00:00One of the oldest art forms, painting has been around ever since our ancient ancestors
00:20first started producing charcoal creations on cave walls.
00:24While countless generations of artists have left their mark over the millennia, only some
00:28artworks have succeeded in transcending time and culture to be revered around the globe.
00:34Here's a look at the most famous paintings of all time found in museums around the world.
00:58Number 12.
01:00American Gothic Now hanging up in the Art Institute of Chicago,
01:05American Gothic is one of the most famous paintings of 20th century rural Americana.
01:10Grant Wood's defining masterpiece was painted in 1930 and depicts a farmer and his daughter
01:16standing in front of what is now known as the American Gothic House.
01:20Initially, locals and art critics took the somber tones and characters' puritanical clothes
01:25as a critique of rural life.
01:28The onset of the Great Depression, however, saw the painting become associated with the
01:32resoluteness and indomitable spirit of the American pioneers.
01:41Number 11.
01:43The Persistence of Memory One of the greatest and most distinctive
01:47works of surrealist art of all time, Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory really does
01:53stand out from the crowd.
01:55In the 1931 painting, we can see melting pocket watches draped across a bleak landscape.
02:01The strange scene is widely thought to have been inspired by Albert Einstein's theory of
02:06relativity.
02:07Dali's fantastic creation can be enjoyed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
02:15Number 10.
02:16The Kiss Painted between 1907 and 1908 during the height of Gustav Klimt's Golden Period,
02:23the Kiss veritably shimmers and shines before your eyes as gold, silver, and platinum radiate
02:29forth from the canvas.
02:30Influenced by both the arts and crafts and Art Nouveau movements, the painting depicts two
02:35gold-clad lovers entwined in an intimate embrace.
02:39Just one of the many highlights of the Belvedere in Vienna's extensive collection, the Kiss is
02:44Klimt's most popular and enthralling work.
02:50Number 9.
02:51Nighthawks
02:52Another of the Art Institute of Chicago's most famous artworks is Nighthawks, which was
02:57painted by Edward Hopper in 1942.
03:00In the oil painting, we can see four people in a diner late at night.
03:04It shines out of the brightly lit interior, illuminating the darkness outside through the
03:09large glass window.
03:10While many take it to depict loneliness and isolation, Hopper himself said it alluded more
03:16to potential predators in the night.
03:18One of American art's most popular and parodied paintings, Nighthawks is the most renowned
03:23and recognizable of Hopper's artworks.
03:30Number 8.
03:31The Great Wave of Kanagawa
03:34The most famous painting to come out of Japan, The Great Wave of Kanagawa was produced by Hokusai,
03:40using a woodblock print technique sometime between 1829 and 1833.
03:45The stunning scene, with its vivid blues, sees an enormous wave threatening to engulf three
03:51fishing boats.
03:53As it was developed as part of the artist's 36 Views of Mount Fuji series, the iconic volcano
03:58can be spotted in the background.
04:00Due to the fact that numerous prints were made, original impressions of the Great Wave
04:05off Kanagawa can be found in the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others.
04:11Number 7.
04:15Water Lilies
04:16Consisting of some 250 different paintings, Claude Monet's Water Lily series was painted
04:21at his home in Giverny between 1896 and 1926.
04:26The main subject of the paintings is the water lily pond in the back of his garden, with various
04:31other flowers, a wooden bridge, and a majestic weeping willow also featuring.
04:36One of the great French impressionists, Claude Monet's paintings are instantly recognizable,
04:41and are on display in museums around the world.
04:50Number 6.
04:52Night Watch
04:53Arguably the most famous artwork of the Rieck Museum in Amsterdam, the Night Watch is one
04:58of the most magnificent paintings to ever emerge from the Dutch Golden Age.
05:02Painted in 1642 by Rembrandt van Rijn, the enormous canvas portrays a group of civic guards
05:09as they head off to practice their shooting.
