Painting, like other forms of art, has its famous paintings from artists in the world. And before moving on to the analysis, it is important to note that each of the paintings presented in the list is not only an outstanding work of art (for all time), but also a reflection of the era in which it was painted by the artist - a kind of historical value. Famous paintings are not only a demonstration of the artist's skill, but also a conveyance of deep ideas and emotions (as well as symbols) that leave a lasting impression on you for a long time. This list features the most famous oil paintings, each unique in its style and meaning - you will definitely love it. We will look at their composition, technique and the idea that the artists wanted to convey to us through their masterpieces, as well as one interesting fact.

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Let's start with Salvador Dali's famous painting "The Persistence of Memory" - according to his stories, one day he was at home alone with a terrible headache, and at some point, he saw a melting camembert on the table, and the image of a clock immediately appeared in his head. The headache was forgotten, and the artist went to the studio and completed the painting in just 2 hours. The symbolism of the painting is much deeper than just melting cheese, in addition to the funny story that he and his wife ate this cheese; As you know, Dali was fond of the works of Freud and the theories of Einstein - the soft watch was the result of his passion for physics and psychology. Simply put, a melting clock means non-linear time, where the past, present and future exist simultaneously. The clock that is on the front edge of the table is different from the others - it is solid and symbolizes, as usual, linear, inexorable time moving forward. As the artist said, he refuses to recognize linear time, therefore, the clock is lowered with the dial down, and ants crawl on top - a symbol of decay, death and the transience of everything earthly. So it turns out that from many coincidences a masterpiece was born, and it is not surprising that the clock resembles melted cheese. I wonder if the artist finished it or threw it away in the end when he painted his painting? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not obvious; simply, nothing is known about the fate of his cheese.

The next famous painting from artist Edvard Munch, “The Scream” is considered a landmark expressionist event and one of the most famous paintings in the world. There are two interpretations of his painting: one says that the hero himself is seized with horror and silently screams, pressing his hands to his ears, the second says that the hero closes his ears from the scream of the world and nature sounding around him. The artist painted as many as 4 versions of this painting, and it is assumed that “The Scream” is nothing other than the fruit of manic-depressive psychosis from which the artist suffered, and after a course of treatment in the clinic, he never returned to the canvas. In its original form, Munch wanted to call the painting “Despair,” but he abandoned this idea. Rumor has it that during the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889, Munch drew attention to an exhibit resembling a sexless creature - a Peruvian mummy; was curled up in a fetal position with her hands pressed to her cheeks. There were many similar exhibits all over the world, and it is unknown which one the artist saw, but one can understand that the mummy was the prototype. The background to this painting could be a rare phenomenon of pearlescent clouds, the reason for their appearance is low temperatures and a high degree of illumination. But in the painting it is different - they are painted in alarming red and yellow tones, and the main version where such colors appeared on the canvas was for a long time Munch’s impression of the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia. Of course, there is a version that he could see a very rare phenomenon of pearlescent clouds or polar stratospheres - but we won’t know for sure. In any case, both the artist and his painting “The Scream” are full of mystical secrets and mysteries that will not be solved for many years.

Next on our list is the famous painting by James Whistler, “Arrangement in Gray and Black No. 1. The Artist's Mother" - for its time, it was a controversial work that raised the most questions among viewers. But, let's take things one step at a time - the portrait of Anna McNeil, with its composition, reflects the same role that the mother played in the difficult life of the artist; she moved to London with him, where the artist spent his time wildly. And his mother helped James stabilize his situation, tune in to serious work and accept a deep awareness of art. A strict portrait of his mother, in which various forms are balanced, is a mirror of a woman’s character. Like any famous painting, it has several stories at once, and it is completely impossible to say why the artist chose the portrait of his mother. One version is that Anna McNeil replaced the model who refused to come, the second version is that the original idea was that the model would stand, but a woman around 60 years old would not be able to stand for long. Revealing the title “Arrangement in gray and black. The Artist's Mother" - can be explained by Whistler's influence from Charles Baudelaire and Théophile Gautier. The first one called on contemporaries to thoughtfully examine life and write it in all its severity, and not hide behind ancient allegories. The second - he studied the connection between music and painting, Whistler to give musicality to the canvases and thus, the artist began to call his canvases - symphonies, harmonies, etudes and arrangements.

