Most famous painting of all time?

[gorie]

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i like the painting with the guy with the green apple i forget its name

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i like that one too , i painted a copy of it !

[noir]

I'm trying to step outside of my western art history bias for this question, but I'm not really qualified to do so. But I think we need to consider the world as a whole here and not be unduly biased by what American college students decide to put on their walls. With this in mind, we should also consider that those aged 30-100 will approach the question differently than many of us and that most folk in the world have not had the same access to Culture as we have.

For post-Renaissance art, Rembrandt may very well be the most famous painter, and Picasso is the most famous artist. However, I do not think that either has a singular work that the masses would single out as "the most famous painting in the world."

I think that American Gothic is too specific to the U.S., and Scream is a generational popular phenomenon.

Paintings in the Abstract, Cubist and Surreal styles are a little too inaccessible.

I've concluded that the painting is to be found in the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist era. Renoir, and more so, Monet likely are the most famous painters, but again we encounter the fact that they are best known for their body of work.

So, a Van Gogh painting it must be. I lean toward giving Starry Night the nod, but I think it's possible that the average person might choose Sunflowers.

[phage]

very good job!

[mmbt0ne]

I think Starry Night is the answer, but I really like this one too:

[phage]

I thought that this was impressive when I saw it...However I don't think that many would feel it is as famous as some of those already listed

[ddubois]

Given that I don't recognize a large number of paintings in this thread, I think many of you have serious misconceptions about the meaning of "most famous painting of all time".

[StevieG]

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This is the green apple painting you were referring to. It's by Rene Magritte.



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I love Magritte, but I don't think this is gonna be the most recognized painting out there. I doubt 1 out of 10 asked could name it. In fact, I doubt more than half could name "Leci n'est pas une pipe" despite the obviousness of it.

Munch's "The Scream" is pretty well known. Having been stolen helps.

[gorie]

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very good job!

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thanks [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

For Category 1: Starry Night

Category 2: Persistance of Memory by Dali, or:


"The Temptation of Saint Anthony" by Dali.

[ibankonu]

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i like the painting with the guy with the green apple i forget its name

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i like that one too , i painted a copy of it !



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That is really good. It makes me wish i had any kind of artistic ability at all.