Similarly, Leonardo da Vinci’sMona Lisacontinues to inspire authors and filmmakers from around the world.
Want to brush up on your art history knowledge?
Scroll down to take a short-listed tour of30 of Western art history’s most famous paintings.
Brush up on your art history knowledge by learning about these famous paintings.
The mirror itself is thought to suggest the eye of God observing the scene.
It is one of the first Renaissance paintings to display Classical inspiration and a prominent nude female figure.
Jan Van Eyck, “The Arnolfini Portrait,” 1434 (Photo:National GalleryviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Fun fact:The nudity depicted inThe Birth of Venuswas unusualand rather daringat the time.
Newspapers spread the story of the crime worldwide, sparking international interest in the painting.
When the artwork finally returned to the Paris museum two years later, it became celebrated as a masterpiece.
Sandro Botticelli, “The Birth of Venus,” c. 1484–1486 (Photo:UffiziviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
It is considered a masterpiece for how it merges art, philosophy, and science into one painting.
Fun fact:Platos gesture toward the sky is thought to indicate hisTheory of Forms.
It is not only renowned for its incredible scale, but also for its complex composition and Classical inspirations.
Leonardo da Vinci, “The Last Supper,” 1495–8 (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Fun fact:Michelangelo was reluctant to take up the job.
He even wrote a poem expressing his frustrations.
Dressed in contemporary clothing, the characters appear lifted from a genre scene rather than a traditional religious painting.
Leonardo da Vinci, “The Mona Lisa,” c. 1503–1506 (Photo:LouvreviaWikimedia Commons, Public Domain)
Fun fact:The identity of Matthew in the painting is still debated.
Fun fact:The King and Queen are included in the painting.
Above the princess' head, there’s a dark wooden frame.
Raphael, “The School of Athens,” 1509–11 (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Within it is her father and mother, King Philip IV of Spain and Mariana of Austria.
It showcases the artist’s dramatic use of light and shadow.
Fun fact:The painting is viewed by around 4,000 to 5,000 visitors daily at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Photo:Stock Photosfrom Creative Lab/Shutterstock
It portrays an anonymous woman wearing exotic blue-and-yellow clothing and sitting before a stark black background.
Fun Fact:Girl with a Pearl Earringis sometimes nicknamed the Mona Lisa of the North.
Fun fact:David made five versions of this portrait between 18011805, with minor differences between them.
Caravaggio, “The Calling of St. Matthew,” 1599–1600 (Photo:Wikipedia, Public domain)
The painting’s use of scale and drama makes it a cornerstone of French Romanticism.
Fun fact:The Raft of The Medusapainting is huge, measuring around 16 feet by 23.5 feet.
The raft itself was even bigger, measuring 23 feet by 66 feet.
Diego Velázquez, “Las Meninas,” 1656–1657 (Photo:Museo del PradoviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Created during the tumultuous French Revolution, it captures the spirit of the people’s uprising.
Fun fact:The woman in the composition is known as Marianne.
She has been the personification of the French Republic ever since the first French Revolution of 1789.
Rembrandt, “The Nightwatch,” 1642 (Photo:RijksmuseumviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Even so, the picture is best known by its colloquial name,Whistler’s Mother.
The nude woman is Victorine-Louise Meurent, a popular muse of Parisian painters during the late 1800s.
She was nicknamed La Crevette (The Shrimp) because of her red hair and rosy complexion.
Johannes Vermeer, “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” c. 1665 (Photo:MauritshuisviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Manet renders the main figures, objects, and interior with expressive brushstrokes and close attention to the details.
Fun fact:This painting is based on a real-life nightclub in Paris called the Folies-Bergere.
Monet titled most of his paintings with Impression for this reason.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, “The Swing,” c. 1767 (Photo:The Wallace CollectionviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
The painter asked them to join him at Maison Fournaise to pose for the composition.
Fun fact:Seurat was just 26 years old when he completed this painting.
Fun fact:This was not Van Gogh’s firstStarry Night.
