100 famous paintings. The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli

The collections of Moscow museums and galleries are among the richest in the world. More than 150 years ago, Russian patrons and collectors began to collect the most famous paintings world, unique artistic creations, sparing neither money nor time to search for talents. And so that you do not get lost in the tens of thousands of submitted paintings, we have selected for you famous paintings of the world presented in museums and galleries of Moscow

State Tretyakov Gallery

"Bogatyrs", Viktor Vasnetsov, 1881-1898

For almost twenty years, Viktor Mikhailovich worked on one of the greatest works of art Russia, a masterpiece that has become a symbol of the power of the Russian people. Vasnetsov considered this picture his creative duty, an obligation to his homeland. In the center of the picture are three main characters of Russian epics: Dobrynya Nikitich, Ilya Muromets and Alyosha Popovich. The prototype of Alyosha Popovich was younger son Savva Mamontov, but Dobrynya Nikitich - collective image the artist himself, his father and grandfather.

Photo: wikimedia.org

"Unknown", Ivan Kramskoy, 1883

A mystical picture shrouded in a halo of mystery. Many times she changed her owners, as women claimed that with a long stay near this portrait, they lost their youth and beauty. It is curious that even Pavel Tretyakov did not want to buy it for his collection, and the work appeared in the gallery only in 1925 as a result of the nationalization of private collections. Only in Soviet time"Unknown" Kramskoy was recognized as the ideal of beauty and spirituality. It is easy to recognize in the background the paintings of Nevsky Prospekt, or rather the Anichkov Bridge, along which the "unknown" gracefully passes in an elegant carriage. Who's that girl? Another mystery left by the artist. Neither in the letters nor in the diaries did Kramskoy leave any mention of her personality, and the versions differ: from the author's daughter to Anna Karenina Tolstoy.

Photo: dreamwidth.org

"Morning in pine forest”, Ivan Shishkin and Konstantin Savitsky, 1889

Few people know that in addition to Ivan Shishkin, another well-known Russian artist, whose signature, at the insistence of Pavel Tretyakov, was erased. Ivan Ivanovich, who had an exceptional talent as a painter, depicted the grandeur of the awakening forest, but the creation of playing bears belongs to the brush of his friend, Konstantin Savitsky. This picture has another name, folk - "Three Bears", which appeared thanks to the famous candy factory "Red October".

Photo: wikimedia.org

Seated Demon, Mikhail Vrubel, 1890

Tretyakov Gallery- a unique place for fans of Mikhail Vrubel's work, as here is the most full assembly his paintings. The theme of the demon, personifying the inner struggle of the greatness of the human spirit with doubts and suffering, has become the main thing in the artist's work and a phenomenal phenomenon in world painting.

"Seated Demon" is the most famous of these images of Vrubel. The picture was created with fairly large, sharp strokes of a palette knife, reminiscent of a mosaic from afar.

Photo: muzei-mira.com

"Boyar Morozova", Vasily Surikov, 1884-1887

Giant-sized epic historical painting was written based on the Tale of the Boyar Morozova, an associate of the supporters of the old faith. The author has been looking for a suitable face for a long time - bloodless, fanatical, from which he could write a portrait sketch main character. Surikov recalled that the key to the image of Morozova was given once by a crow with a broken wing, which was desperately beating against the snow.

Photo: gallery-allart.do.am

"Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581" or "Ivan the Terrible kills his son", Ilya Repin, 1883-1885

This picture does not leave any visitor of the gallery indifferent: it causes anxiety, inexplicable fear, attracts and repels at the same time, fascinates and gives you goosebumps. About his feeling of anxiety and excitement during the creation of the picture, Repin wrote: “I worked as if spellbound. It got scary for a few minutes. I turned away from this picture. Hiding her. But something drove me to her, and I worked again. Sometimes I would tremble, and then the feeling of a nightmare would dull ... ". The artist managed to finish the painting by the 300th anniversary of the death of Ivan the Terrible, but the masterpiece did not immediately appear before the public: for three months the painting was under a censorship ban. They say that in a mystical way, the picture brought trouble to its creator and the people who participated in its creation. After the completion of the painting, Repin lost his hand, and the artist's friend, who posed for the painting in the role of the murdered Ivan, went crazy.

Photo: artpoisk.info

"Girl with Peaches", Valentin Serov, 1887

This painting is considered one of the most joyful, fresh and lyrical paintings. late XIX century. Youth and a thirst for life are felt here in every stroke of the still very young (22 years old) Valentin Serov, in the light, barely perceptible smile of Verochka Mamontova, the daughter of a well-known businessman and philanthropist, as well as in a bright and comfortable room, the warmth of which spreads to its viewer.

Later, Serov became one of the best portrait painters, recognized almost all over the world, and immortalized many famous contemporaries, but The Girl with Peaches is still his most famous work.

Photo: allpainters.ru

"Bathing the Red Horse", Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, 1912

Art critics call this picture visionary. They believe that the author symbolically predicted the “red” fate of Russia in the 20th century, depicting it in the form of a racing horse.

The work of Petrov-Vodkin is not just a picture, but a symbol, an insight, a manifesto. Contemporaries compare the strength of its impact with Kazimir Malevich's "Black Square", which you can also see in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Photo: wikiart.org

"Black Square", Kazemir Malevich, 1915

This picture is called the icon of the futurists, which they put in place of the Madonna. According to the author, it took several months to create it, and it became part of a triptych, which also included the "Black Circle" and "Black Cross". As it turned out, Malevich painted the primary layer of the painting with different colors, and if you look closely, you will see that the corners of the square can hardly be called straight. In the history of world art, it is difficult to find a painting with louder fame than Kazimir Malevich's Black Square. He is copied, imitated, but his masterpiece is unique.

Photo: wikimedia.org

Gallery of European and American Art of the 19th–20th Centuries. State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin

"Portrait of Jeanne Samary", Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1877

It is paradoxical that this painting was originally planned by the artist only as a preparatory sketch for a formal portrait. French actress Jeanne Samary, which can be seen in the Hermitage. But in the end, art critics unanimously agreed that this is the best of all Renoir's portraits of the actress. The artist so skillfully combined the tones and halftones of Samari's dress that, as a result, the picture began to play with an unusual optical effect: when looking under certain angle Jeanne's green dress turns blue.

