# For you personally, what is the greatest work of art (visual art)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155 "2011-11-26T16:21:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/21 "2011-11-27T01:44:40Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > As far as works I’ve seen in person, I’d go with Michelangelo’s [Pietà](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet%C3%A0_(Michelangelo)). When you see it, you know that you are in the presence of something truly great. That’s what I came in here to post. Magnificent, evoking profound emotion. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/22 "2011-11-27T01:48:17Z")
I am privileged to have seen Picasso’s Guernica when it was in New York. One summer while I was in high school a college-aged cousin of mine was visiting from California. We went into NYC and walked _everywhere_, hitting I think every art museum (and there were a lot). There was a color plate of the painting in my Lit textbook the previous school year, with a caption about symbolism and such. My reaction was “So What”. When I saw the painting in person - it. Was. So! HUGE!! It just hit me like a ton of bricks. Everything in that lame little caption of the wimpy 8.5x11" image in my Lit book was true in the giant real life painting: This was Murder! Slaughter! Panic! Disaster! And all made by Men! It’s 35 or so years later and I’m still amazed. Art as a source of emotional impact, rather than of beauty. I’m not a huge fan of Picasso, but the man was brilliant. If he did nothing else, this would make him great. He did many other great things as well, enough to make him one for the ages. Links: > **[Guernica (Picasso)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_%28painting%29)** > > Guernica (Spanish: \[ɡeɾˈnika\]; Basque: \[ɡernika\]) is a large 1937 oil painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. It is one of his best-known works, regarded by many art critics as the most moving and powerful anti-war painting in history. It is exhibited in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. > The grey, black, and white painting, on a canvas 3.49 meters (11 ft 5 in) tall and 7.76 meters (25 ft 6 in) across, portrays the suffering wrought by violence and chaos. Prominent in the composition are a go... [http://blog.oilpaintingandframe.com/?p=1192](http://blog.oilpaintingandframe.com/?p=1192) Scroll down and see the people standing in front of the painting - this ain’t no Mona Lisa. Nothing on a computer screen does Guernica justice. It’s like the Grand Canyon in that regard. Is Guernica my favorite piece of art? No, but it is the greatest I’ve seen. I would not want to have it in my house, or even a copy. It’s too upsetting. For a single person to own it seems so antithetical to the point of the work as to be almost criminal. It belongs to humanity, as a stark reminder of the horrors of which we are capable. In terms of enjoyment and ownership it’s not even my favorite Picasso. I have a lithograph of his “Don Quixote” - worth barely more than the poster that was all over college dorms. Also a wonderful work - done with a few lines. I like the whimsy of it - one must remember to tilt at windmills now and again. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/23 "2011-11-27T02:11:01Z")
For me, it’s Marc Chagall’s [I and the Village](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RAwu8Io3Wq0/THySdi9BmmI/AAAAAAAAAY0/X2n-q6OdbWU/s1600/marc-chagall.jpg). I don’t know if it’s considered a great painting, but when I stood in front of it, I just about swooned. Absolutely glorious. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/24 "2011-11-27T03:40:04Z")
I have to say that my favorite is “[The Family of the Infante Don Luis](http://www.mezzo-mondo.com/arts/mm/goya/GOF002_L.jpg)” by Goya. I saw it in the National Gallery in Washington a few years ago, and it really grabbed me, mostly because of the guy with the bandage on his head who’s looking out at you. It seems more like a snapshot than a posed painting, and it always delights me. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/25 "2011-11-27T06:23:26Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > For me it’s [The Hunters In The Snow](http://www.nancyhuntting.net/Bruegel-Talk.html) by Pieter Breughel. I find so much to enjoy and love about this amazing work of art. The majestic technical skill; the incredible composition; the attention to detail; its value as a document of life as it was lived in his day; the brilliant placement of the one flying magpie; the colours and hues… and so on and so forth. I was in Vienna a few years ago and was thrilled to be able to see this incredible painting on display. Have you read [Headlong](http://www.amazon.com/Headlong-Bestselling-Backlist-Michael-Frayn/dp/0312267460/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322374713&sr=1-1), Michael Frayn’s novel about a Breughel painting? It’s a great read, and contains some really clever analysis of Breughel’s work. ---
**Author:** ![Borderreiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Borderreiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borderreiver)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/26 "2011-11-27T08:28:15Z")
> **[A Bar at the Folies-Bergère](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bar_at_the_Folies-Berg%C3%A8re)** > > A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (French: Un bar aux Folies Bergère) is a painting by Édouard Manet, considered to be his last major work. It was painted in 1882 and exhibited at the Paris Salon of that year. It depicts a scene in the Folies Bergère nightclub in Paris. The painting originally belonged to the composer Emmanuel Chabrier, a close friend of Manet, and hung over his piano. It is now in the Courtauld Gallery in London. > The painting exemplifies Manet's commitment to Realism in its detaile... I like Hunters in the Snow also and Tissots The Ball is up there but Manets Bar At The Folies Bergeres is my favourite.Ok its technically incorrect but who cares.I would love to know where her thoughts are. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/27 "2011-11-28T12:23:24Z")
What a treat this thread is ! I’ve been reminded of things that I’ve liked but allowed to slip back into the recesses of memory. Dalis Last Supper, Breughal, and a couple of pre Raphaelites. I love it. If I work out how to do links I might post mine, which is called “S” and is by V.G., not too tricky a question eh ? ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/28 "2011-11-28T12:51:50Z")
I am not a connoisseur of art, I have no training in it, and I know virtually nothing about how it’s created or what makes for “good” art. Just establishing that I have no credentials to speak of whatsoever. However, in 1991 I was dating a girl who lived in Philadelphia, so we went to the Art Museum to see the Renoir exhibition, and I found myself just standing and staring at Renoir’s [_Portrait of Mademoiselle Legrand_](http://www.artcyclopedia.com/masterscans/Renoir-Mademoiselle-Legrand-mid.html). It was the first painting I’d ever seen that actually captured something of a living, breathing human being. In fact, I loved that painting so much that I’ve actually remembered the name all these years later. I couldn’t tell you anything about any other painting in that exhibit, but that one just completely captivated me. I remember spending a lot of time in front of the Pieta, mostly because the marble actually looked fluid; it looked like it had ben poured into place. I just found that utterly fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/29 "2011-11-28T13:01:57Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > [Dali’s Last Supper.](http://culturedart.blogspot.com/2010/12/last-supper-dali.html) > > I love a lot of religious art, though I’m not so much religious, myself. But it’s just beautiful and/or fascinating art and stories, to me. > > But this one…it induces a sense of wonder that comes pretty damn close to religious in me. > > My favourite piece of art, though, is Bosch’s [Garden of Earthly Delights](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights_by_Bosch_High_Resolution.jpg). “Favorite work of Art” is a tough call, but two of my favorites are Hieronymous Bosch and Piter Brueghel the Elder. It’s become something of a xcliche to like **The Garden of Earthly Delights** , which I think is one of the most misinterpreted and misunderstood art works ever, but it’s alsdo undoubtedly one of Bosch’s best, so I’ll elect that one. We actually know quite a lot about the work’s inspirations and meanings. There are contemporary parallels for many of the motifs in existing artwork. Wilhelm Fraenger, with his fantasies about an Adamic Brotherhood, ought to be shot. “The Garden of Earthly Delights” wasn’t even used as a title for the work until centuries after Bosch’s death. The earliest title we have for this is “The Strawberry Plant” I wrote an extensive essay about the symbolism in this work, but haven’t tried to get it printed anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/30 "2011-11-28T13:50:51Z")
For me, it’s _Guernica_, and I think I laid out enough verbiage on why in that Picasso thread. Suffice to say I agree with everything **Typo Knig** said about it. And again, like I said in that other thread, it’s not my favourite - I think my overall favourite painting is Van Gogh’s _[Starry Night](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Van_Gogh_-_Starry_Night_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/1280px-Van_Gogh_-_Starry_Night_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)_, although _Night Hawks_, _I & The Village_, Hokusai’s [_Great Wave_](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa2.jpg/1280px-Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa2.jpg), Breugel’s _[Dulle Griet](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Mad_meg.jpg/1024px-Mad_meg.jpg)_, Beardsley’s _[Peacock Skirt](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Beardsley-peacockskirt.PNG)_ and Wyeth’s [Christina’s World](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Christinasworld.jpg) could easily fit in that spot too. ETA - and no portrait has ever done it for me like Wyeth’s _[Braids](http://rebeccaharp.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/wyeth-braids-1979.jpg?w=1024)_ > [@koeeoaddi](#): > > For me, it’s Marc Chagall’s [I and the Village](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RAwu8Io3Wq0/THySdi9BmmI/AAAAAAAAAY0/X2n-q6OdbWU/s1600/marc-chagall.jpg). I don’t know if it’s considered a great painting It definitely is considered such - that’s why it’s in MoMA. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/31 "2011-11-28T14:34:18Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > If I work out how to do links I might post mine, which is called “S” and is by V.G., not too tricky a question eh ? Tricky… Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers? Still Life: Vase with _Twelve_ Sunflowers? Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear? Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear _and Pipe_? Still Life with Pottery, Beer Glass and a Bottle? The Sower? The Sheaf-Binder? Still Life: Vase with Violet Irises Against a Yellow Background ? Stone Bench in the Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital? The Smoker? and that’s just off the top of my head… Assuming you mean the very first, [here’s a link](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Van_Gogh_-_Vierzehn_Sonnenblumen_in_einer_Vase1.jpeg/785px-Van_Gogh_-_Vierzehn_Sonnenblumen_in_einer_Vase1.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/32 "2011-11-28T15:40:58Z")