Jacques-Louis David, “Napoleon Crossing the Alps,” Version 2, 1801–1805 (Photo:BelvedereviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Fun fact:This painting inspired the killer’s mask in Wes Craven’s movie franchise,Scream.
He uses a flat, two-dimensional composition to enhance the luster of the gold leaf.
Fun fact:Lovewhether romantic, platonic, or familialis a common theme in Klimt’s work.
Théodore Géricault, “The Raft of The Medusa,” 1818–9 (Photo:LouvreviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
A pioneer of several different styles, he is perhaps best known for his works in Cubism.
He believed it undermined modern art.
Marcel Duchamp,Nude Descending a Staircase, No.
Eugène Delacroix, “Liberty Leading the People,” 1830 (Photo:LouvreviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
2, 1912
Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No.
Like theCubists, it utilizes fragmentation and simplification of shapes, and like theFuturistsit portrays movement.
Fun fact:Duchamp’s brothers hated the piece and tried to censor it.
James McNeill Whistler, “Whistler’s Mother,” 1871 (Photo:Musée d’OrsayviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Duchamp had hoped to debut the painting in the Salon des Independants’s spring exhibition of Cubist works.
Duchamp refused to change his artwork and later recalled, I said nothing to my brothers.
But I went immediately to the show and took my painting home in a taxi.
Édouard Manet, “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe,” 1863 (Photo:Musée d’OrsayviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
It was really a turning point in my life, I can assure you.
I saw that I would not be very much interested in groups after that.
It captures the anguish of both people and animals that is because of unnecessary violence.
Édouard Manet, “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère,” 1882 (Photo:The Courtauld Institute of ArtviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Fun fact:The main subjects in the painting are women.
One powerful figure is depicted screaming in agony as she holds a dead baby in her arms.
Another holds her arms in the air holding an oil lamp, signifying hope.
ClaudeMonet, “Impression, Sunrise,” 1872 (Photo:Musée Marmottan MonetviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Fun fact:The painting received some bad reviews from critics who thought it suggested the idea of nihilism.
In an interview, Magritte defended himself by stating, The famous pipe.
How people reproached me for it!
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, “Bal du moulin de la Galette,” 1876 (Photo:Musée d’OrsayviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
And yet, could you stuff my pipe?
No, its just a representation, is it not?
So if I had my picture This is a pipe,' Id have been lying!
Georges Seurat, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” 1884–6 (Photo:Art Institute of ChicagoviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
It displays outlandish subject matter evocative of a dreamscape.
Even today, the melting clock is synonymous with the Spanish artist’s name.
Fun fact:Dali was probably hallucinating when he painted the piece.
Vincentvan Gogh, “TheStarry Night,” 1889 (Photo:MoMAviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Around the time of the artwork’s creation, the surrealist was practicing his paranoiac-critical method.
Known as theDibble House, this humble abode was built in 1881 in aGothicRevival style calledCarpenter Gothic.
When he spotted the home, it immediately caught his eyeand sparked his imagination.
Edvard Munch, “The Scream,” 1893 (Photo:National Gallery of NorwayviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Fun fact:His wife, Josephine or Jo, often wrote detailed annotations for Hopper’s preparatory drawings.
ForNighthawks,she said, Night + brilliant interior of cheap restaurant.
Light walls, dull yellow ocre [sic] door into kitchen right.
Gustav Klimt, “The Kiss,” oil and gold leaf on canvas, 1907–1908 (Photo: Belvedere viaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Want to see these masterpieces in person?
Check out our guide onwhere to find some of the most famous art.
Pablo Picasso, “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,” 1907 (Photo:MoMAviaWikimedia Commons, Fair use)
Marcel Duchamp, “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2,” 1912 (Photo:Philadelphia Museum of ArtviaWikimedia Commons, Fair use)
Grant Wood, “American Gothic,” 1930 (Photo:Art Institute of ChicagoviaWikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Edward Hopper, “Nighthawks,” 1942 (Photo:Art Institute of ChicagoviaWikipedia, Public domain)