Photo: art-shmart.livejournal.com

Boulevard des Capucines in Paris, Claude Monet, 1873

This is one of the most recognizable works of Claude Monet - the pride and heritage of the Pushkin Museum. From a close distance, only small strokes are visible in the picture, but it is worth taking just a few steps back, as the picture comes to life: Paris breathes fresh air, the rays of the sun illuminate the seething crowd, which is fussily moving along the boulevard, and it seems that you can even hear the urban rumble, which is heard far beyond the picture. This is the skill of the great impressionist Monet: for a moment you forget about the plane of the canvas and dissolve in the illusion skillfully created by the artist.

Photo: nb12.ru

Prisoner's Walk, Van Gogh, 1890

There is something symbolic in the fact that Van Gogh painted Prisoner's Walk, one of his most poignant creations, in the hospital, where he first got because of the onset mental illness. Moreover, if you look closely, you can clearly see that the central character of the picture is endowed with features by artists. Despite the use of pure shades of blues, greens and purple colors, the color of the canvas seems gloomy, and the prisoners moving in a circle seem to say that there is no way out of the dead end, where life is like a vicious circle.

Photo: description-kartin.com

The King's Wife, Paul Gauguin, 1896

This work of the artist is considered by many art critics to be a unique pearl among the famous nude maidens. European art. It was written by Gauguin during his second stay in Tahiti. By the way, the painting depicts the wife not of the king, but of Gauguin himself - 13-year-old Tekhura. exotic and scenic landscape the pictures cannot but arouse admiration - an abundance of colors and greenery, colored trees and the coast turning blue in the distance.

Photo: stsvv.livejournal.com

« blue dancers", Edgar Degas, 1897

Works french impressionist Edgar Degas brought in invaluable contribution in the history of world and French visual arts. The painting "Blue Dancers" is recognized as one of the the best works Degas on the theme of ballet, to which he devoted many of his most outstanding paintings. The picture is made in pastel, which the artist especially loved for the elegant combination of color and lines. "Blue Dancers" refers to the late period of the artist's work, when his eyesight weakened, and he began to work with large color spots.

Photo: nearyou.ru

"Girl on a ball", Pablo Picasso, 1905

One of the most famous and significant works of the “pink period” by Pablo Picasso appeared in Russia thanks to the philanthropist and collector Ivan Morozov, who acquired it in 1913 for his personal collection. The blue color, in which almost all the works of the previous difficult period of the artist were painted, is still present in the work, but noticeably weakens, giving way to a lighter and more joyful pink. Picasso's paintings are easily recognizable: they clearly show the soul of the author and his extraordinary perception of the world around him. And as the artist himself said: “I could draw like Raphael, but it will take me all my life to learn how to draw like a child draws.”

Photo: dawn.com

Address: Lavrushinsky lane, 10

Permanent exhibition "Art of the 20th century" and exhibition halls

Address: Krymsky Val, 10

Working mode:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday - from 10.00 to 18.00

Thursday, Friday, Saturday - from 10.00 to 21.00

Monday - day off

Entrance ticket price:

Adult - 400 rubles (6$)

Gallery of European and American Art of the 19th–20th Centuries.

Address: Moscow, st. Volkhonka, 14

Working mode:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday - from 11:00 to 20:00

Thursday - from 11:00 to 21:00

Monday - day off

Entrance ticket price:

Adult - 300 rubles ($ 4.5), on Fridays from 17:00 - 400 rubles ($ 6)

Reduced ticket - 150 rubles ($ 2.5), on Fridays from 17:00 - 200 rubles ($ 3)

Children under 16 free of charge

Quote message The most famous and significant paintings of the world for the history of art. | 33 masterpieces of world painting.

Under the paintings with the artists they belong to, there are links to posts.

The immortal paintings of great artists are admired by millions of people. Art, classical and modern, is one of the most important sources of inspiration, taste and cultural education of any person, and even more creative.
There are definitely more world-famous paintings than 33. There are several hundred of them, and all of them would not fit in one review. Therefore, for the convenience of viewing, we have selected several paintings that are most significant for world culture and often copied in advertising. Each work is accompanied interesting fact, an explanation of the artistic meaning or the history of its creation.

Stored in the Old Masters Gallery in Dresden.

The picture has a little secret: the background, which looks like clouds from a distance, upon closer examination turns out to be the heads of angels. And the two angels depicted in the picture below have become the motif of numerous postcards and posters.

Rembrandt "The Night Watch" 1642
Stored in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

The true name of the painting by Rembrandt is "The performance of the rifle company of Captain Frans Banning Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburg." Art critics who discovered the painting in the 19th century thought that the figures were standing against a dark background, and they called it “Night Watch”. Later it turned out that a layer of soot makes the picture dark, and the action actually takes place during the day. However, the picture has already entered the treasury of world art under the name "Night Watch".

Leonardo da Vinci "The Last Supper" 1495-1498
Located in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.

Over the more than 500-year history of the work, the fresco has been destroyed more than once: a doorway was made through the painting, and then a doorway was laid, the refectory of the monastery, where the image is located, was used as an armory, a prison, and bombed. famous fresco restored at least five times, with the last restoration taking 21 years. Today, to view the work of art, visitors must book tickets in advance and can only spend 15 minutes in the refectory.

Salvador Dali "The Persistence of Memory" 1931

According to the author himself, the picture was painted as a result of associations that arose in Dali when he saw processed cheese. Returning from the cinema, where she went that evening, Gala quite correctly predicted that no one, having seen The Persistence of Memory once, would forget it.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder The Tower of Babel 1563
Stored at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

According to Brueghel, in the failure that befell the construction Tower of Babel, are not guilty of sudden arising according to biblical story language barriers; and mistakes made during the construction process. At first glance, the huge structure seems solid enough, but upon closer inspection, it is clear that all the tiers are laid unevenly, the lower floors are either unfinished or are already collapsing, the building itself is tilting towards the city, and the prospects for the entire project are very sad.

Kazimir Malevich "Black Square" 1915

According to the artist, he painted the picture for several months. Subsequently, Malevich made several copies of the "Black Square" (according to some sources, seven). According to one version, the artist was unable to complete the work on the painting in the right time, so he had to cover up the work with black paint. Subsequently, after the recognition of the public, Malevich painted new "Black Squares" already on blank canvases. Malevich also painted the paintings "Red Square" (two copies) and one " White square».

Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin "Bathing the Red Horse" 1912
Located in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Painted in 1912, the picture turned out to be visionary. The red horse acts as the Destiny of Russia or Russia itself, which the fragile and young rider is unable to hold. thus, the artist symbolically predicted with his painting the “red” fate of Russia in the 20th century.

Peter Paul Rubens "The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus" 1617-1618
Stored in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

The painting "The Abduction of the Daughters of Leucippus" is considered the personification of courageous passion and bodily beauty. The strong, muscular arms of young men pick up young naked women to put them on horseback. The sons of Zeus and Leda steal the brides of their cousins.