It’s as if “yin” and “yang” came together and the result was a masterpiece of painting. And here, not everything went as smoothly as we would like - the painting caused a negative reaction, critics called it more of a failed experiment than art, however, later, during the Great Depression in the USA, the painting became a hymn to motherhood and family values. The irony for the artist was that the complaints that were addressed to him were like praise - this is explained by the fact that James always put form over content and made sure that the harmony of lines and colors was not violated by the despicable plot. Also, it should be taken into account that the artist did not call the painting “Portrait of a Mother” and the last thing he expected was for the viewer to focus attention and look for similarities, that in front of him is a portrait. The main task was subtle color variations, precise composition - optical, musical and mathematical harmony.

The following painting falls into the list of one of the mystical famous paintings that was painted in this world, namely the work of the artist Jan van Eyck, “Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple” - as at first glance it is believed that it depicts the Italian merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife in their home in Bruges. The artist depicted two characters at once in a portrait and in a home environment - the man stands facing the viewer, and the woman’s figure is slightly turned, and in the center of the composition are their joined hands. The hero is dressed in luxury - a man's dark purple outer dress, which is trimmed with fur, and he has a black hat on his head. His face, although thin and elongated, and his eyes are closed, looks very concentrated and self-absorbed. The girl is dressed in a green long dress, but her face lacks individuality - any bright characteristic facial features, as if a collective image of female beauty appears before us. As you may have noticed, the girl is clearly pregnant, but this cannot be said for sure - in those days, there was a squeak in fashion, where the girl wore a dress with a high waist and a train in the front. Perhaps the girl is simply keeping the hem too long. Moving further through the painting, we see that at the feet of the married couple there is a small dog, and the entire environment is depicted to the smallest detail and testifies to the material well-being of the young couple.

And now we move on to the most unobvious and mysterious thing - why is the young couple taking off their shoes? Their shoes can be seen on the canvas, and also on the chandelier, if you pay attention, there is a candle burning above the man and none above the woman. If we continue the logical chain, then we can assume that by the time the painting was completed, Arnolfini’s wife was no longer alive? Perhaps we will assume that the painting was made as a memory of her. And if we look closely at the mirror, we see not only the reflection of the couples, but also the reflection of unknown figures - judging by the inscription above the mirror, which reads like "Jan van Eyck was here" Was the artist really a witness to what was happening? We will not know this and will only guess - no matter how you look at it, this painting has many mysteries that are unlikely to be solved in the near future.

A memorable, cruel and dark famous painting from Karl Bryullov, “The Last Day of Pompeii” - the large-scale canvas depicts one of the tragic episodes from ancient Roman history - the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of the city of Pompeii. The painting is symbolic and multifaceted for the reason that, in contrast to the traditions of classicism, the plot is based not on the story of one character, but on the tragedy of an entire people. In the center of the street, a real apocalypse is depicted - we see an unconscious woman who has fallen from a chariot and is held by her child. And next to them are sons who are carrying their wounded father; a young man pressing his mother's hand to his chest; a mother depicted with two daughters who look up in despair. The once rich city is filled with the rubble of houses, public buildings, destroyed statues of gods and all this in the screams of people, running in panic and looking in horror at the blood-red sky, covering themselves with their hands and unsuccessfully trying to escape from the wrath of nature.

As soon as the viewer begins to watch, they immediately become aware of the impending horror that has overtaken them - a destructive and uncontrollable element. Dark tearing heavy clouds under flashes of fire and shrouded in horror about the imminent end - the viewing creates a heaviness on the soul. The feeling that the artist personally caught the crowd at a terrible moment, the feelings and emotions of the people were so realistically conveyed. As soon as the artist began his work, he adhered to the rules of academic canons - the characters should be distributed into groups, the figures in the foreground should resemble sculptures in texture and contrast with the two-dimensional silhouette of the people behind them. And the dynamics are created by alternating dark, dense tones in the center and more faded ones in the background, which creates lighting from the volcano and lightning flashes from different angles.

