We made a list of famous painters, and their most outstanding paintings, taking into account: the expression in movements of each one's time, the fame that some of their paintings achieved in the global context, the political expression they played through art and the number of visits that his works receive in museums to the present day.
Get to know a little more about the life of each painter and enjoy the images of his best known works.
1.Vincent Van Gogh
- Country of birth: Netherlands
- Period in which he lived: March 30, 1853 to July 29, 1890
- Art movement: Realism, Post-impressionism and Modern art
- Most famous painting: The Starry Night
Passionate about oil paintings, nature and the sun, Van Gogh owned a look that made any work fascinating. Having started his painting career at just 27 years old, Van Gogh later went to the south of France in search of the most beautiful landscapes to paint. However, despite the later fame, the artist was quite unhappy and little recognized in life. In one of his episodes of sadness, he cut off a piece of his ear.
The Starry Night was painted when the famous artist was interned in a psychiatric hospital, having done the picture from his bedroom window!
2.Leonardo da Vinci
- Country of birth: Italy
- Period in which he lived: 15 April 1452 to 2 May 1519
- Art movement: High Renaissance, Early Renaissance, Renaissance, Italian Renaissance, and Florentine School
- Most famous painting: Mona Lisa
In addition to being a painter, Leonardo da Vinci became famous for being an excellent sculptor, architect, inventor, mathematician and scientist🇧🇷 At the age of 14, he was accepted into Verrocchio's workshop as his apprentice. Left-handed, Leonardo da Vinci even dedicated himself to airplane projects and watching birds fly, among his different curiosity and skills in life. This multi-talented artist remains very popular to this day.
His painting, Mona Lisa, is perhaps the most visited work at the Louvre Museum in Paris, with large queues so that those who appreciate it can, for a few minutes, limited by the organization of the museum, admire it.
3. Pablo Picasso
- Country of birth: Spain
- Period in which he lived: October 25, 1881 to April 8, 1973
- Art movement: Cubism, Surrealism and Expressionism
- Most famous painting: Guernica
Considered one of the creators of Cubism, Picasso is distinguished by his style of geometric deconstruction, fleeing what is considered real. With different artistic stages throughout his life, the painter began his journey at an early age, having painted for the first time at the age of 8.
Guernica was completed in 1937, having a great historical expressiveness, in the context of wars, in which the destruction caused by bombing is expressed in a very symbolic way in the painting. It is one of the most famous and studied paintings in the world.
4. Salvador Dali
- Country of birth: Spain
- Period in which he lived: May 11, 1904 to January 23, 1989
- Art movement: Surrealism, Expressionism and Post-impressionism
- Most famous painting: The Persistence of Memory
A painter fundamental to surrealism. With a unique mustache, flashy clothes and a disproportionate tie, Dalí was an eccentric character who stood out for works that challenge the mind in creativity and distortion of forms.
Completed in 1931, The Persistence of Memory is his most famous painting, and is on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
5. Claude Monet
- Country of birth: France
- Period in which he lived: November 14, 1840 to December 5, 1926
- Art movement: Impressionism, Realism and Modern Art
- Most famous painting: Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies
The painter was a fundamental symbol in the Impressionist School. Monet was passionate about painting outdoors, being an admirer of the effects of light. In 1883, moved to Giverny, a charming place that inspired many of his works🇧🇷 After going through periods of financial difficulties, the artist died rich and recognized for his work.
The painting Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies is known worldwide as one of Monet's most beautiful paintings.
The painting has two characteristics that the artist was so fond of: the representation of nature and the view of his beautiful garden in Giverny.
6. Gustav Klimt
- Country of birth: Austria
- Period in which he lived: July 14, 1862 to February 6, 1918
- Art movement: Art nouveau, Symbolism, Neoclassicism, Realism, Surrealism and Romanticism
- Most famous painting: The Kiss
The only Austrian painter on our list, Klimt was engaged in works with decorative purpose, having been asked to decorate buildings and palaces, such as the Municipal Theater of Vienna and the historic University of Vienna. He was an eccentric figure, with a habit of wearing a dark robe.