Paul Gauguin "Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?" 1898
Stored at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

At the direction of Gauguin himself, the picture should be read from right to left - the three main groups of figures illustrate the questions posed in the title. Three women with a child represent the beginning of life; middle group symbolizes the daily existence of maturity; in the final group, according to the artist’s intention, “an old woman approaching death seems reconciled and indulged in her thoughts”, at her feet there is a “strange White bird...represents the futility of words."

Eugene Delacroix "Liberty Leading the People" 1830
Stored in the Louvre in Paris

Delacroix created a painting based on the July Revolution of 1830 in France. In a letter to his brother on October 12, 1830, Delacroix writes: "If I did not fight for the Motherland, then at least I will write for her." The bare chest of a woman leading the people symbolizes the selflessness of the French people of that time, who, with “ bare chested' went to the enemy.

Claude Monet Impression. Rising Sun" 1872
Stored at the Musée Marmottan in Paris.

The title of the piece is "Impression, soleil levant" with light hand journalist L. Leroy became a name artistic direction"impressionism". The painting was painted from nature in the old outport of Le Havre in France.

Jan Vermeer "Girl with a Pearl Earring" 1665
Stored in the Mauritshuis Gallery in The Hague.

One of the most famous paintings Dutch artist Jan Vermeer is often referred to as the northern or Dutch Mona Lisa. Very little is known about the painting: it is not dated, the name of the depicted girl is not known. In 2003 by novel of the same name Tracey Chevalier was filmed Feature Film"Girl with a Pearl Earring", in which the history of the creation of the canvas is hypothetically restored in the context of Vermeer's biography and family life.

Ivan Aivazovsky "The Ninth Wave" 1850
Stored in St. Petersburg in the State Russian Museum.

Ivan Aivazovsky is a world-famous Russian marine painter who has dedicated his life to depicting the sea. He created about six thousand works, each of which received recognition during the life of the artist. The painting "The Ninth Wave" is included in the book "100 Great Paintings".

Andrei Rublev "Trinity" 1425-1427

The icon of the Holy Trinity, painted by Andrei Rublev in the 15th century, is one of the most famous Russian icons. The icon is a board in a vertical format. The tsars (Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov, Mikhail Fedorovich) “overlaid” the icon with gold, silver and precious stones. Today the salary is stored in the Sergiev Posad State Museum-Reserve.

Mikhail Vrubel "Seated Demon" 1890
Stored in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

The plot of the picture is inspired by Lermontov's poem "The Demon". The demon is an image of the strength of the human spirit, internal struggle, doubts. Tragically clasping his hands, the Demon sits with sad, huge eyes directed into the distance, surrounded by unprecedented flowers.

William Blake "The Great Architect" 1794
Stored in the British Museum in London.

The name of the painting "The Ancient of Days" literally translates from English as "Ancient of Days". This phrase was used as the name of God. Main character pictures - God at the moment of creation, who does not establish order, but limits freedom and marks the limits of the imagination.

Edouard Manet "Bar at the Folies Bergère" 1882
Stored at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

The Folies Bergère is a variety show and cabaret in Paris. Manet frequented the Folies Bergère and ended up painting this painting, his last before his death in 1883. Behind the bar, in the midst of a drinking, eating, talking, and smoking crowd, is a bartender absorbed in her own thoughts, watching a trapeze acrobat, who can be seen in the upper left corner of the picture.

Titian "Earthly Love and Heavenly Love" 1515-1516
Stored in the Galleria Borghese in Rome.

It is noteworthy that the modern name of the painting was not given by the artist himself, but began to be used only two centuries later. Until that time, the painting had various titles: "Beauty Embellished and Unadorned" (1613), "Three Types of Love" (1650), "Divine and Worldly Women" (1700), and, in the end, "Earthly Love and Heavenly Love » (1792 and 1833).

Mikhail Nesterov "Vision to the youth Bartholomew" 1889-1890
Stored in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

The first and most significant work from the cycle dedicated to Sergius of Radonezh. Until the end of his days, the artist was convinced that “The Vision of the Young Bartholomew” was his best work. In his old age, the artist liked to repeat: “I will not live. "Young Bartholomew" will live. Now, if in thirty, fifty years after my death he will still say something to people, then he is alive, then I am also alive.

Pieter Brueghel the Elder "The Parable of the Blind" 1568
Stored in the Capodimonte Museum in Naples.

Other names of the painting are “The Blind”, “Parabola of the Blind”, “The Blind Leading the Blind”. It is believed that the plot of the picture is based on the biblical parable of the blind: "If the blind lead the blind, then both of them will fall into the pit."

Viktor Vasnetsov "Alyonushka" 1881
Stored in the State Tretyakov Gallery.

The fairy tale "About sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka" is taken as a basis. Initially, Vasnetsov's painting was called "Fool Alyonushka". Orphans were called “fools” at that time. “Alyonushka,” the artist himself later said, “as if she had been living in my head for a long time, but in reality I saw her in Akhtyrka when I met one simple-haired girl who struck my imagination. There was so much longing, loneliness and purely Russian sadness in her eyes ... Some kind of special Russian spirit emanated from her.

Vincent van Gogh Starry Night 1889
Stored at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Unlike most of the artist's paintings, " Starlight Night was written from memory. Van Gogh was at that time in the Saint-Remy hospital, tormented by bouts of insanity.

Karl Bryullov "The Last Day of Pompeii" 1830-1833
Stored in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

The picture shows famous eruption Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. e. and the destruction of the city of Pompeii near Naples. The image of the artist in the left corner of the picture is a self-portrait of the author.

Pablo Picasso "Girl on a ball" 1905
Stored in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow

The painting ended up in Russia thanks to the industrialist Ivan Abramovich Morozov, who bought it in 1913 for 16,000 francs. In 1918, the personal collection of I. A. Morozov was nationalized. AT this moment the painting is in the collection of the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin.

Leonardo da Vinci Madonna Litta 1491

Stored in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

The original title of the painting is Madonna and Child. Modern name painting comes from the name of its owner - Count Litt, the owner of the family art gallery in Milan. There is an assumption that the figure of the baby was not painted by Leonardo da Vinci, but belongs to the brush of one of his students. This is evidenced by the baby's pose, which is unusual for the author's manner.

Jean Ingres "Turkish baths" 1862
Stored in the Louvre in Paris.