Of course, there is a small detail in this painting - on the left side of the canvas, under the box with brushes and paints, Bryullov depicted himself. It took him about 11 months to create the painting, but it took him as much as 6 years to prepare for the work: sketches and drafts. The painting reminds the viewer that the main value of the world is man himself; his physical beauty, as well as spiritual greatness - the artist puts in opposition to the destructive forces of nature, which can not be subdued. 

Famous Artwork Painting - Contemplation of The Great

Let's move on to a very telling and famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, “Mona Lisa” - a woman depicted in dark clothes and turned half-turned. She sits in a chair with her arms folded together and one hand resting on the armrest and the other on top, turning in the chair to almost face the viewer. On her face, her eyebrows and hair on the top of her forehead are shaved - indicating noticeable traces of Quattrocento fashion. And the lower edge of the painting cuts off the second half of her body, making the portrait half-length. If you look closely, you can see that the chair on which she is sitting is on the balcony, and it is believed that Da Vinci’s painting could have been wider and could have accommodated two side columns - this is noticeable by the bases of the columns, which are visible along the edges of the canvas. Like any other portrait, a background is needed for overall contrast, and behind the Mona Lisa you can see the mountains, which create an image of extraordinary grandeur; among the foggy surface that envelops rocks and water channels - and not everyone peers at the landscape behind her, but they should.

The painting “Mona Lisa” has a problem, and it is not so much for the canvas itself, but for the hidden meanings that viewers want to find, and at the same time, no one knows the truth for sure. There are many legends, and all of them do not have exact factual confirmation, but we will consider them:

1) As they say, the Mona Lisa is a man, as art critics say, they see similarities with such paintings as “John the Baptist” and “Angel in the Flesh”. This is possible, but this is just one of many interpretations.

2) Da Vinci deliberately used a method of blurring facial features so that they reflected several emotions simultaneously. So that she seems embarrassed, and at the same time arrogant, and maybe even smug - it is impossible to say for sure what emotions really prevail in her.

3) There is also a theory (in my opinion strange) that one art critic, while studying the canvas, stated that her facial expression is characteristic of people who have lost many teeth. And under a microscope, either a scar or a slight abrasion was discovered. I would simply say that these could be the contours of the lips on her face.

4) When you have a microscope in your hands, you see everything you want, but not the details themselves - one of the art historians somehow spotted numbers and letters on the canvas, the meaning of which is unknown. Perhaps he confused it with paint cracks that are already many centuries old, but who knows the truth.

Let's move on to the next famous painting from Jan Vermeer, "Girl with a Pearl Earring" - it is considered to be a mysterious portrait of the Golden Age of Dutch painting. There is an opinion that the artist captured that one short moment: the young beauty when she left and decided to turn back. If you start looking from any angle, the girl’s huge, clear eyes will look directly at the viewer, leading him into incomprehensible awe and embarrassment. The eyes reflect two tiny glares that emphasize the liveliness of the look, and the moist lips that are parted, as if the stranger wants to say something goodbye. Clothing that harmonizes with the shades of her face, which creates the image of a beautiful girl from some fairy tale, and a black background gives the image a three-dimensional depth that does not distract attention from viewing the delicate image of the girl. In the painting by Jan Vermeer, there have been many heated debates about the decoration, and arguments have been made that it could have been made of glass, silver, porcelain or tin - after all, the mother-of-pearl surface does not refract light in any way, so the question was asked whether it could be considered the most pearl decoration? The reflection of the white collar at the bottom of the bead also raises doubts, and the loop that is attached to the ear is also not shown. Moreover, when you start to peer into this “pearl”, you notice that there are no clear and distinct contours in it, but only brush strokes that imitate the shape of the jewelry. In complete contrast, in order to dispel all the beautiful words said about the painting, art historians are inclined to believe that the earring is simply made of Venetian glass, but the portrait itself could suddenly be only a figment of the painter’s imagination.

