Elena Rossi
The world of art is vast and diverse, with countless paintings that have stood the test of time and become symbols of artistic brilliance. From the Italian Renaissance to modern times, certain paintings have captivated audiences and sparked dialogue, inviting new interpretations and emotions. One of the most famous paintings in the world is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Painted in the 16th century, it has become synonymous with artistic mastery, intrigue, and timeless beauty. The Mona Lisa has been valued at over $660 million and attracts millions of visitors to the Louvre each year. Another renowned painting is The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, which is aptly located in the dining hall of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, The Scream by Edvard Munch, The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh, and Guernica by Pablo Picasso are also considered some of the most famous paintings in the world. These masterpieces have significantly impacted art history and continue to inspire and fascinate audiences worldwide.
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What You'll Learn
Leonardo da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa'
Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is probably the world's most famous painting. It is certainly one of them. The painting is a half-length portrait of a woman with an enigmatic expression on her face. The identity of the woman is unknown, but it is believed to be a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, or Madame Gherardini, the wife of Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo. The painting's Italian name, "La Gioconda", also suggests this.
The painting is a masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance and is known for its novel qualities, including the subject's mysterious expression, the monumentality of the composition, the subtle modelling of forms, and the atmospheric illusionism. Leonardo's decision to paint the woman looking directly out at the viewer was unconventional for a woman in a portrait at the time. The three-quarter view, in which the sitter's position is mostly turned toward the viewer, also broke from the standard profile pose used in Italian art. The painting is also notable for its vast landscape backdrop, which includes a winding path, mountains, and a distant bridge.
The Mona Lisa was painted sometime between 1503 and 1519, during the period when Leonardo was living in Florence. It is painted in oil on a white poplar panel. The painting has been in the Louvre Museum in Paris since 1804 and has remained an object of pilgrimage in the 21st century. The painting is now the property of the French Republic.
The Mona Lisa has been the subject of much fascination and speculation, and its mysterious qualities have only added to its allure. The painting has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, [and] the most parodied work of art in the world."
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'The Birth of Venus' by Sandro Botticelli
The Birth of Venus is a painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, probably executed in the mid-1480s. It depicts the goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the sea fully grown (called Venus Anadyomene and often depicted in art). The painting is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Although the two are not a pair, the painting is inevitably discussed with Botticelli's other very large mythological painting, the Primavera, also in the Uffizi. They are among the most famous paintings in the world and are icons of Italian Renaissance painting. Of the two, The Birth of Venus is better known than the Primavera.
The painting is on two pieces of canvas, sewn together before starting, with a gesso ground tinted blue. The subject is not strictly the "Birth of Venus", a title given to the painting only in the nineteenth century, but the next scene in her story, where she arrives on land, blown by the wind. The land probably represents either Cythera or Cyprus, both Mediterranean islands regarded by the Greeks as territories of Venus.
The composition is similar in some respects to that of the Primavera. Venus is slightly to the right of centre, and she is isolated against the background so no other figures overlap her. She has a slight tilt of her head, and she leans in an awkward contrapposto-like stance. Botticelli paid much attention to her hair and hairstyle, which reflected his interest in the way women wore their long hair in the late fifteenth century. He gave Venus an idealised face which is remarkably free of blemishes, and beautifully shaded her face to distinguish a lighter side and a more shaded side. Of obvious importance in this painting is the nudity of Venus. The depiction of nude women was not something that was normally done in the Middle Ages, with a few exceptions in specific circumstances. For the modelling of this figure, Botticelli turned to an Aphrodite statue, such as the Aphrodite of Cnidos, in which the goddess attempts to cover herself in a gesture of modesty.
The theme was probably suggested by the humanist Poliziano. It depicts Venus born from the sea foam, blown by the west wind, Zephyr, and the nymph, Chloris, towards one of the Horai, who prepares to dress her with a flowered mantle. The divine ethereal figure has been viewed as an allegorical representation of Humanitas upon her arrival to Florence, while the nymph holding out the cloak of flowers for the goddess may perhaps be identified as Flora, the same depicted in this masterpiece's "twin", the Primavera, where she may be seen instead as the personification of the city of Florence.
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'The Garden of Earthly Delights' by Hieronymus Bosch
The Garden of Earthly Delights, created by Hieronymus Bosch between 1490 and 1510, is a triptych oil painting on oak panels. Bosch was born around 1450 in the Netherlands, and The Garden of Earthly Delights is one of his most famous works. Bosch came from a family of artists, and while no artworks attributed to his relatives survive, he almost certainly learned his skills in the family workshop.