Ingres finished painting this picture when he was already over 80 years old. With this picture, the artist sums up a peculiar result of the image of bathers, the themes of which have long been present in his work. Initially, the canvas was in the form of a square, but a year after its completion, the artist turned it into a round picture - a tondo.

Ivan Shishkin, Konstantin Savitsky "Morning in a pine forest" 1889
Stored in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow

“Morning in a Pine Forest” is a painting by Russian artists Ivan Shishkin and Konstantin Savitsky. Savitsky painted bears, but the collector Pavel Tretyakov, when he acquired the painting, erased his signature, so now only Shishkin is indicated as the author of the painting.

Mikhail Vrubel "The Swan Princess" 1900
Stored in the State Tretyakov Gallery

The picture was painted on the basis of the stage image of the heroine of the opera by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" according to the plot fairy tale of the same name A. S. Pushkin. Vrubel created sketches for the scenery and costumes for the premiere of the opera in 1900, and his wife sang the part of the Swan Princess.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo "Portrait of Emperor Rudolf II as Vertumn" 1590
Located in Skokloster Castle in Stockholm.

One of the few surviving works of the artist, who made portraits from fruits, vegetables, flowers, crustaceans, fish, pearls, musical and other instruments, books, and so on. "Vertumnus" is a portrait of the emperor, represented as the ancient Roman god of the seasons, vegetation and transformation. In the picture, Rudolph consists entirely of fruits, flowers and vegetables.

Edgar Degas Blue Dancers 1897
Located in the Museum of Art. A. S. Pushkin in Moscow.

The Mona Lisa might not have gained worldwide fame if it had not been stolen in 1911 by an employee of the Louvre. The painting was found two years later in Italy: the thief responded to an ad in a newspaper and offered to sell the Gioconda to the director of the Uffizi Gallery. All this time, while the investigation was going on, the Mona Lisa did not leave the covers of newspapers and magazines around the world, becoming an object of copying and worship.

Sandro Botticelli "The Birth of Venus" 1486
Stored in Florence at the Uffizi Gallery

The painting illustrates the myth of the birth of Aphrodite. The naked goddess floats to the shore in an open shell, driven by the wind. On the left side of the picture Zephyr ( West wind) in the arms of his wife Chlorida blows on the shell, creating a wind filled with flowers. On the shore, the goddess is met by one of the graces. "The Birth of Venus" is well preserved due to the fact that Botticelli applied to the picture protective layer from egg yolk.

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The most famous and significant for the history of art pictures of the world for your inspiration.

The immortal paintings of great artists are admired by millions of people. Art, classical and modern, is one of the most important sources of inspiration, taste and cultural education of any person, and even more creative.

There are definitely more world-famous paintings than 33. There are several hundred of them, and all of them would not fit in one review. Therefore, for ease of viewing, we have selected a few that are most significant for world culture and are often copied. Each work is accompanied by an interesting fact, an explanation of the artistic meaning or the history of its creation.

Raphael "Sistine Madonna" 1512

Stored in the Old Masters Gallery in Dresden.

The picture has a little secret: the background, which looks like clouds from a distance, upon closer examination turns out to be the heads of angels. And the two angels depicted in the picture below have become the motif of numerous postcards and posters.

Rembrandt "The Night Watch" 1642

Stored in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

The true name of the painting by Rembrandt is "The performance of the rifle company of Captain Frans Banning Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburg." Art critics who discovered the painting in the 19th century thought that the figures were standing against a dark background, and they called it “Night Watch”. Later it turned out that a layer of soot makes the picture dark, and the action actually takes place during the day. However, the picture has already entered the treasury of world art under the name "Night Watch".

Leonardo da Vinci "The Last Supper" 1495-1498

Located in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.

Over the more than 500-year history of the work, the fresco has been destroyed more than once: a doorway was made through the painting, and then a doorway was laid, the refectory of the monastery, where the image is located, was used as an armory, a prison, and bombed. The famous fresco has been restored at least five times, with the most recent restoration taking 21 years. Today, to view the work of art, visitors must book tickets in advance and can only spend 15 minutes in the refectory.

Salvador Dali "The Persistence of Memory" 1931

According to the author himself, the picture was painted as a result of associations that arose in Dali at the sight of processed cheese. Returning from the cinema, where she went that evening, Gala quite correctly predicted that no one, having seen The Persistence of Memory once, would forget it.

Pieter Brueghel the Elder "Tower of Babel" 1563

Stored at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

According to Brueghel, the failure that befell the construction of the Tower of Babel was not due to language barriers that suddenly arose according to the biblical story, but to mistakes made during the construction process. At first glance, the huge structure seems solid enough, but upon closer inspection, it is clear that all the tiers are laid unevenly, the lower floors are either unfinished or are already collapsing, the building itself is tilting towards the city, and the prospects for the entire project are very sad.

Kazimir Malevich "Black Square" 1915

According to the artist, he painted the picture for several months. Subsequently, Malevich made several copies of the "Black Square" (according to some sources, seven). According to one version, the artist was unable to complete the work on the painting in the right time, so he had to cover up the work with black paint. Subsequently, after the recognition of the public, Malevich painted new "Black Squares" already on blank canvases. Malevich also painted the paintings "Red Square" (two copies) and one "White Square".

Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin "Bathing the red horse" 1912

Located in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Painted in 1912, the picture turned out to be visionary. The red horse acts as the Destiny of Russia or Russia itself, which the fragile and young rider is unable to hold. thus, the artist symbolically predicted with his painting the “red” fate of Russia in the 20th century.

Peter Paul Rubens "The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus" 1617-1618

Stored in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

The painting "The Abduction of the Daughters of Leucippus" is considered the personification of courageous passion and bodily beauty. The strong, muscular arms of young men pick up young naked women to put them on horseback. The sons of Zeus and Leda steal the brides of their cousins.

Paul Gauguin "Where did we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?" 1898

Stored in the Museum fine arts in Boston.

At the direction of Gauguin himself, the picture should be read from right to left - the three main groups of figures illustrate the questions posed in the title. Three women with a child represent the beginning of life; the middle group symbolizes the daily existence of maturity; in the final group, according to the artist's intention, "an old woman approaching death seems reconciled and given over to her thoughts", at her feet "a strange white bird ... represents the futility of words."

Eugene Delacroix "Liberty Leading the People" 1830

Stored in the Louvre in Paris

Delacroix created a painting based on the July Revolution of 1830 in France. In a letter to his brother on October 12, 1830, Delacroix writes: "If I did not fight for the Motherland, then at least I will write for her." The bare chest of a woman leading the people symbolizes the selflessness of the French people of that time, who with “bare chest” went to the enemy.

