51 Paintings You Must Know if You Want To Be Called An Art Expert

Do you think you know about art just because the names Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Da Vinci and Salvador Dalí ring a bell? Their paintings gave them worldwide recognition and when museums and art galleries advertise their exhibitions people flock to them. Remember, these are not the only artists that should grace the gallery of your mind. May these 51 paintings inspire you to seek out new artists and for you to recall those that are absent as well

Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait (1434)

Piero Della Francesca, The Flagellation of Christ (probably 1455–1460)

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper (1495-1497)

Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (1485)

Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights (1503-1515)

Alberto Durero, Adam and Eve (1507)

Michelangelo, The Final Judgement (1535-1541)

Titian, Venus of Urbino (1538)

Tintoretto, Crucifixion (1565)

El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1588)

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (1602)

Peter Paul Rubens, The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus (1616)

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Night Watch (1642)

Georges de La Tour, Joseph the Carpenter (1642)

The old schools of thought upheld technique as the most important component of talent. In the fifteenth century, painters sought to showcase their technique, dominion of perspective and color. The more realistic, the more value and prestige an artist would receive. Perfection was the goal, some would excel in tonalities, others would make use of absolute darkness to highlight specific areas with light, and lastly, some would employ mirrors that would give a clue to other parts of the room. All would pick up their paintbrushes and with fervor dream of becoming the best.

Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid (1657–1658)

Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas (1734)

Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Marat (1793)

Théodore Géricault, The Raft of the Medusa (1819)

Francisco Goya, Witches’ Sabbath or The Great He-Goat (1820- 1823)

Eugéne Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People (1830)

Karl Pavlovich Bryullov , The Last Day of Pompeii (1830–1833)

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth (1842)

Jean-François Millet, L’Angelus (1859)

Gustave Courbet, L’Origine du monde (1866)

Ilya Repin, Ivan the Terrible and His Son (1885)

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, The Turkish Bath (Le Bain Turc) (1863)

Édouard Manet, Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe (1863)

Claude Monet, Impression Sunrise (1872)

Edgar Degas, The Absinthe Drinker (1876)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bal du Moulin de la Galette (1876)

Odilon Redon, Woman With Wild Flowers (1895-1898)

Paul Gauguin, The Yellow Christ (1889)

Then came those who would paint outdoors and their desire was to capture the wildness of light rather than reality. A shift in paradigm since photography did a far better job at capturing reality, now paintings had to take on a new task. Brilliant colors, dazzling yellows and reds made the scholars realize that color itself can become a work of art.

James Ensor, Skeletons Fighting Over a Hanged Man (1891)

Edvard Munch, Madonna (1895)

Gustav Klimt , The Park (1910)

Franz von Stuck, Fight over a Woman (1905)

Emil Nolde, Autumn Sea VII (1910)

Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VIII (1911)

Then rebellious souls entered the world of art and for some they heralded the destruction of art. Their paintings were not figurative, and they carried a wealth of meaning. These paintings expressed desire, they embodied the femme fatale, and would drag the viewer into a world of feelings. The paintings seem to move and shift outside the frame as if trying to adopt a third dimension or capture sound. They were the game changers and we never know what’s around the corner when it comes to art. As Marcel Duchamp rightfully said, “art is either plagiarism or revolution.” Are those the beating drums of war we’re hearing? There are countless artists that remain to be explored and their paintings to be shown, but at least with these 51 paintings we can widen our scope.

Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912)

Oskar Kokoschka, The Bride of the Wind (1914)

Kazimir Malévich, Suprematist Composition (1916)

Egon Schiele, The Embrace (1917)

Georgia O’keeffe, Jack in the Pulpit IV (1930)

René Magritte, The Red Model (1937)

David Alfaro Siqueiros, Birth of Fascism (1945)

Andrew Wyeth, Christina’s World (1948)

Jackson Pollock Autumn Rhythm, Number 30 (1950)

Francis Bacon, Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1953)

Robert Rauschenberg, Retroactive 1 (1964)

David Hockney, A Bigger Splash (1967)

Lucian Freud, Naked Man With Rat (1977-8)

Art embodies far more than paintings, it is history, context, business, and ideology. The brush strokes grazing the white canvas immortalize the artists and their thoughts and ideologies endure the passing of time.