05:11For much of its existence, the painting was coated with a dark varnish which gave the incorrect
05:16impression that it depicted a night scene, leading to the name Night Watch.
05:20The painting is famed for its dramatic use of light that makes it seem as if the life-size
05:25figures are actually moving before us.
05:30Number 5.
05:31The Scream
05:32The Scream is a series of expressionist paintings and prints by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch,
05:38showing an agonized figure against a bloody red sky.
05:42The landscape is the background of Oslofjord, viewed from a hill in Oslo.
05:46Edvard Munch created several versions of The Scream in various media.
05:50The first version was painted in 1893, and is on display in the National Gallery of Norway.
05:57It was stolen in 1994, in a high-profile art theft, and recovered several months later.
06:03In 2004, another version of The Scream was stolen from the Munch Museum, only to be recovered
06:08in 2006.
06:20Number 4.
06:21Girl with a Pearl Earring
06:23Although it is often compared with the Mona Lisa, Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl
06:27Earring is, in fact, a tronie, not a portrait.
06:31Thought to have been painted around 1665 by the Dutch master, the captivating artwork depicts
06:37an imagined, rather than real girl, wearing a blue turban and a sizable glimmering pearl
06:42earring.
06:43Tracy Chevalier wrote a historic novel fictionalizing the circumstances of the painting's creation.
06:49The novel inspired a 2003 film, with Scarlett Johansson as Johannes Vermeer's assistant,
06:55wearing the Pearl Earring.
06:57Number 3.
06:59The Last Supper
07:00Painted in the 1490s on a refectory wall in a monastery in Milan, The Last Supper is one
07:06of the most recognizable artworks on earth.
07:09While the years have not been kind to the original, the convent still sees people come from all
07:14over the world to catch a glimpse of the fabulous fresco.
07:18The marvelous mural depicts the scene where Jesus Christ tells the twelve apostles sitting
07:22to either side of him that one of them will betray him.
07:26Some writers propose that the person in the painting seated to the left of Jesus is Mary
07:31Magdalene rather than John the Apostle.
07:34This popular theory plays a central role in Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code.
07:41Number 2.
07:42Starry Night
07:43Vincent van Gogh's defining work Starry Night describes the view he could see out of his
07:48asylum window in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence after he had a breakdown and cut off part of his
07:53own ear in 1888.
07:56The iconic scene shows a swirling night sky punctuated with stars overlooking a still-sleeping
08:02village.
08:03Such post-impressionist painters' stunning creation is now exhibited at the Museum of
08:08Modern Art in New York, and is one of the most valued works in their extensive collection.
08:24Number 1.
08:25Mona Lisa Widely considered to be the most famous painting
08:28in the world.
08:29The Mona Lisa has delighted onlookers ever since it was painted in the early 1500s by
08:34Leonardo da Vinci.
08:36The painting is named for Lisa del Giocondo, a member of a wealthy family in Florence.
08:41In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen by Louvre employee Vincenzo Perugia, an Italian patriot,
08:48who believed the Mona Lisa should be returned to Italy.
08:51After having kept the painting in his apartment for two years, Perugia was finally caught when
08:56he attempted to sell it to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
08:59Today, the Mona Lisa hangs again in the Louvre in Paris, where six million people see the
09:04painting each year.
09:13There's a lot of paintings in the moment, Gö느�ica is a very long history.
09:14The label is so beautiful that many people see each year.
09:14It's a wonderful there for, which to bring them back to the left, and the
09:15the painting I know it's a beautiful painting.
09:16And the design of the painting is so beautiful that the new Blakely
09:17gave the painting people to work in theى village.
09:19And it's a beautiful painting.
09:20So, you can see the light with the name.
09:21And the painting is a beautiful painting.
09:22There's the painting of the painting in the picture.
09:22There's the painting of it in the picture.
09:23You can see the painting on the left, but the painting will go in the
09:24part of the painting to the painting…
09:25There might be a painting here.
09:26So, you can see the painting on the back, and there's a painting I
09:28around this painting, and I can see.
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