Claude Monet "Impression. Rising Sun" 1872

Stored at the Musée Marmottan in Paris.

The name of the work "Impression, soleil levant" with the light hand of the journalist L. Leroy became the name of the artistic direction "Impressionism". The painting was painted from nature in the old outport of Le Havre in France.

Jan Vermeer "Girl with a pearl earring" 1665

Stored in the Mauritshuis Gallery in The Hague.

One of the most famous paintings by the Dutch artist Jan Vermeer is often referred to as the Northern or Dutch Mona Lisa. Very little is known about the painting: it is not dated, the name of the depicted girl is not known. In 2003, based on the novel of the same name by Tracey Chevalier, the feature film "Girl with a Pearl Earring" was shot, in which the history of the creation of the canvas is hypothetically restored in the context of Vermeer's biography and family life.

Ivan Aivazovsky "The Ninth Wave" 1850

Stored in St. Petersburg in the State Russian Museum.

Ivan Aivazovsky is a world famous Russian marine painter who has dedicated his life to depicting the sea. He created about six thousand works, each of which received recognition during the life of the artist. The painting "The Ninth Wave" is included in the book "100 Great Paintings".

Andrei Rublev "Trinity" 1425-1427

The icon of the Holy Trinity, painted by Andrei Rublev in the 15th century, is one of the most famous Russian icons. The icon is a board in a vertical format. The tsars (Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov, Mikhail Fedorovich) "encrusted" the icon with gold, silver and precious stones. Today the salary is stored in the Sergiev Posad State Museum-Reserve.

Mikhail Vrubel "Seated Demon" 1890

Stored in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

The plot of the picture is inspired by Lermontov's poem "The Demon". The demon is an image of the strength of the human spirit, internal struggle, doubts. Tragically clasping his hands, the Demon sits with sad, huge eyes directed into the distance, surrounded by unprecedented flowers.

William Blake "The Great Architect" 1794

Stored in british museum in London.

The name of the painting "The Ancient of Days" literally translates from English as "Ancient of Days". This phrase was used as the name of God. The main character of the picture is God at the moment of creation, who does not establish order, but limits freedom and marks the limits of the imagination.

Edouard Manet "Bar at the Folies Bergère" 1882

Stored at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

The Folies Bergère is a variety show and cabaret in Paris. Manet frequented the Folies Bergère and ended up painting this painting, his last before his death in 1883. Behind the bar, in the midst of a drinking, eating, talking, and smoking crowd, is a bartender absorbed in her own thoughts, watching a trapeze acrobat, who can be seen in the upper left corner of the picture.

Titian "Earthly Love and Heavenly Love" 1515-1516

Stored in the Galleria Borghese in Rome.

It is noteworthy that the modern name of the painting was not given by the artist himself, but began to be used only two centuries later. Until that time, the painting had various titles: "Beauty Embellished and Unadorned" (1613), "Three Types of Love" (1650), "Divine and Worldly Women" (1700), and, in the end, "Earthly Love and Heavenly Love » (1792 and 1833).

Mikhail Nesterov "Vision to the youth Bartholomew" 1889-1890

Stored in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

The first and most significant work from the cycle dedicated to Sergius of Radonezh. Until the end of his days, the artist was convinced that “The Vision of the Young Bartholomew” was his best work. In his old age, the artist liked to repeat: “It’s not me who will live. The “Youth Bartholomew” will live.” Now, if in thirty, fifty years after my death he will still say something to people - that means he is alive, which means that I am also alive ."

Pieter Bruegel the Elder "The Parable of the Blind" 1568

Stored in the Capodimonte Museum in Naples.

Other names of the painting are “The Blind”, “Parabola of the Blind”, “The Blind Leading the Blind”. It is believed that the plot of the picture is based on the biblical parable of the blind: "If the blind lead the blind, then both of them will fall into the pit."

Viktor Vasnetsov "Alyonushka" 1881

Stored in the State Tretyakov Gallery.

The fairy tale "About sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka" is taken as a basis. Initially, Vasnetsov's painting was called "Fool Alyonushka". Orphans were called “fools” at that time. “Alyonushka,” the artist himself later said, “as if she had been living in my head for a long time, but in reality I saw her in Akhtyrka when I met one simple-haired girl who struck my imagination. There was so much longing, loneliness and purely Russian sadness in her eyes ... Some special Russian spirit emanated from her."

Vincent van Gogh Starry Night 1889

Stored in the Museum contemporary art in New York.

Unlike most of the artist's paintings, Starry Night was painted from memory. Van Gogh was at that time in the Saint-Remy hospital, tormented by bouts of insanity.

Karl Bryullov "The Last Day of Pompeii" 1830-1833

Stored in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

The painting depicts the famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. e. and the destruction of the city of Pompeii near Naples. The image of the artist in the left corner of the picture is a self-portrait of the author.

Pablo Picasso "Girl on a ball" 1905

Stored in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow

The painting ended up in Russia thanks to the industrialist Ivan Abramovich Morozov, who bought it in 1913 for 16,000 francs. In 1918, the personal collection of I. A. Morozov was nationalized. At the moment, the painting is in the collection of the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin.

Leonardo da Vinci "Madonna Litta" 1491

Stored in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

The original title of the painting is Madonna and Child. The modern name of the painting comes from the name of its owner, Count Litta, owner of a family art gallery in Milan. There is an assumption that the figure of the baby was not painted by Leonardo da Vinci, but belongs to the brush of one of his students. This is evidenced by the baby's pose, which is unusual for the author's manner.

Jean Ingres "Turkish Baths" 1862

Stored in the Louvre in Paris.

Ingres finished painting this picture when he was already over 80 years old. With this picture, the artist sums up a peculiar result of the image of bathers, the themes of which have long been present in his work. Initially, the canvas was in the form of a square, but a year after its completion, the artist turned it into a round picture - a tondo.

Ivan Shishkin, Konstantin Savitsky "Morning in a pine forest" 1889

Stored in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow

“Morning in a Pine Forest” is a painting by Russian artists Ivan Shishkin and Konstantin Savitsky. Savitsky painted bears, but the collector Pavel Tretyakov, when he acquired the painting, erased his signature, so now only Shishkin is indicated as the author of the painting.

Mikhail Vrubel "The Swan Princess" 1900

Stored in the State Tretyakov Gallery

The picture was painted on the basis of the stage image of the heroine of the opera by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” based on the plot of the fairy tale of the same name by A. S. Pushkin. Vrubel created sketches for the scenery and costumes for the premiere of the opera in 1900, and his wife sang the part of the Swan Princess.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo "Portrait of Emperor Rudolf II in the form of Vertumnus" 1590

Located in Skokloster Castle in Stockholm.