The work O Beijo is part of the artist's most consecrated period, when he worked with gold leaf to adorn the women represented in his art.
7. Edvard Munch
- Country of birth: Norway
- Period in which he lived: December 12, 1863 to January 23, 1944
- Art movement: Expressionism, Symbolism, Impressionism, Realism and Modern Art
- Most famous painting: The Scream
One of the great Norwegian painters, Munch even studied engineering before going into art. Having lived most of his life in Germany, the artist was considered the forerunner of German expressionism. Munch also dedicated himself to decorating buildings in Norway.
Painted in 1893, O Grito is his most famous painting, being seen as an image that translates the anguish and suffering of the world.🇧🇷 It has been speculated that Munch, when he painted the picture, was expressing his own feelings of fear.
8. Mary Cassatt
- Country of birth: United States
- Period in which he lived: May 22, 1843 to June 14, 1926
- Art movement: Impressionism, Modern art, Realism and Post-impressionism
- Most famous painting: Small girl in a blue armchair
Mary Cassat needed to bet on her dream of painting and oppose her father to become a famous painter. The artist, delighted with the work of her friend Edgar Degas, decided to move to Paris, where she also gained prominence in impressionism and began to portray the relationship of mothers and children in their works.
Small girl in a blue armchair, displayed at the National Gallery of Arts in Washington, expresses her great work.
9. Sandro Botticelli
- Country of birth: Italy
- Period in which he lived: March 1, 1445 to May 17, 1510
- Art movement: First Renaissance, Italian Renaissance, Renaissance and Florentine School
- Most famous painting: The Birth of Venus
A renaissance artist passionate about portraying women. His works were well recognized at the time, having sold many paintings to the wealthy Medici family🇧🇷 He participated in the painting of the Sistine Chapel, as well as the painters Michelangelo, Pietro Perugino and Domenico Ghirlandaio. Despite this, Botticelli died poor and persecuted by the church.
Located in Florence, in the Galleria degli Uffizi, The Birth of Venus is one of Botticelli's most famous paintings, which represents the Greek goddess Venus.
10. Michelangelo
- Country of birth: Italy
- Period in which he lived: March 6, 1475 to February 18, 1564
- Art movement: High Renaissance, Italian Renaissance, and Renaissance
- Most famous painting: The Creation of Adam
Also from the Renaissance era, Michelangelo was an excellent painter and sculptor of his time. Works by him were commissioned by different influential members, having made a majestic sculpture, 4,34 m high, of David. The artist stated that his passion was to be a sculptor and not a painter..
Despite this, in 1508, he was called to paint the "Vault of the Sistine Chapel", in the Cathedral of Saint Peter, in the Vatican, where, among the frescoes, is The Creation of Adam.
Although it was, for Michelangelo, a long and tiring job, the Sistine Chapel is visited daily by countless tourists, who reserve, months in advance, a day to see his great work of art.
11. Pierre-Auguste Renoir
- Country of birth: France
- Period in which he lived: February 25, 1841 to December 3, 1919
- Art movement: Impressionism, Modern art, Realism and Post-impressionism
- Most famous painting: The Ball at the Moulin de la Galette
Another important painter of French impressionism. Renoir loved to paint portraits, nature and domestic scenes.🇧🇷 He was one of the forerunners of the Impressionist movement.
The Ball at the Moulin de la Galette is a painting that became known as a true milestone in impressionist painting.
12. Frida Kahlo
- Country of birth: Mexico
- Period in which he lived: July 6, 1907 to July 13, 1954
- Art movement: Naïve art, Modern art, Surrealism, Realism, Symbolism, Naturalism, Primitivism and Cubism
- Most famous painting: Self-portrait in a velvet dress
With a local difference from other famous artists mentioned in this list, Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico. Despite the physical difficulties caused by having contracted polio at the age of six, Frida remained firm as a painter, gaining worldwide notoriety. In addition, its strong imposition on the reality of the time makes it an artist of great political expressiveness, being very symbolic for feminism.
The painting Self-Portrait with a Velvet Dress represents the artist's predilection for placing herself in her works.
