Art & Time

The Arnolfini Portrait

Jan van Eyck

its mirror symbolism and minute oil-paint detail changed portraiture

The Garden of Earthly Delights

Hieronymus Bosch

its fantastical imagery made it one of the most discussed paintings in history

Olympia

Édouard Manet

its confrontational modern nude scandalized Paris

Untitled - Selections from Truisms...

Jenny Holzer

Comedian

Maurizio Cattelan

A fresh banana duct-taped to a white wall — Maurizio Cattelan's audacious conceptual gesture that sold for millions and redefined the boundaries of contemporary art.

One: Number 31, 1950

Jackson Pollock

it became the canonical image of all-over drip painting

No. 61 (Rust and Blue)

Mark Rothko

The Calling of Saint Matthew

Caravaggio

its dramatic light and everyday realism transformed sacred painting

Judith Slaying Holofernes

Artemisia Gentileschi

its visceral force made it a Baroque and feminist landmark

The Night Watch

Rembrandt van Rijn

it reinvented the civic group portrait with movement and dramatic light

Las Meninas

Diego Velázquez

its complex gaze, mirror and self-portrait structure made it endlessly modern

The Third of May 1808

Francisco de Goya

its raw anti-war message transformed history painting

No. 61 (Rust and Blue)

Mark Rothko

Untitled - Selections from Truisms...

Jenny Holzer

Comedian

Maurizio Cattelan

A fresh banana duct-taped to a white wall — Maurizio Cattelan's audacious conceptual gesture that sold for millions and redefined the boundaries of contemporary art.

Guernica

Pablo Picasso

it became the defining anti-war image of the twentieth century

Fountain

Marcel Duchamp

it made the idea and institutional framing central to art

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Johannes Vermeer

its direct gaze and luminous pearl made it a global icon

The Birth of Venus

Sandro Botticelli

its idealized beauty became the emblem of mythological Renaissance painting

The Scream

Edvard Munch

it became the quintessential image of modern anxiety

The Last Supper

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci

its psychological staging of the betrayal scene changed Western religious painting

David

Michelangelo

it is the defining Renaissance heroic nude and a civic icon of Florence

La Gioconda - The Mona Lisa

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci

The Tempest

Giorgione

its mystery and atmosphere made it one of the most debated Renaissance pictures

Sistine Chapel Ceiling

Michelangelo

its scale, anatomy and narrative ambition redefined monumental painting

The School of Athens

Raphael

it turned classical philosophy into the perfect Renaissance image of harmony

The Creation of Adam

Michelangelo

the near-touching hands became one of the most recognizable images in art

The Last Judgment

Michelangelo

its muscular apocalypse redefined monumental sacred art

Impression, Sunrise

Claude Monet

it gave Impressionism its name

Bal du moulin de la Galette

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

its flickering light and urban leisure define Impressionism for many visitors

Water Lilies

Claude Monet

its immersive oval rooms anticipate modern installation and abstraction

The Two Fridas

Frida Kahlo

its split identity and exposed hearts made it Frida’s most famous statement

Death of Socrates

Jacques-Louis David

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

Georges Seurat

its pointillist technique made it the great manifesto of Neo-Impressionism

Whaam!

Roy Lichtenstein

Comedian

Maurizio Cattelan

A fresh banana duct-taped to a white wall — Maurizio Cattelan's audacious conceptual gesture that sold for millions and redefined the boundaries of contemporary art.

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

Georges Seurat

its pointillist technique made it the great manifesto of Neo-Impressionism

Sunflowers

Vincent van Gogh

its blazing yellow palette made it one of Van Gogh’s signature images

The Starry Night

Vincent van Gogh

its swirling night sky became the universal image of emotional landscape painting

Olympia

Édouard Manet

its confrontational modern nude scandalized Paris

The Origin of the World

Gustave Courbet

Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1, Whistler's Mother

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Portrait of Madame X

John Singer Sargent

Nighthawks

Edward Hopper

its lonely diner became an icon of modern urban isolation

Christina’s World

Andrew Wyeth

its emotional distance and open field made it an American classic

The Third of May 1808

Francisco de Goya

its raw anti-war message transformed history painting

Saturn Devouring His Son

Francisco de Goya

its terrifying psychological force made it one of art’s darkest images

Liberty Leading the People

Eugène Delacroix

it fused revolution and allegory into one of France’s defining images

Portrait of Madame X

John Singer Sargent

Carnival of Harlequin

Joan Miró

The Lovers

René Magritte

The Persistence of Memory

Salvador Dali

its melting clocks became the shorthand image of surreal time

Guernica

Pablo Picasso

it became the defining anti-war image of the twentieth century

The Two Fridas

Frida Kahlo

its split identity and exposed hearts made it Frida’s most famous statement

Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird

Frida Kahlo

its compressed symbolism made it one of Kahlo’s signature self-images

The Kiss

Gustav Klimt

its sensual embrace made it one of sculpture’s most famous couples

The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Katsushika Hokusai

its bold wave became the most famous Japanese print in the world