One of the few surviving works of the artist, who made portraits from fruits, vegetables, flowers, crustaceans, fish, pearls, musical and other instruments, books, and so on. "Vertumnus" is a portrait of the emperor, represented as the ancient Roman god of the seasons, vegetation and transformation. In the picture, Rudolph consists entirely of fruits, flowers and vegetables.

Edgar Degas "Blue Dancers" 1897

Located in the Museum of Art. A. S. Pushkin in Moscow.

Degas was a big fan of ballet. He is called the artist of ballerinas. The work "Blue Dancers" refers to the late period of Degas's work, when his eyesight weakened, and he began to work with large color spots, giving paramount importance to the decorative organization of the surface of the picture.

Leonardo da Vinci "Mona Lisa" 1503-1505

Stored in the Louvre, Paris.

The Mona Lisa might not have gained worldwide fame if it had not been stolen in 1911 by an employee of the Louvre. The painting was found two years later in Italy: the thief responded to an ad in a newspaper and offered to sell the Gioconda to the director of the Uffizi Gallery. All this time, while the investigation was going on, "Mona Lisa" did not leave the covers of newspapers and magazines around the world, becoming an object of copying and worship.

Sandro Botticelli "The Birth of Venus" 1486

Stored in Florence at the Uffizi Gallery

The painting illustrates the myth of the birth of Aphrodite. The naked goddess floats to the shore in an open shell, driven by the wind. On the left side of the picture, Zephyr (the west wind), in the arms of his wife Chlorida, blows on a shell, creating a wind filled with flowers. On the shore, the goddess is met by one of the graces. The Birth of Venus is well preserved due to the fact that Botticelli applied a protective layer of egg yolk to the painting.

Michelangelo "Creation of Adam" 1511

Located in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.

If you think that all great artists are in the past, then you have no idea how wrong you are. In this article, you will learn about the most famous and talented artists modernity. And, believe me, their works will sit in your memory no less deeply than the works of the maestro from past eras.

Wojciech Babski

Wojciech Babski - modern Polish artist. He graduated from the Silesian Polytechnic Institute, but connected himself with. AT recent times draws mostly women. Focuses on the manifestation of emotions, seeks to obtain the greatest possible effect by simple means.

Loves color but often uses shades of black and gray to achieve best experience. Not afraid to experiment with new techniques. Recently, he has been gaining more and more popularity abroad, mainly in the UK, where he successfully sells his works, which can already be found in many private collections. In addition to art, he is interested in cosmology and philosophy. Listens to jazz. Currently lives and works in Katowice.

Warren Chang

Warren Chang - modern American artist. Born in 1957 and raised in Monterey, California, he graduated magna cum laude from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1981 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Fine Arts. For the next two decades he worked as an illustrator for various companies in California and New York before starting a career as a professional artist in 2009.

His realistic paintings can be divided into two main categories: biographical interior paintings and paintings depicting working people. His interest in this style of painting is rooted in the work of the 16th-century artist Jan Vermeer, and extends to objects, self-portraits, portraits of family members, friends, students, studio, classroom and home interiors. Its purpose is to realistic paintings create mood and emotion through light manipulation and the use of muted colors.

Chang became famous after the transition to traditional visual arts. Over the past 12 years, he has earned numerous awards and honors, the most prestigious being the Master Signature from the Oil Painters Association of America, the largest oil painting community in the United States. Only one person out of 50 is honored with the opportunity to receive this award. Currently, Warren lives in Monterey and works in his studio, he also teaches (known as a talented teacher) at the San Francisco Academy of the Arts.

Aurelio Bruni

Aurelio Bruni - italian artist. Born in Blair, October 15, 1955. Graduated with a degree in scenography from the Art Institute in Spoleto. As an artist, he is self-taught, as he independently “built the house of knowledge” on the foundation laid back in school. He began painting in oils at the age of 19. Currently lives and works in Umbria.

Bruni's early painting is rooted in surrealism, but over time he begins to focus on the proximity of lyrical romanticism and symbolism, reinforcing this combination with the exquisite refinement and purity of his characters. Animate and inanimate objects acquire equal dignity and look almost hyper-realistic, but at the same time, they do not hide behind a curtain, but allow you to see the essence of your soul. Versatility and sophistication, sensuality and loneliness, thoughtfulness and fruitfulness are the spirit of Aurelio Bruni, nourished by the splendor of art and the harmony of music.

Aleksander Balos

Alkasandr Balos is a contemporary Polish artist specializing in oil painting. Born in 1970 in Gliwice, Poland, but since 1989 he has been living and working in the USA, in the city of Shasta, California.

As a child, he studied art under the guidance of his father Jan, a self-taught artist and sculptor, so from an early age, artistic activity received full support from both parents. In 1989, at the age of eighteen, Balos left Poland for the United States, where his schoolteacher and part-time artist Cathy Gaggliardi encouraged Alcasander to enroll in art school. Balos then received a full scholarship to the University of Milwaukee Wisconsin, where he studied painting with philosophy professor Harry Rosin.

After completing his studies in 1995 with a bachelor's degree, Balos moved to Chicago to study at the School of Fine Arts, whose methods are based on the work of Jacques-Louis David. figurative realism and portrait painting were most works of Balos in the 90s and early 2000s. Today, Balos uses the human figure to highlight the features and shortcomings of human existence, without offering any solutions.

The plot compositions of his paintings are intended to be independently interpreted by the viewer, only then the canvases will acquire their true temporal and subjective meaning. In 2005, the artist moved to Northern California, since then the scope of his work has expanded significantly and now includes freer methods of painting, including abstraction and various multimedia styles that help express the ideas and ideals of being through painting.

Alyssa Monks

Alyssa Monks - modern American artist. She was born in 1977 in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She became interested in painting when she was still a child. Studied at the New School in New York and State University Montclair, and graduated from Boston College in 1999, received a bachelor's degree. At the same time, she studied painting at the academy Lorenzo Medici in Florence.

Then she continued her studies under the program for a master's degree at the New York Academy of Art, in the Department of Figurative Art, graduating in 2001. She graduated from Fullerton College in 2006. For some time she lectured at universities and educational institutions throughout the country, taught painting at the New York Academy of Art, as well as Montclair State University and Lyme Academy College of Art.

“Using filters such as glass, vinyl, water and steam, I distort human body. These filters allow you to create large areas abstract design, with islands of color peeking through them - parts of the human body.

