What is the most significant painting in history?

Dive into a vibrant clash of artistic expressions where timeless masterpieces meet bold innovations, each vying for the title of the ultimate painting in history. Discover the hidden gems, iconic marvels, and even the controversial picks that have shaped the art world—who will reign supreme in your eyes?

1

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

Renaissance portrait, Louvre Museum, most famous painting in the world

2

The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh

Post-Impressionist masterpiece, Museum of Modern Art

3

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci

Renaissance fresco in Milan, depicting Jesus and disciples

4

Guernica by Pablo Picasso

Cubist anti-war painting, Museo Reina Sofía

5

The Scream by Edvard Munch

Expressionist painting symbolizing human anxiety

6

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer

Dutch Golden Age portrait, Mauritshuis

7

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli

Renaissance painting, Uffizi Gallery

8

Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh

Series of still life paintings, Van Gogh Museum

9

The Night Watch by Rembrandt

Dutch Golden Age group portrait, Rijksmuseum

10

Water Lilies by Claude Monet

Impressionist series, Musée de l'Orangerie

11

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso

Proto-Cubist painting, Museum of Modern Art

12

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí

Surrealist painting with melting clocks

13

American Gothic by Grant Wood

American Regionalist painting, Art Institute of Chicago

14

The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch

Early Netherlandish triptych, Prado Museum

15

Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez

Baroque painting, Prado Museum

16

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo

Renaissance fresco on Sistine Chapel ceiling

17

The School of Athens by Raphael

Renaissance fresco in Vatican, depicting philosophers

18

Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet

Painting that gave name to Impressionism movement

19

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat

Pointillist masterpiece, Art Institute of Chicago

20

The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai

Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print

21

Nighthawks by Edward Hopper

American realist painting, Art Institute of Chicago

22

The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

Art Nouveau painting, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere

23

Whistler's Mother by James McNeill Whistler

Portrait painting, Musée d'Orsay

24

The Hay Wain by John Constable

Romantic landscape painting, National Gallery

25

Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix

Romantic painting, Louvre Museum

26

The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault

Romantic painting, Louvre Museum

27

Olympia by Édouard Manet

Realist painting that shocked Paris, Musée d'Orsay

28

The Dance by Henri Matisse

Fauvist painting, Hermitage Museum

29

Composition VII by Wassily Kandinsky

Abstract painting, Tretyakov Gallery

30

No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock

Abstract Expressionist drip painting

31

Campbell's Soup Cans by Andy Warhol

Pop art series, Museum of Modern Art

32

Woman I by Willem de Kooning

Abstract Expressionist painting, Museum of Modern Art