Moving on to a warmer and more romantic famous painting from Pierre-Auguste Renoir, “The Rowers' Breakfast” - the canvas depicts a group of people who have gathered in celebration on the summer terrace of a rowing club. Men in rowing suits and girls dressed in secular attire are sitting at the table. Behind them are other guests of the establishment who came to relax, and the artist conveyed the spirit of communication between people; they drink, have fun, and just decide to go out of town and relax in the fresh air. The foreground is decorated with a table with well-drawn fruits and drinks that the rowers ordered for themselves. The white tablecloth is painted as if it harmoniously echoes the bunches of grapes and glasses of wine; The dense greenery surrounding the terrace behind which you can see the expanse of the river and a white sailboat gliding along it evokes a fleeting sense of the smell of nature. If you look closely, you can see the railway bridge in the background and almost hidden behind the red and white striped awning, which shows how rich the painting is in detail.

A little history of the creation of this masterpiece - the artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir worked on the painting for several months, painted the landscape itself in nature, and painted the figures of people in the studio, inviting them to pose alone or in small groups. The models who are present in the painting are his acquaintances and close friends, and the cutest thing is the girl in the lower left corner with a dog in her arms - this is his future wife, and it all started with a teenage love, and her name is Alina Sharigo. The man who towers over the girl in a white sports jersey and a straw hat is the son of the owner of the club where the plot of the painting takes place; his sister is also present - she stands behind and leans on the railing. The man in the white T-shirt and straw hat in the right corner of the painting is none other than the artist and French collector Gustave Caillebotte.

As it may seem, the painting could have been painted spontaneously, but the plot of the work was carefully thought out; An interesting find that can be emphasized was the diagonal division of the composition into two parts by the railings of the fence. One part is a summer terrace, which is filled with people, and the second part is a natural landscape. Fun fact: the Maison Fournaise restaurant today looks exactly the same as it did in the artist’s time, and the terrace was named “Renoir” in his honor.

Paintings and Artwork - Genre and Portrait Painting

We looked at famous paintings - this is not a complete list; there are still many other paintings that belong to legendary artists. As you noticed, the paintings were mainly selected in the genre of portraits or genre painting, and the most necessary thing to do is to briefly go through their meaning.

In the world of works of art in the genre of portraits, it plays an important role and the main feature is how to depict a person on canvas. The artist’s attention is completely focused on the person, and the meaning of his work is not only the depiction of his appearance, but also to reveal the soul, character, and emotions on the face. It should also be noted that in modern art, what comes to the fore is not portrait resemblance to a person, but immersion in the inner world, and a classical portrait also requires accuracy in the depiction of a person. Let’s not forget that a portrait not only depicts a person’s individuality, but also expresses the individuality of the artistic personality of the author of the painting, as if bringing a piece of something of his own into the model.

Roughly speaking, a portrait is a repetition from the real world with the transfer to canvas of all the canons of a person and on what his individuality, like character and soul, is built; mental state and social status of a person. There are portraits: both ceremonial and intimate, and sometimes costumed; collective and family; religious and self-portraits. Portraiture can also be divided depending on what part of the body will be depicted in the painting - it could be: chest-high; waist-high; up to the hips; knee-deep or full-length.

In short, they gave basic concept for portraits, now we’ll tell you for a work of art in genre painting. Paintings should have the main characteristic feature of depicting scenes of everyday life and everyday living. Artists depict everyday scenes, reflect human life, without any historical, mythological or religious significance. Ordinary people and ordinary chamber plots, and contain elements of landscapes, still life, interiors and present the heroes of the canvas without any embellishment, there is no unnecessary pathos or heroization. The plot of the painting does not mean that the existence of the event should take place on a large scale; imagine an oil painting that depicts three elderly men who have gathered together again to remember the past, and just talk at the table while drinking wine. Genre painting moves in this vein - in simplicity and lightness.

In their works, artists tried to convey the emotions of admiration for ordinary people and depicted them with undisguised sympathy and forced the viewer to observe the plot with curiosity - and this was a lot of wasted time from observing people. As they say: “Any art requires sacrifice,” and for artists sometimes it was interesting to watch people on the streets, but the more endurance was required in order to get a masterpiece of art, albeit small, on canvas.