1. Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 AD – 1519 AD)
More commonly known as Leonardo Da Vinci, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci is a Renaissance painter. Many people around the world consider him as one of the best painters of all time.
Even though only 15 of his paintings survived, his paintings Mona Lisa and The Last Supper made him world famous. The former is the most popular portrait ever made while the latter is the most reproduced religious painting.
2. Michelangelo (1475 AD – 1564 AD)
Although Michelangelo`s paintings are very famous, he liked to call himself a sculptor, and engaged in painting only in his spare time. Some of his famous statues include David, Pieta, Moses and Madonna and the child, all of which are world famous.
He also contributed to the design and construction of St. Peter`s Basilica(Burial site of St. Peter, chief among Jesus`s Apostles and the first Bishop of Rome) in Vatican, which besides being theholiest catholic church, is also the largest church in the world.
3. Pablo Picasso (1881 AD –1973 AD)
Born in Malaga in Spain, Pablo Ruiz Picasso got his surname from his father's name (Ruiz) and mother's name (Picasso) which is common in Spain. He has worked in Italy, France and Spain.
In his lifetime, he produced 50,000 artworks including 1,885 paintings, 1,228 sculptures, 2,880 ceramics and 12,000 drawings. Most of his creations came from his imagination. "I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them." - Picasso.
According to the art Market Trends report (as of 2015), based on the sales of his creations at auctions, Picasso remained the top-ranked artist.
He used different styles including Cubism, Collage, symbolism, surrealism and neoclassicism.
4. Vincent Van Gogh (1853 AD – 1890 AD)
He was well-known for his still-life, portrait and landscape paintings.
Most of his adult-life was dominated by loneliness (he had no wife or children), ill-health and lack of a stable income. He changed jobs from being an art dealer to a school teacher to working at a bookstore to trying to be a pastor before finally becoming an artist. His younger brother Theo supported him financially and provided emotional support, who also encouraged him to become a professional artist.
Even though he started his professional art career pretty late and it lasted only a decade, he created about 2100 pieces of artwork during that time, some of which were used as the base for the creation of other art styles after his death.
He had a habit of regularly writing letters to his brother, sometimes to his sister and friends, which provide a pretty good biography of his life. Apart from Michelangelo who had his biography written, Vincent Van Gogh is another artist whose life has been documented so flawlessly.
Some of his famous paintings include The Starry night, Sunflowers and Irises. Till 1987, Sunflowers was the most expensive painting to be sold at an auction, which was broken by Irises two years later. As of today, Irises is the 15thmost expensive paintingever sold.
5. Edvard Munch (1863 AD – 1944 AD)
Most of his works focused on the style known as Symbolism.
Edvard Munch was brought up by his father who himself was suffering with mental illness. His mother died because of Tuberculosis when he was 5 years old and his favorite sister died because of the same disease when he was 14 years old.
Both these incidents as well as his father’s mental illness were a huge influence on him and his paintings later on. He also suffered from hallucinations.
Some of his paintings portray (and his style was inspired by) the tragic incidents that happened in his life. His most famous paintings are The Scream, The Sick Child (tribute to his deceased sister), Night in St. Cloud (darker memorial to his father), Madonna and Puberty.
6. Claude Monet (1840 AD - 1926 AD)
Born in 1840 in Paris and baptized as Oscar-Claude, Monet is the founder of the French Impressionist painting style. The word ‘Impressionism’ itself is named after his painting ‘Impression, sunset ‘. He painted several landscapes and portraits throughout his lifetime, that indicate his mastery at capturing the light and colors.
Monet often painted a landscape and painted the same scene several times to capture the effect of change in light and seasons.
Some of the famous paintings of Claude Monet are Water Lilies, Rouen Cathedral, The Rue Montorgueil in Paris, Westminster bridge, Woman with a Parasol and of course, Impression Sunrise.
Impression sunrise
Water Lilies
Which of these best painters of all time do you like the most?
We hope that this blog post helped you learn about some of the best painters of all time. So, which of these artists do you like the most? Which of their paintings moved you? Tell us in the comments below.
