# So, what's the second-most-famous painting in the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2007, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656 "2007-06-27T17:33:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/41 "2007-06-28T07:39:24Z")
My immediate thought, after _The Scream_, was [this one](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luncheon_of_the_Boating_Party). But as nobody else seems to have mentioned it, I guess it’s not in the running. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/42 "2007-06-28T11:42:30Z")
Some of the most famous paintings in the world are in the [caves at Lascaux](http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/) in S W France, although I’m not sure there’s a single specific image associated with them or that people would know much more than ‘the paintings in that cave in France’. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/43 "2007-06-28T12:35:41Z")
[QUOTE=Meurglys] Some of the most famous paintings in the world are in the [caves at Lascaux](http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/) in S W France, although I’m not sure there’s a single specific image associated with them or that people would know much more than ‘the paintings in that cave in France’. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I had that same thought too, including the caveat :). Daniel ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/44 "2007-06-28T18:08:18Z")
How about “Chinese Girl” by Vladimir Tretchikoff? Apparently it was massively popular a few decades ago. I don’t recognize it at all personally. > **[Chinese Girl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Girl)** > > Chinese Girl (often popularly known as The Green Lady) is a 1952 painting by Vladimir Tretchikoff. Mass-produced prints of the work in subsequent years were among the best-selling of the twentieth century. The painting is of a Chinese young woman and is best known for the unusual skin tone used for her face—a blue-green colour, which gives the painting its popular name The Green Lady. > Though Tretchikoff maintained that the first version of this painting had been destroyed in Cape Town and he pa... ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/45 "2007-06-28T18:17:55Z")
[QUOTE=SmackFu] How about “Chinese Girl” by Vladimir Tretchikoff? Apparently it was massively popular a few decades ago. I don’t recognize it at all personally. > **[Chinese Girl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Girl)** > > Chinese Girl (often popularly known as The Green Lady) is a 1952 painting by Vladimir Tretchikoff. Mass-produced prints of the work in subsequent years were among the best-selling of the twentieth century. The painting is of a Chinese young woman and is best known for the unusual skin tone used for her face — a blue-green colour, which gives the painting its popular name The Green Lady. Though Tretchikoff maintained that the first version of this painting had been destroyed in Cape Town and he pa... [/QUOTE] That was ubiquitous back in the 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/46 "2007-06-28T18:25:10Z")
Sistine Chapel ceiling gets my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/47 "2007-06-28T18:26:07Z")
If only the US were to be considered, the works of John Trumbull would rank very high with Washington Crossing the Delaware and The Declaration of Independence at the top of the heap. Also, if only part of a painting rather than the whole thing be needed to qualify [Raphael’s Sistine Madonna](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Raffael_051.jpg) is certainly a candidate because of the two little angels at the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/48 "2007-06-28T18:32:17Z")
[L.H.O.O.Q.](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.abcgallery.com/D/duchamp/duchamp24.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.abcgallery.com/D/duchamp/duchamp24.html&h=805&w=551&sz=80&hl=en&start=6&sig2=yw6u1Up-Vr2I7uPOwglM_Q&um=1&tbnid=94kjAXfUBNGkjM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=98&ei=_v2DRp-qA6WMePrOpO0B&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dl.h.o.o.q.%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official) by Marcel Duchamp. [Fountain](http://www.rpi.edu/~turcoj/Timeline/Art%20History/the%20fountain.jpg) might be more famous, but isn’t strictly speaking a “painting.” ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/49 "2007-06-28T21:39:05Z")