The painting is a masterpiece of surrealism and is considered to be a transition from Mannerism to Romanticism. It is overflowing with figures, fantastical constructions, monsters, and caricatures of reality. The dominant subject of the painting is fleshy pleasure, with nude figures intertwining and engaging in various pleasure-seeking activities. The work is filled with intricate and sneaky symbolism, and its complexity has led to a wide range of interpretations over the centuries. The central panel is the largest, showing a pleasure garden bursting with nude figures. The outer panels represent the Third Day of Creation, a biblical milestone when an earthly paradise was forged by God.
The scenes depicted in the triptych are thought to follow a chronological order, flowing from left to right: they represent Eden, the garden of earthly delights, and Hell. God appears in the left-hand wing as the creator of humanity, while the right-hand panel is believed to show the consequences of humanity's failure to follow his will, in the form of a hellscape. The absence of God from the central panel has been interpreted as a depiction of humanity acting with free will.
The Garden of Earthly Delights is located in the Prado Museum in Madrid and is considered priceless.
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'Guernica' by Pablo Picasso
One of the most famous paintings in the world is Guernica by Pablo Picasso. This painting is regarded as Picasso's most powerful political statement and is considered an icon of modern art. The painting is an anti-war masterpiece, occasioned by the 1937 bombing of the eponymous Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. The bombing was carried out by German and Italian aircraft allied with the Fascist leader, General Francisco Franco, whose troops were fighting against the Republicans.
The leftist Republican government that opposed Franco commissioned Picasso to create the artwork for the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 World's Fair in Paris, also known as the International Exposition. The painting was Picasso's immediate reaction to the devastating bombing, which he learned about from poet Juan Larrea and eyewitness accounts published in The Times and The New York Times.
Guernica is a mural-sized canvas painted in oil, measuring 3.5 meters tall and 7.8 meters wide. Unlike his previous works, Picasso chose to forgo his characteristic use of colour, instead rendering the painting in shades of blue, black, and white. This decision may have been influenced by his romantic partner at the time, Surrealist photographer and anti-fascist activist Dora Maar, who introduced him to darkroom techniques.
The painting depicts the horrors of war and the suffering it inflicts on innocent civilians. It features several motifs, including a rampaging bull, which Picasso stated represented brutality and darkness, and a horse, which symbolised the people of Guernica. The work has been described as an amalgamation of pastoral and epic styles, and its stark monochrome palette intensifies the drama of the scene.
Upon its completion, Guernica embarked on a brief international tour, which helped bring the Spanish Civil War to the world's attention. The painting eventually found a home at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, per Picasso's wishes for it to remain there until democracy was restored in Spain. In 1981, six years after Franco's death, the painting was returned to Spain and is now housed at the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
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'The Last Supper' by Leonardo da Vinci
The Last Supper, painted by Leonardo da Vinci between 1494 and 1498, is considered one of the most important mural paintings in the world. It is housed in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy, and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The painting depicts the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with the Twelve Apostles, as told in the Gospel of John, specifically the moment after Jesus announces that one of his apostles will betray him.
Leonardo da Vinci was a true Renaissance man, embodying the ideal of the multifaceted genius dreamed of by the Italian Renaissance. He was a painter, architect, sculptor, engineer, inventor, mathematician, anatomist, and writer. The Last Supper is a testament to his genius, curiosity, and urge to experiment. During the period he was working on the painting, Leonardo was also studying light, sound, movement, and human emotions and their expression. These interests are reflected in The Last Supper, where he displayed his concern for depicting human emotions.
The painting is known for its masterful handling of space, perspective, motion, and complex human emotion. It is one of the Western world's most recognizable paintings and is considered by some to have inaugurated the transition into the High Renaissance. The work was commissioned as part of a plan of renovations to the church and its convent buildings by Leonardo's patron Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan.
The painting has been the subject of much speculation and interpretation, especially since the publication of Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code in 2003. It has also been the target of intentional damage, and little of the original painting remains today despite numerous restoration attempts, the last being completed in 1999. The painting's location, environmental factors, and the methods and materials used by Leonardo have all contributed to its deterioration over time.
The Last Supper is a dense work with many symbolic references. For example, Judas Iscariot is recognised by his reaching towards a plate beside Christ and by the purse containing his reward for identifying Christ to the authorities. The painting also depicts Christ blessing the bread and wine, saying to the apostles, "Take, eat; this is my body [...] Drink from it all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins".
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Frequently asked questions
The most famous painting in the world is widely considered to be the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Painted at the start of the 16th century, the portrait is valued at over $660 million. The painting has been on display in the Louvre since 1797, attracting around 10 million visitors per year.
In addition to the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper is the seventh most-visited painting in the world. Painted in the late 15th century, it is located in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. Another famous painting by da Vinci is Salvator Mundi, which sold for over $450 million in 2017.
Some other famous paintings include The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, The Scream by Edvard Munch, The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh, and Guernica by Pablo Picasso.
