For centuries, paintings have been one of the most remarkable forms of human culture, creativity, and thought. While every painting bears its own uniqueness, some have stood out more than others for a variety of reasons. Some for their aesthetic appeal, others for their historical or cultural significance, and others for their controversial detail.
In no particular order, here are some of the most popular paintings in the world:
The Last Supper (painted between 1494 and 1498)
Artist: Leonardo Da Vinci
Location: Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy
The painting is a large fresco that is 4.6 meters (15 feet) high and 8.8 meters (28.9 feet) wide. The paintings showcase the last time Jesus broke bread with His disciples before his Death.
The fresco survived two wartime threats – Napoleon’s soldiers used the wall on which the fresco was painted as target practice. It was also exposed to the element for many years after a bomb destroyed the roof of the Dominican convent during World War II.
Girl with a Pearl Earring (painted around 1665)
Artist: Johannes Vermeer
Location: Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands
The “Girl with a Pearl Earring” is a “tronie” (a painting of an imaginary figure with exaggerated features).
The alluring painting shows a girl wearing a blue and gold turban and an oversized pearl earring with only a dark backdrop behind her.
While the Mauritshuis underwent renovation from 2012 to 2014, the painting went on tour in the United States, Italy, and Japan.
The Starry Night (painted around 1889)
Artist: Vincent van Gogh
Location: Museum of Modern Art in New York City
The Starry Night painting shows distinct striking of blue and yellow elements in a swirling night atmosphere. Van Gogh was in an asylum in Saint-Rémy, France, due to mental illness when he painted “The Starry Night.” He was inspired by the view from the window of his room.
The Kiss (painted 1907 to 1908)
Artist: Gustav Klimt
Location: Upper Belvedere Museum in Vienna, Austria
According to the museum which houses the painting, Klimt makes a “general allegorical statement about love being at the heart of human existence.”
The painting shows a young couple in decorative Byzantine robes kissing.
The Scream (1893)
Artist: Edvard Munch
Location: National Museum, Oslo, Norway
The Art Nouveau painting is made from oil, tempera, and pastel on cardboard and shows an androgynous figure with his mouth open and hands trying to block the sound of screaming from the elements. The painting exists as two pastels and an unspecified number of prints. In 2012, one of the pastels sold for almost $120 million at auction.
In his diary in an entry headed “Nice 22 January 1892”, Munch wrote:
“One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord – the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream.”
Las Meninas (painted 1656)
Artist: Diego Velázquez
Location: Museo del Prado in Madrid
The painting doubles as both a portrait and a group portrait of Spanish royalty, showing a self-portrait of Velázquez himself at work. The painting was commissioned by King Philip IV of Spain, who ruled from 1621 to 1665 and stayed in the royal palace until 1819 when it went to the Prado.
Guernica (painted 1937)
Artist: Pablo Picasso
Location: Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid
The painting was done in a Picasso style and depicts the German aerial bombing of the town of Guernica in the Basque region during the Spanish Civil War.
During World War II, “Guernica” was moved to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York for safekeeping. Picasso requested that the stay be extended until democracy returned to Spain. It finally went back to Madrid in 1981, six years after the death of the longtime Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco.
The Birth of Venus (painted around 1485)
Artist: Sandro Botticelli
Location: Le Gallerie Degli Uffizi in Florence, Italy
The painting was done on canvas and mirrors classic Greek culture with Early Renaissance style and shows Venus ‘the Greek goddess of love’ emerging from a scallop shell while nude. She uses her long, flowing hair and a hand to barely cover her most intimate body parts.
Creation of Adam (around 1508 to 1512)
Artist: Michelangelo
Location: The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City
The painting depicts God and Adam with outstretched arms, their fingers nearly touching. It is one of the most replicated images in history.
The Mona Lisa (painted around 1503 to 1519)
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
Location: Louvre Museum in Paris, France
The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous paintings in the world and shows the portrait of a mysterious woman with a slight smile. The woman is thought to be Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Florence merchant Francesco del Giocondo, but some experts are not certain of this fact.
These paintings as with many other paintings in leading museums are worth billions of dollars.