If you don’t mind, I’d like to point out a couple of big fat biases in this thread. The first is Christianity; how many of the world’s citizens have ever seen the art of our minority religion? The second is western art. Every Chinese person, and a great many people in the rest of the world, recognize the _Portrait of Chairman Mao._ Face it, now. Wouldn’t you? How many folks in Beijing would recognize the _Mona Lisa,_ let alone the _Birth of Adam_ or _The Last Supper_? They’re probably more familiar with Ronald McDonald. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/50 "2007-06-28T22:31:03Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] If you don’t mind, I’d like to point out a couple of big fat biases in this thread. The first is Christianity; how many of the world’s citizens have ever seen the art of our minority religion? The second is western art. Every Chinese person, and a great many people in the rest of the world, recognize the _Portrait of Chairman Mao._ Face it, now. Wouldn’t you? How many folks in Beijing would recognize the _Mona Lisa,_ let alone the _Birth of Adam_ or _The Last Supper_? They’re probably more familiar with Ronald McDonald. [/QUOTE] You make a good point. Unfortunately, you’re dealing with a primarily Western European biased group here. Even those who are fairly familiar with art have their limits. The portrait of Mao is pretty well known in the west though, thanks in very large part to Warhol. ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/51 "2007-06-28T23:45:40Z")
I would think “Starry Night” would rank very highly. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/52 "2007-06-28T23:48:23Z")
Las Meninas ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/53 "2007-06-29T08:23:52Z")
I would also guess something by Escher. Either the two hand drawing each other, the impossible water fountain or the crazy stairs one. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/54 "2007-06-29T10:26:43Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] If you don’t mind, I’d like to point out a couple of big fat biases in this thread. The first is Christianity; how many of the world’s citizens have ever seen the art of our minority religion? The second is western art. Every Chinese person, and a great many people in the rest of the world, recognize the _Portrait of Chairman Mao._ Face it, now. Wouldn’t you? How many folks in Beijing would recognize the _Mona Lisa,_ let alone the _Birth of Adam_ or _The Last Supper_? They’re probably more familiar with Ronald McDonald. [/QUOTE] Concidering the sheer number of chinese people, that would make a good suggestion. The question is though, if they really concider it a “painting” as such or a statement of the regime. It has obviously been created for a political purpose, compared to the other paintings mentioned in this thread. And you may call it biased, but the religious topic aside (and a majority of the mentioned pictures in this thread, though western art, are not displaying religious motives), I believe the canon of classical western art \*is \* pretty well known universally. Feel free to disprove me on that. You have a good point though, because there is certainly a lack of paintings from other parts of the world, apart from The Great Wave (which happens to be one of my favorites). Are we blind to other regions of the world? ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/55 "2007-06-29T15:49:02Z")
Considering that over 1/6th (over 1 billion) of the world’s population is Catholic, I would say that the Last Supper is a contender. Not to mention of course all the other Christian religions that would be familiar with this iconic painting. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/56 "2007-06-29T18:09:21Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] My immediate thought, after _The Scream_, was [this one](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luncheon_of_the_Boating_Party). But as nobody else seems to have mentioned it, I guess it’s not in the running. [/QUOTE] I have a print of that in my living room. I love it. My art text book calls this painting: [Oath of the Horatii](http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/CoreArt/art/neocl_dav_oath.html) the most recognized work of the 19th Century. I had never seen it before, so I’m skeptical of the claim. My vote is for Amercian Gothic. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/57 "2007-07-02T01:26:28Z")
[QUOTE=Selkie] My first thought was “American Gothic” but on further reflection, I have to go with Warner Sallman’s [“Head of Christ.”](http://www.warnersallman.com) [/QUOTE] We may have a winner. According to the latest issue of Newsweek: > [@](#): > > Walter Sallman’s 1940 oil painting “The Head of Christ” is believed to be the most reproduced religious piece of art. It’s been copied a billion times, if you include lamps, clocks and calendars. A _billion_ times. And I expect Sallman didn’t get royalties from most of them. Or else he’d be the richest artist ever. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/58 "2007-07-02T01:47:55Z")
Oh, and I forgot that Maxfield Parrish graced a lot of American walls before Rockwell and Wyeth came along. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/59 "2007-07-02T01:47:52Z")
There was a time when Christina’s World hung behind a lot of couches. Older Americans might also pick one of the Four Freedoms by Norman Rockwell, most likely Freedom From Want with the turkey dinner. ---
**Author:** ![shootermcqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@shootermcqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shootermcqueen)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656/60 "2007-07-02T06:26:07Z")
What if you were to impose the following rules: 1. Can be any artpiece 2. Must correctly name Artiste and Piece Would would you expect to be the top three? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-second-most-famous-painting-in-the-world/409656.md?page=4)