Artistic expression is one of the hallmarks of the human intellectual achievement. Since the early days of civilization, man has sought to depict his understanding and appreciation of the world through art. One of the purest examples of fine art is the painting, a two-dimensional representation of reality, usually done on canvas. As one travels the world, he sees many examples of this type of expression. In the accompanying photo album, I have catalogued some of the very best paintings of all time.
By the way, some will argue that there is no need to travel to see great art, that it is available in books, videos or other media, but I maintain that there is no substitute for seeing the “real thing”, that to be truly appreciated, art must be seen first hand. There is a certain “rush” that one gets when seeing something up close and personal that has been displayed many times and for many years in books. It is exciting to realize that one is actually experiencing the real thing.
Here is my list of the world’s greatest paintings, including the painter and where the artwork can be found. There is no special order to the list.
1. Mona Lisa, da Vinci, found in the Louvre, Paris, France
2. Night Watch, Rembrandt, found in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
3. Burial of Count Orgasz, El Greco, found in the church of Santo Tome’, Toledo, Spain
4. Garden of Earthly Delights, Bosch, found in the Prado, Madrid, Spain
5. Starry Night, van Gogh, found in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, USA
6. Guernica, Picasso, found in the Reina Sophia Museum, Madrid, Spain
7. School of Athens, Rafael, found in the Rafael Rooms of the Vatican Museum, Vatican City
8. Sistene Chapel Ceiling, Michelangelo, found in Vatican City
9. Last Supper, da Vinci, found in Santa Maria della Grazie Church, Milan, Italy
10. Water Lilies, (actually a series of over 200 paintings) Monet, found in many museums, notably Metropolitan Museum, New York, New York, USA, and the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
11. Nude Maya, Goya, found in the Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain
12. Bal du Moulin de la Galette, Renoir, found in the Musee Orsay, Paris, France
13. The Last Judgment, Michelangelo, found in the Sistene Chapel, Vatican City
14. Birth of Venus, Botticelli, found in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
15. I and the Village, Chagall, Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, USa
16. Vitruvian Man, da Vinci, Accademia, Venice, Italy
17. Tahitian Women, Gauguin, found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA
18. Scream, Munch, found in the Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway
19. Allegoria della Primavera, Botticelli, found in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
20. Triumph of Death, Bruegel, found in the Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain, and in the Museum Fur Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Switzerland
21. Fall of the Damned, Rubens, found in the Surmondt-Ludwig Museum, Aachen, Germany
22. Persistence of Memory, Dali, Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, USA
23. Las Meninas, Velasquez, found in the Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain
