“Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realising it.” - Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet are some of the most famous painters around the world. They’re famous for their style and the art world is still fascinated by their works. That said, van Gogh and Monet aren’t the only painters to have left their mark on the art world.
In this article, we're going to look at the most famous old painters to have ever graced the world of art, who they were, what they did, and some of their most famous paintings.
Vincent Van Gogh
The Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh was a world-famous artist during the 19th century. He was famous for his still lifes and landscapes and made history by bringing the pointillism technique to the forefront of art. Born in 1853, he died in 1890 in a field after painting a canvas. The painter is now thought of as one of the greatest of all time even though he was relatively unknown whilst alive.
Many believe he was the world's best painter and his connection with colors was considered an art.
Some facts about Van Gogh
- Vincent's brother, Theo van Gogh, was his greatest supporter and art dealer.
- The artist struggled with mental health issues throughout his life, and his art often reflected his emotional turmoil.
- One of his most famous paintings is "The Starry Night," which is celebrated for its swirling, dreamlike depiction of the night sky.
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Paul Gauguin
Born in Paris in 1848, Paul Gauguin is probably one of the most exotic French painters. He lived in French Polynesia where he died and was one of the greatest painters of the Pont-Aven School. He was inspired by Impressionism and Japanese prints and you can now find his works in the famous Musée d’Orsay in Paris. He died in 1903.
Paul Gauguin Famous Paintings
"Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?" (D'où venons-nous ? Que sommes-nous ? Où allons-nous ?
"Tahitian Women on the Beach" (Femmes de Tahiti sur la plage)
"The Yellow Christ" (Le Christ jaune)
"Spirit of the Dead Watching" (Manao Tupapau)
Claude Monet
Monet is most famous for his “Impression, Sunrise” piece and was part of the Impressionist movement in the 19th century. He was arguably the first of the impressionist painters.
He was born in Paris in 1840 and died in 1926 in Giverny. Claude Monet cut his teeth as an artist in Paris. He studied in the Académie Suisse in Paris. Throughout his career, Monet rubbed shoulders with the famous painters of the time including Pissarro and Eugène Boudin.
“Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand as if it were necessary to understand when it is simply necessary to love.”
Claude Monet 3 Most Famous Paintings:
"Water Lilies" (Nymphéas): This series of paintings features Monet's beloved water garden in Giverny, France
"Impression, Sunrise" (Impression, soleil levant)
"Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son" (La Promenade
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Édouard Manet
Manet’s famous painting “Le déjeuner sur l’herbe” (Luncheon on the Grass) is rather well known now. While his father wanted him to study law, Édouard Manet refused and instead learnt to paint from Thomas Couture. He helped lead the impressionist painting movement with the subjects he decided to paint: portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and Parisian life.
He often hung out with intellectuals such as Charles Baudelaire and Émile Zola but was also regularly criticised by his contemporaries. His works are now an important chapter in the history of art and painting.
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) is widely considered as the father of modern painting although he started his career as a banker. He’d find his way into the world of art when he unveiled his talents in Paris. He’s famous for the landscapes of Aix-en-Provence in the south of France where he grew up.
Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), became a famous painter towards the end of the 19th century. While he started out in the Impressionist movement, he started moving towards Realism. With nudes, portraits, landscapes, still lifes, etc., Renoir is an accomplished artist who never seemed to stop. He even attached brushes to his wrists when suffering from paralysing rheumatism in later life to ensure that he wouldn't have to stop.
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Pablo Picasso
Picasso is a complete artist who was born in Malaga, Spain, in 1881 and died in Mougins, France. He was a painter, sculptor, engraver, and ceramist who’s known for helping spark the surrealist movement. After studying art at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, he moved to Paris at the age of 23.
It was in the French capital with the help of George Braque that he’d invent Cubism, for which he was probably more famous for.
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (1834-1917) first studied law to please his father but would end up falling in love with painting. He learnt by copying the great works from the Louvre.
He's quite the complex artist and art historians are still arguing whether or not he’s an impressionist artist. Degas was quite avant-garde and doesn’t tick all the boxes. His paintings are famous for including movement and dancing.
Leonardo da Vinci
A famous Renaissance painter, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is famous all over the world for his works and especially his most famous painting, The Mona Lisa. A true scientist, da Vinci studied everything from the environment to the human body in order to be as accurate as possible.
In addition to being a great painter, Leonardo da Vinci was also an engineer, botanist, inventor, writer, sculptor, architect, urbanist, musician, poet, and philosopher.
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) was a Dutch Baroque painter. He was a Dutch School painter in the 17th century and later a Dutch Golden Age painter and also famous for his self-portraits. He was inspired particularly by the chiaroscuro painting techniques of Caravaggio and applied this contrast technique to his own works.
Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, also known as Botticelli, was an Italian painter who lived between 1445 and 1510. He was originally a beater-out of gold lead before learning to paint in Italian painting workshops.
He was eventually tasked with painting the Sistine Chapel by Sixtus IV in 1481. With help from Cosmo Rosselli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Pietro Perugino, Botticelli made his mark on Italian art history with his works that are still enjoyed today.
Peter Paul Rubens
The great Flemish painter Pierre Paul Rubens (1577-1640) is one of the greatest painters of his time. Almost every painter dreamt of having the fortune of plying their trade in Rubens’ famous workshop.
He painted religious portraits such as “The Descent from the Cross”, which inspired artists all over the country. He is considered the master of Baroque Flemish painting.
