Famous Paintings

Whistler's Mother

1871 By: James McNeill Whistler Whistler painted his mother, Anna McNeill Whistler, when the original model failed to come to the appointment. The painting was not well-received when he submitted it to the Royal Academy of Art in London for exhibition, but shortly later the public showed much respect and deference for it, quickly restoring Whistler's honor.

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

1884-1886 By: Georges Seurat One of Seurat's most famous works, ______ ______ ________ ______ ______ _______ ______ ______ _______ _____ features extensive use of a technique known as pointillism which consists of contrasted color dots that form a single hue through viewers' eyes. Seurat spent over two years on this piece. He would practice his form repeatedly at the park, concentrating on the use of colors, form, and lighting.

Bal du moulin de la Galette

1886 By: Pierre-Auguste Renoir The 19th century painting by Renoir portrays working class people dressed up and enjoying a Sunday afternoon at the Moulin de la Galette in Paris.

Dogs Playing Poker

1903 By: C.M. Coolidge _______ _____ ______ is the collective name of sixteen oil paintings by C.M. Coolidge. Each painting was commissioned to advertise cigars for Brown & Bigelow.

The Kiss

1908 By: Gustav Klimt _____ _____, or Der Kuss, was Gustav Klimt's most renowned art piece. He was done during the peak of his "Golden Period." ---- ------- depicts a man and woman kissing and embracing, with their bodies cloaked by elegant golden robes. Along with oil paint, gold leaf was used. His use of gold was influenced by a trip to Italy in 1903, after which gold and silver were used often in his art.

The Treachery of Images

1928-29 By: Rene Magritte La Trahison des Images, or ______ _______ ______ _______, was painted by Magritte in 1928-1929. Below is written: Ceci N'est pas une Pipe, meaning "this is not a pipe" in French. Magritte was trying to make the point that the painting was not an actual pipe, only a representation of one.

The Son of Man

1964 By: Rene Magritte 1964 Magritte painted ______ ______ _____ ______, or Le fils de l'homme, as a self-portrait. The painting depicts a man in a suit with a bowler hat; his face is mostly obscured by a green apple. The theme of the art work is a conflict between that which is visible and that which is hidden. The parts of a person we want to see is often obscured by what is visible.

Great Wave off Kanagawa

By: Katsushika Hokusai The ______ ______ ______ ___________ is a woodblock print that is Hokusai's most famous work. This woodblock is the most well-known piece of Japanese art in the world. It depicts an giant wave towering boats near Kanagawa. Mt. Fuji appears in the background

School of Athens

By: Raphael The _______ ______ ______ (or Scuola di Atene in Italian) was one of Raphael's commissions in the Stanze di Raffaello in the Vatican. The School of Athens is considered Raphael's master artwork and is considered the perfect example of High Renaissance art.

The Persistence of Memory

By: Salvador Dali 1931 A widely known surrealist piece often referenced in pop culture. ______ ______ ______ _______ depicts melting watches at a beach scene. Dali mentions that he was motivated by a surrealist concept of Camembert cheese melting under the sun.

The Night Watch

Completed in 1642, at the peak of the Dutch Golden Age, _____ _______ _______ is one of the most famous paintings by Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn. It depicts a city guard moving out, led by Captain Frans Banning Cocq and his lieutenant, Willem van Ruytenburch. For much of its existence, the painting was coated with a dark varnish which gave the incorrect impression that it depicted a night scene, leading to the name --------------. This varnish was removed only in the 1940s. The painting is on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Sometimes referred to as "the Dutch Mona Lisa", the ______ ______ ______ _______ ________ was painted by Johannes Vermeer. Very little is known about Vermeer and his works and this painting is no exception. It isn't dated and it is unclear whether this work was commissioned, and if so, by whom. In any case, it is probably not meant as a conventional portrait. Tracy Chevalier wrote a historical novel fictionalizing the circumstances of the painting's creation. The novel inspired a 2003 film with Scarlett Johansson as Johannes Vermeer's assistant wearing the pearl earring.

The Creation of Adam

The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, at the commission of Pope Julius II, is one of the most renowned artworks of the High Renaissance. The ceiling is that of the large Chapel built within the Vatican in Rome. Central to the ceiling decoration are nine scenes from the Book of Genesis. Among the last to be completed was _____ _______ ______ ______ in which God the Father breathes life into Adam, the first man. The ------- ------ ------- is one of the famous paintings of all time and has been the subject of countless of references and parodies.

Starry Night

The _________ __________ was painted by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. Although Van Gogh sold only one painting in his life, the aftermath of his work is enormous. Starry Night is one of his most famous paintings and has become one of the most well known images in modern culture. The painting shows the village of Saint-Rémy under a swirling sky, in a view from the asylum towards north. The cypress tree to the left was added into the composition. Since 1941 it has been in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A Starry Night high resolution image can be found here.

Leonardo da Vinci

The most famous painting of all time, the Mona Lisa was painted by ???????? during the Renaissance in Florence. He began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503 or 1504 and finished it shortly before he died in 1519. The painting is named for Lisa del Giocondo, a member of a wealthy family of Florence. In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen by Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian patriot who believed the Mona Lisa should be returned to Italy. After having kept the painting in his apartment for two years, Peruggia was finally caught when he attempted to sell it to the directors of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Today, the Mona Lisa hangs again in the Louvre in Paris where 6 million people see the painting each year.

The Scream

______ _______ is a series of expressionist paintings and prints by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, showing an agonized figure against a blood red sky. The landscape in the background is Oslofjord, viewed from the hill of Ekeberg, in Oslo. Edvard Munch created several versions of The Scream in various media. The one shown above was painted in 1893 and is on display in The National Gallery of Norway. It was stolen in 1994 in a high-profile art theft and recovered several months later. In 2004 another version of The Scream was stolen from the Munch Museum, only to be recovered in 2006.

Las Meninas

______ _______, 1656 By: Diego Velazquez ----- ------, or The Maids of Honor, depicts a room in the Madrid palace of Spain's King Philip IV. The painting is famous for its complexities regarding reality and illusion. Uncertainty is played out in the relations between the viewers and the figures, as well as between the figures themselves. These complex uncertainties have welcomed much discussion and analysis among critics and scholar

Guernica

______ is one of Pablo Picasso most famous paintings, showing the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians. Picasso's purpose in painting it was to bring the world's attention to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by German bombers, who were supporting the Nationalist forces of General Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso completed the painting by mid-June 1937. The painting can be seen in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.

Water lilies

_______ _______ (or Nympheas) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet. The paintings depict Monet's own flower garden at Giverny and were the main focus of his artistic production during the last thirty years of his life. The paintings are on display at museums all over the world.

The Last Supper

________ ________ ________ is a 15th century mural painting in Milan created by Leonardo da Vinci and covers the back wall of the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. It represents the scene of The Last Supper when Jesus announces that one of his Twelve Apostles would betray him. Leonardo began work on The Last Supper in 1495 and completed it in 1498 though he did not work on the painting continuously. Some writers propose that the person in the painting seated to the left of Jesus is Mary Magdalene rather than John the Apostle, as most art historians identify that person. This popular theory was the topic of the book The Templar Revelation (1997), and plays a central role in Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code (2003).