (1889) oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Wheat Field with Crows (1890) oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Roger Van der Weyden (1400-1464)
The greatest Netherlandish painter of the mid-15th century
Deposition (Descent From the Cross) (1435-40) oil on oak panel, Prado Museum, Madrid

Diego Velazquez (Spanish, 1599-1660)
Unquestionably the greatest ever Old Master painter from Spain
Christ on the Cross (1632) oil on canvas, Prado Museum, Madrid
Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1650) oil on canvas, Galleria Doria Pamphili, Rome
Las Meninas (1656) oil on canvas, Prado Museum, Madrid

Jan Vermeer (1632-1675)
The greatest ever genre-painter, leader of the Dutch Realism School
The Little Street (1657) oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
View of Delft (1660) oil on canvas, Mauritshuis Museum, The Hague
Girl with the Red Hat (1665-6) oil on wood, National Gallery, Washington DC
The Artist's Studio (1665-6) oil on canvas, Kunsthistorischesmuseum, Vienna
Girl with a Pearl Earring (1666) oil on canvas, Mauritshuis, The Hague
The Letter (1668) oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari) (1528-88)
Verona-born, active in the Venetian School with Tintoretto after Titian
Marriage at Cana (1563) oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris

Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958)
French painter, printmaker; an early Fauvist, then influenced by Cezanne
The Bar Counter (1900) oil on canvas

Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940)
French painter, lithographer, pioneer of Intimisme School of Post-Impressionism
In the Garden (1894-5) oil on canvas, Puskin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

W-Z

Andy Warhol (1928-87)
Painter, silkscreen printer, video artist, most famous American Pop-artist
Marilyn (1967) screenprint on paper, Museum of Modern Art, New York

John William Waterhouse (1849-1917)
English Romantic artist, influenced by Pre-Raphaelites
Lady of Shalott (1888) oil on canvas, Tate Collection, London

Jean Antoine Watteau (1684-1721)
Greatest French painter of his era, key figure in Rococo style
Pilgrimage to Cythera (1717) oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris

Carel Weight (1908-97)
British painter, Professor of Painting at Royal Academy, noted for suburban images
Daisy in the Garden (c.1962) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Benjamin West (1738-1820)
American artist, active in Britain, noted for his history paintings and portraits
Death of General Wolfe (1770) oil on canvas, National Gallery of Canada

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
American painter, one of the greatest etchers, noted for unique tonal paintings
Nocturne: Blue & Silver, Chelsea (1871) oil on wood, Tate Collection, London
Arrangement in Grey & Black: The Artist's Mother (1871), oil, Musee d'Orsay
Nocturne in Black & Gold: The Falling Rocket (1875), oil on wood, Detroit Institute of Arts

Richard Wilson (1713-82)
Pioneer of English School of landscape painting
Destruction of Niobe's Children (1760) oil on canvas, Private Collection

Emanuel de Witte (1616-92)
Dutch painter noted for his architectural paintings of church interiors
Interior of a Church (1680) oil on canvas, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg

Grant Wood (1891-1942)
American painter, active in Iowa, known as "The Hans Memling of the Mid-West"
American Gothic (1930) oil on beaverboard, Art Institute of Chicago

Andrew Wyeth (b.1917)
American painter in watercolour or tempera, noted for nostalgic pictures
Christina's World (1948), tempera on panel, Museum of Modern Art

Anders Zorn (1860-1920)
Swedish painter, etcher, noted for his voluptuous nudes
Girls from Dalarna Having a Bath (1908) oil, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Francisco de Zurbaran (Spanish, 1598-1664)
Spanish painter, noted for his austere religious paintings and portraits
Still Life with Oranges and Lemons (1633) oil, Fondazione Contini-Bonacossi, Florence
Christ on the Cross (1627) oil on canvas, Art Istitute of Chicago
Saint Francis of Assisi (c.1660) oil on canvas, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

Note: For details of the world's highest-priced art, together with prices and auction details, please see: Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings Ever.

Note: We welcome any suggestions for the inclusion of additional works of art in our
Top 300 Greatest Ever Paintings.

• For information about the greatest art from Ireland, see: Irish Visual Art.