You Pick BestYouPickBest

Which famous painting was most hated when it was first shown?

by YPB Team

Booed, guarded, rejected, painted over. Every work here got a hostile reception first and a museum wall later.

  1. Olympia — ranked #11
    Olympia
    Manet's 1865 nude drew such abuse the Salon posted guards beside it.
    1000pts
  2. The Gross Clinic — ranked #22
    The Gross Clinic
    Eakins' 1875 surgery scene was refused by the 1876 Centennial art show as too gruesome.
    622pts
  3. A Burial at Ornans — ranked #33
    A Burial at Ornans
    Courbet's 1850 village funeral, attacked for painting peasants at history-painting scale.
    622pts
  4. Nocturne in Black and Gold — ranked #44
    Nocturne in Black and Gold
    Ruskin accused Whistler of flinging a pot of paint in the public's face.
    466pts
  5. Rodin's Monument to Balzac — ranked #55
    Rodin's Monument to Balzac
    Commissioned in 1891, rejected by the writers' society in 1898 and not cast in bronze until 1939.
    466pts
  6. A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — ranked #66
    A Sunday on La Grande Jatte
    Seurat's dots were mocked as a mechanical trick at the 1886 exhibition.
    363pts
  7. The Last Judgment — ranked #77
    The Last Judgment
    Michelangelo's nudes were condemned and later painted over with drapery.
    363pts
  8. The Third of May 1808 — ranked #88
    The Third of May 1808
    Goya's execution scene was kept out of sight for decades after it was painted.
    363pts
  9. Impression, Sunrise — ranked #99
    Impression, Sunrise
    A critic said wallpaper was more finished, and accidentally named a movement.
    363pts
  10. Rude Descending a Staircase — ranked #1010
    Rude Descending a Staircase
    The New York Evening Sun's 1913 cartoon of the painting that scandalised the Armory Show.
    363pts
  11. The Raft of the Medusa — ranked #1111
    The Raft of the Medusa
    Gericault's 1819 shipwreck was read as an attack on the French navy.
    363pts
  12. Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe — ranked #1212
    Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe
    Manet's clothed men and naked woman scandalised the 1863 Salon des Refuses.
    0pts
  13. Fountain — ranked #1313
    Fountain
    Duchamp's signed urinal was rejected by the very show that promised to reject nothing.
    0pts
  14. The Night Watch — ranked #1414
    The Night Watch
    Rembrandt's group portrait reportedly left several paying sitters unhappy.
    0pts

#art36#classics486#paintings10#scandals1#critics1

Comments

Manet's Olympia needed guards at the 1865 Salon, and Ruskin said Whistler had flung a pot of paint at the public: https://youpick.best/articles/monet-ranked-many-ways

YP
ypb-team·3h ago·
Make your own rankingAny question with 2–50 answers. AI fills in options and pictures in a minute.Create →Add rankings to your siteEmbed any ranking. Your readers vote right on your page.How it works →