I don’t know what the “greatest” work of art is. There’s no way I could possibly make that judgment or pick just one. I can give you my favorites, though. Jackson Pollock’s [_Blue Poles_](http://middleofthepacific.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/blue-poles-number-11-1952.jpg) and [_Autumn Rhythm_](http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_57.92.jpg) Wassily Kandinsky’s [_Composition IV_](http://www.glyphs.com/art/kandinsky/comp4640.jpg) Mark Rothko’s [_Number 14_](http://www.michaelnewberry.com/av/rend/rothko_no14.jpg). Van Gogh’s _Starry Night_ and also [_Starry Night Over the Rhone_](http://www.vangoghpaintings.net/img/van-gogh-starry-night-over-the-rhone.jpg). Gerhardt Richter’s [_Ice_ series](http://www.friendsofart.net/static/images/art3/gerhard-richter-ice-(4).jpg) Pretty much any Rembrandt portrait. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/33 "2011-11-28T15:56:31Z")
I’m gonna say [The Banjo Lesson](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Henry_Ossawa_Tanner_-_The_Banjo_Lesson.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/34 "2011-11-28T16:30:48Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Tricky… > Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers? > Still Life: Vase with _Twelve_ Sunflowers? > Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear? > Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear _and Pipe_? > Still Life with Pottery, Beer Glass and a Bottle? > The Sower? > The Sheaf-Binder? > Still Life: Vase with Violet Irises Against a Yellow Background ? > Stone Bench in the Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital? > The Smoker? > > and that’s just off the top of my head… > > Assuming you mean the very first, [here’s a link](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Van_Gogh_-_Vierzehn_Sonnenblumen_in_einer_Vase1.jpeg/785px-Van_Gogh_-_Vierzehn_Sonnenblumen_in_einer_Vase1.jpeg) Yep that was it, doesn’t look so great as a plate, but in the flesh its breathtaking. As to the clue I was going for the obvious, as in blindingly . ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/35 "2011-11-28T16:38:44Z")
Probably Tubgirl. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/36 "2011-11-28T16:43:37Z")
Ah, the Peacock Skirt by Aubrey Beardsley! Salome and St. John the Baptist. [http://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/beardsley/3.html](http://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/beardsley/3.html) I was obsessed with his art years ago and had three hardcover collections I painstakingly sought out at bookstores and used bookstores. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/37 "2011-11-29T04:11:46Z")
I just noticed that the OP asked if we have seen the work of art in person. Yes, I’ve seen _Ophelia_ twice, once in the Tate Britain (but back when it was still called the Tate Gallery) in London where it is usually on display and once on tour in the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. Here’s a larger picture of it: > **[Tate Britain, London, United Kingdom - Google Arts & Culture](https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/tate-britain)** > > Tate Britain (known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British > Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery) is an art museum on Millbank > in the... ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/38 "2011-11-29T06:34:47Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > The statue of Laocoon and his Sons. The sculptors are uncertain but Pliny the Elder attributes the work to Three sculptors from the Isle of Rhodes. > > [LINK](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laocoon_Pio-Clementino_Inv1059-1064-1067.jpg) > > As a sculptor, considering the medium, tools available, and the stunning display of anatomy and cut-throughs in the marble, this ranks easily among the finest pieces of sculpture ever. > > Closely behind is Michelangelo’s Moses and the tomb it is in. I’ve seen most of the works in this thread, but this is the one that just totally blew me away, considering its complexity. I just stood there and stared, then observed it from different angles, and was just amazed that anyone can create this out of a block of stone . . . with the tools available a couple thousand years ago. And the issue of seeing a work of art live, as opposed to reproductions: This is especially true with the paintings of Klimt, especially the ones with gold paint. Absolutely breathtaking. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/39 "2011-11-29T06:56:24Z")
[Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, Caspar David Friedrich](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderer_above_the_Sea_of_Fog) I’m not a big fan of romanticism but this one gets me all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155/40 "2011-11-29T07:15:55Z")
Third on\* Guernica\*. I didn’t realize, when I was at the Reina Sofia, that _Guernica_ was there.\* When I walked into the gallery where it hangs, not expecting to see it, I was overwhelmed by it. My legs went watery and I felt sick to my stomach, and I had to leave the gallery to find some place to sit down for a minute. I don’t particularly like the painting. I don’t think you’re supposed to like it. On some level, I’m not entirely convinced its _possible_ to like it. But no other painting or sculpture has ever had that sort of effect on me. There was a thread recently where someone was going on about how Picasso was a fraud. All I know is, if that’s the fraud, I’d hate to see what the genuine article would do to me. \*What’s weird is that I knew the painting was in the museum, but somehow had utterly failed to link up the fact that _Guernica_ was in the Reina Sofia, with the fact that _I_ was in the Reina Sofia, and therefore, the painting and I were in the same building. I’ve previously had the same problem during a week long stay in London, where I entirely forgot to go to British Museum, despite the fact that I spend one evening there watching a lengthy program on television about the Elgin marbles controversy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-you-personally-what-is-the-greatest-work-of-art-visual-art/604155.md?page=3)