My pictures are changing modern look to the already established, traditional postures and gestures of bathing women. They could tell an attentive viewer a lot about such seemingly self-evident things as the benefits of swimming, dancing, and so on. My characters are pressed against the glass of the shower cabin window, distorting their own body, realizing that they thereby influence the notorious male look at a naked woman. Thick layers of paint are mixed together to mimic glass, steam, water and flesh from afar. However, up close, delightful physical properties oil paint. By experimenting with layers of paint and color, I find the moment when abstract strokes become something else.

When I first started painting the human body, I was immediately fascinated and even obsessed with it and felt that I had to make my paintings as realistic as possible. I "professed" realism until it began to unravel and deconstruct itself. Now I am exploring the possibilities and potential of a style of painting where representational painting and abstraction meet – if both styles can coexist at the same moment in time, I will do it.”

Antonio Finelli

Italian artist - time watcher” – Antonio Finelli was born on February 23, 1985. Currently lives and works in Italy between Rome and Campobasso. His works have been exhibited in several galleries in Italy and abroad: Rome, Florence, Novara, Genoa, Palermo, Istanbul, Ankara, New York, and they can also be found in private and public collections.

Pencil drawings " Watcher of time” Antonio Finelli send us on an eternal journey through inner world human temporality and the rigorous analysis of this world associated with it, the main element of which is the passage through time and the traces it inflicts on the skin.

Finelli paints portraits of people of any age, gender and nationality, whose facial expressions indicate the passage through time, and the artist also hopes to find evidence of the ruthlessness of time on the bodies of his characters. Antonio defines his works with one, general title: "Self-portrait", because in his pencil drawings he does not simply depict a person, but allows the viewer to contemplate real results passage of time within a person.

Flaminia Carloni

Flaminia Carloni is a 37-year-old Italian artist, the daughter of a diplomat. She has three children. Twelve years she lived in Rome, three years in England and France. Received a degree in art history from the BD School of Art. Then she received a diploma in the specialty restorer of works of art. Before finding her calling and devoting herself entirely to painting, she worked as a journalist, colorist, designer, and actress.

Flaminia's passion for painting arose as a child. Her main medium is oil because she loves “coiffer la pate” and also plays with the material. She learned a similar technique in the works of the artist Pascal Torua. Flaminia is inspired by the great masters of painting such as Balthus, Hopper, and François Legrand, as well as various art movements: street art, Chinese realism, surrealism and renaissance realism. Her favorite painter Caravaggio. Her dream is to discover the therapeutic power of art.

Denis Chernov

Denis Chernov is a talented Ukrainian artist, born in 1978 in Sambir, Lviv region, Ukraine. After graduating from Kharkov art school in 1998 he stayed in Kharkov, where he currently lives and works. He also studied at Kharkov state academy design and arts, department of graphics, graduated in 2004.

He regularly participates in art exhibitions, on the this moment there were more than sixty of them, both in Ukraine and abroad. Most of Denis Chernov's works are kept in private collections in Ukraine, Russia, Italy, England, Spain, Greece, France, USA, Canada and Japan. Some of the works were sold at Christie's.

Denis works in a wide range of graphics and painting techniques. Pencil drawings are one of his favorite painting methods, a list of his topics pencil drawings also very diverse, he paints landscapes, portraits, nudes, genre compositions, book illustrations, literary and historical reconstructions and fantasies.

The mysterious world of art may seem confusing to an inexperienced person, but there are masterpieces that everyone should know. Talent, inspiration and painstaking work on every stroke give rise to works that are admired centuries later.

It is impossible to collect all the outstanding creations in one selection, but we have tried to select the most famous paintings that collect gigantic queues in front of museums around the world.

The most famous paintings by Russian artists

"Morning in a pine forest", Ivan Shishkin and Konstantin Savitsky

Year of creation: 1889
Museum

Shishkin was an excellent landscape painter, but he rarely had to draw animals, so Savitsky, an excellent animal painter, painted the figures of the cubs. At the end of the work, Tretyakov ordered Savitsky's signature to be erased, believing that Shishkin had done much more extensive work.

"Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581" by Ilya Repin

Years of creation: 1883–1885
Museum: Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

To create a masterpiece, better known as "Ivan the Terrible kills his son", Repin was inspired by the symphony "Antar" by Rimsky-Korsakov, namely, its second movement called "The Sweetness of Revenge". Under the influence of the sounds of music, the artist depicted a bloody scene of murder and subsequent repentance, observed in the eyes of the sovereign.

Seated Demon, Mikhail Vrubel

Year of creation: 1890
Museum: Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The painting was one of thirty illustrations drawn by Vrubel for the anniversary edition of the works of M.Yu. Lermontov. "Demon seated" personifies the doubts inherent in human spirit, subtle, elusive "mood of the soul." According to experts, the artist was to some extent obsessed with the image of a demon: this painting was followed by "Demon flying" and "Demon defeated".

"Boyar Morozova", Vasily Surikov

Years of creation: 1884–1887
Museum: Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The plot of the Old Believer life "The Tale of the Boyar Morozova" formed the basis of the picture. Understanding key image came to the artist when he saw a crow spreading its black wings like a spot on a snowy canvas. Later, Surikov searched for a prototype for the noblewoman’s face for a long time, but could not find anything suitable, until one day he met an Old Believer woman with a pale, frantic face in the cemetery. The portrait sketch was completed in two hours.

Bogatyrs, Viktor Vasnetsov

Years of creation: 1881–1898
Museum: Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The future epic masterpiece was born as a small pencil sketch in 1881; for further work on the canvas, Vasnetsov painstakingly collected information about the heroes from myths, legends and traditions for many years, and also studied authentic ancient Russian ammunition in museums.

Analysis of Vasnetsov's painting "Three Heroes"

"Bathing the Red Horse", Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin

Year of creation: 1912
Museum: Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Initially, the painting was conceived as a household sketch from the life of a Russian village, but during the work, the artist’s canvas acquired a huge number of symbols. By the red horse, Petrov-Vodkin meant "The Fate of Russia"; after the country joined the First world war he exclaimed, "So that's why I painted this picture!". However, after the revolution, pro-Soviet art critics interpreted the key figure of the canvas as a "harbinger of revolutionary fires."

"Trinity", Andrey Rublev

Year of creation: 1411
Museum: Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The icon that laid the foundation for the tradition of Russian icon painting of the 15th-16th centuries. The canvas depicting the Old Testament trinity of angels who appeared to Abraham is a symbol of the unity of the Holy Trinity.

