# 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?

*By YouPickBest · Published December 12, 2025 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-most-significant-painting-in-history*

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## Current results (200 votes)

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

Tags: historical-figures, painting, art