In addition to his artistic achievements, Rubens was also a successful diplomat, serving as a court painter and ambassador for the Spanish Habsburgs. Rubens' art influenced subsequent generations of artists, including Rembrandt, Velázquez, and Delacroix.
Michaelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born in Caprese in 1475 and died in 1564 in Rome and was an Italian High Renaissance artist. He’s famous for his religious works and above all, for having painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. His technique and style led to the Mannerism movement.
In addition to painting, he was also an accomplished sculptor and is very famous for "David,", a marble carving that is currently housed in the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, Italy.
Michelangelo's work is characterized by its emotional intensity, physical realism, and technical virtuosity. His most famous works include the Pietà (1499), David (1501-1504), and the Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508-1512).
Michelangelo was born in Caprese, Italy, in 1475. He studied art in Florence and Rome, and by the age of 20, he was already considered a master sculptor. He worked for some of the most powerful patrons of the time, including the Medici family of Florence and the popes in Rome.
Michelangelo's work had a profound impact on the development of Western art. He is credited with creating a new ideal of human beauty and expression, and his techniques and methods were adopted by artists for centuries to come.
Francisco Goya
The famous Spanish Rococo painter, Francisco Goya (1746-1828), brought with him the arrival of contemporary painting in Europe. He’s famous for painting what life was like in Spain at the time. He was a critic of war and injustice and he loved creating work on Spanish life.
Goya's work is characterized by its emotional intensity and its depiction of the human condition. He is best known for his paintings of the Spanish Inquisition, the Peninsular War, and the Third of May 1808. These works are powerful indictments of violence and oppression, and they have had a profound impact on the development of modern art.
In addition to his paintings, Goya also produced a large number of prints, drawings, and etchings. His prints are particularly notable for their technical virtuosity and their biting social commentary.
Gustave Courbet
Gustave Courbet, a French Realist painter, was born in 1819 and died in 1877. Throughout his career, he sought to reproduce life at the time and his contemporaries were shocked to see his piece “L'Origine du Monde” (The Origin of the World) in 1866 which is a close-up view of a woman’s genitals and stomach. He quickly moved away from Romantic pieces in order to turn the art world upside-down.
Art historians were recently thought to have discovered who the model in "L'Origine du Monde" was, just 152 years after it was painted. It was thought to be a painting of Courbet's lover and model, Joanna Hiffernan.
However, letters and the fact that Hifferman was famously ginger have led art historians to believe that it's actually Constance Queniaux, a famous dancer of the time.
Salvador Dalí
Famous for his psychedelic style, Salvador Dali, or Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, was born in 1904 and died in 1989. The art world was enamored by the Surrealist movement. His canvases portrayed dream-like scenes.
Yayoi Kusama
Kusama, born in 1929, is renowned as one of the most celebrated artists of our time. She gained widespread popularity for her mesmerizing "Infinity Rooms," which have captivated the attention of Instagram users. However, her artistic journey spans over six decades, starting from her childhood. As a young Japanese artist, she began to experience hallucinations in the form of flashes of light, auras, and visions of dotted fields and talking flowers.
These experiences have served as the inspiration for her diverse body of work, including the iconic rooms, as well as paintings, sculptures, and installations featuring vibrant and surreal patterns of polka dots and other motifs. From 1957 to 1972, she resided in NYC, where she became known for her controversial chairs upholstered with fabric phalluses and outdoor events involving public nudity. Despite her artistic success, Kusama continues to battle with psychological afflictions, and in 1977, she voluntarily admitted herself to a mental hospital in Japan, where she has resided ever since.
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture. Warhol is best known for his iconic works such as the Campbell's Soup Cans, the Marilyn Monroe diptychs, and the Silver Clouds.
Warhol was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1928. He studied commercial art at the Carnegie Institute of Technology before moving to New York City in 1949. In the 1950s, he gained recognition as a successful commercial illustrator, creating advertisements and window displays for various companies.
In the early 1960s, Warhol began to experiment with different art forms, including painting, printmaking, and filmmaking. He became a prominent figure in the pop art movement, which drew inspiration from popular culture and everyday objects. Warhol's works often featured bold colors, repetitive imagery, and iconic symbols of American consumerism.
One of Warhol's most famous series of works is the Campbell's Soup Cans, which he began painting in 1962. These paintings depict the iconic red and white cans of Campbell's Soup, a common household item, and elevate it to the status of high art. Warhol's repetition of the same image challenges traditional notions of artistic originality and individuality.
10 Mind-blowing Facts About These Famous Painters!
- Monet was known for his series of paintings, where he painted the same subject multiple times at different times of the day and year. He did this to capture the changing light and atmosphere.
- Picasso was a prolific artist and is estimated to have produced over 50,000 pieces of art throughout his career.
- Vincent van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime, but today his works are some of the most valuable and sought-after in the world.
- Monet's "Water Lilies" series of paintings, which he began working on in 1899, was inspired by the pond in his garden at Giverny, which he transformed into an artist's paradise.
- Picasso had a photographic memory and could draw from memory any image he had ever seen.
- Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" was painted while he was a patient at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint Rémy de Provence, France.
- Monet was a pioneer of Impressionism, a movement that sought to capture the changing effects of light and color on the natural world.
- Picasso had a very successful career and was able to command high prices for his works, but he also had a reputation for being a womanizer and had several mistresses throughout his life.
- Vincent van Gogh was passionate about art from a young age, and despite financial difficulties and mental health issues, he produced over 2,000 artworks, including around 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches, during his 10-year career.
- Monet died in 1926, but his legacy lives on through his numerous paintings and the many art lovers who continue to admire his work today.
Who are your favorite artists of all time?
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