The Ninth Wave, Ivan Aivazovsky

Year of creation: 1850
Museum

A pearl in the "cartography" of the legendary domestic marine painter, who can be without hesitation classified as one of the most famous artists in the world. We can see how miraculously surviving sailors after the storm cling to the mast in anticipation of a meeting with the "ninth wave", the mythical apogee of all storms. But the warm shades that dominate the canvas give hope for the salvation of the victims.

"The Last Day of Pompeii", Karl Bryullov

Years of creation: 1830–1833
Museum: Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Completed in 1833, Bryullov's painting was originally exhibited in the largest cities of Italy, where it caused a real sensation - the painter was compared with Michelangelo, Titian, Raphael ... At home, the masterpiece was met with no less enthusiasm, securing Bryullov's nickname "Charles the Great". The canvas is truly great: its dimensions are 4.6 by 6.5 meters, which makes it one of the largest paintings among the creations of Russian artists.

The most famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci

"Mona Lisa"

Years of creation: 1503–1505
Museum: Louvre, Paris

A masterpiece of Florentine genius that needs no introduction. It is noteworthy that the painting received cult status after the incident with the abduction from the Louvre in 1911. Two years later, the kidnapper, who turned out to be a museum employee, tried to sell the painting to the Uffizi Gallery. The events of the high-profile case were covered in detail in the world press, after which hundreds of thousands of reproductions went on sale, and the mysterious Mona Lisa became an object of worship.

Years of creation: 1495–1498
Museum: Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

After five centuries, a fresco with a classical plot on the wall of the refectory of the Dominican monastery in Milan is recognized as one of the most mysterious paintings in history. As conceived by Da Vinci, the picture depicts the moment of the Easter meal, when Christ notifies the disciples of the imminent betrayal. Great amount hidden symbols has given rise to an equally vast array of studies, allusions, borrowings and parodies.

"Madonna Litta"

Year of creation: 1491
Museum: Hermitage, St. Petersburg

The painting, also known as the Madonna and Child, was kept in the collection of the Dukes of Litta for a long time, and in 1864 it was bought by the St. Petersburg Hermitage. Many experts agree that the figure of the baby was not painted personally by da Vinci, but by one of his students - a pose that is too uncharacteristic for a painter.

The most famous paintings of Salvador Dali

Year of creation: 1931
Museum: Museum of Modern Art, New York

Paradoxically, the most notable work genius of surrealism, was born from thoughts of Camembert cheese. One evening, after a friendly dinner that ended with appetizers with cheese, the artist immersed himself in thoughts about the “spreading pulp”, and his imagination painted a picture like a melting clock with an olive branch in the foreground.

Year of creation: 1955
Museum: National Gallery of Art, Washington

traditional plot, which received a surreal canvas using arithmetic principles studied by Leonardo da Vinci. The artist put the original magic of the number "12" at the forefront, moving away from the hermeneutical method of interpreting the biblical story.

The most famous paintings by Pablo Picasso

Year of creation: 1905
Museum: Pushkin Museum, Moscow

The painting became the first signs of the so-called "pink" period in the work of Picasso. A rough texture and a simplified style are combined with a sensitive play of lines and colors, a contrast between the massive figure of an athlete and a fragile gymnast. The canvas was sold along with 29 other works for 2 thousand francs (in total) to the Parisian collector Vollard, changed several collections, and in 1913 it was acquired by the Russian philanthropist Ivan Morozov, already for 13 thousand francs.

Year of creation: 1937
Museum: Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid

Guernica is the name of a city in the Basque country that was bombed by the Germans in April 1937. Picasso had never been to Guernica, but was stunned by the scale of the catastrophe, like a "blow of a bull's horn." The artist conveyed the horrors of war in an abstract form and showed the real face of fascism, veiling it with bizarre geometric shapes.

The most famous paintings of the Renaissance

"Sistine Madonna", Raphael Santi

Years of creation: 1512–1513
Museum: Old Masters Gallery, Dresden

If you look closely at the background, which at first glance consists of clouds, you will notice that in fact Raphael depicted the heads of angels there. The two angels located at the bottom of the picture are known almost more than the masterpiece itself, due to the wide circulation in mass art.

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli

Year of creation: 1486
Museum: Uffizi Gallery, Florence

The painting is based on the ancient Greek myth about the birth of Aphrodite from sea foam. Unlike many masterpieces of the Renaissance, the canvas has survived to this day in excellent condition thanks to the protective layer of egg yolk with which Botticelli prudently covered the work.

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo Buonarotti

Year of creation: 1511
Museum: Sistine Chapel, Vatican

One of the nine frescoes on the ceiling Sistine Chapel, illustrating the chapter from Genesis: "And God created man in his own image." It was Michelangelo who first portrayed God as a wise-haired old man, after which this image became archetypal. Modern scientists believe that the contours of the figure of God and angels represent the human brain.

"Night Watch", Rembrandt

Year of creation: 1642
Museum: State Museum, Amsterdam

The full title of the painting is "Speech of the Rifle Company of Captain Frans Banning Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenbürg." The painting received its modern name in the 19th century, when it was found by art critics, who, because of the layer of dirt covering the work, decided that the action in the painting takes place under the cover of night darkness.

The Garden of Earthly Delights Hieronymus Bosch

Years of creation: 1500–1510
Museum: Prado Museum, Madrid "Black Square"

Malevich wrote Black Square for several months; legend says that under a layer of black paint hides painting- the artist did not have time to finish the work on time and in a fit of anger blurred the image. There are at least seven copies of the "Black Square" made by Malevich, as well as a kind of "continuation" of the Suprematist squares - "Red Square" (1915) and "White Square" (1918).

"Scream", Edvard Munch

Year of creation: 1893
Museum: National Gallery, Oslo

Due to the inexplicable mystical effect on the viewer, the painting was stolen in 1994 and 2004. There is an opinion that the picture created at the turn of the 20th century anticipated numerous catastrophes of the coming century. The deep symbolism of The Scream inspired many artists, including Andy Warhol.

This painting still causes a lot of controversy. Some art historians believe that the hype around the painting, painted in the proprietary spatter technique, was artificially created. The canvas was not sold until all the other works of the artist were bought, respectively, the price for a non-objective masterpiece skyrocketed. Number Five was sold for $140 million, making it the most expensive painting in history.

Diptych Marilyn, Andy Warhol

Year of creation: 1962
Museum: Tate Gallery, London

A week after the death of Marilyn Monroe, the scandalous artist began work on the canvas. 50 stencil portraits of the actress were applied to the canvas, stylized in the pop art genre based on a 1953 photograph.
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