Munch did a lot of Screams just as Warhol did a lot of soup cans. They would be better considered as famous painting series.
Maybe in Britain this is true, but it’s little known here. I think it is on some kind of beer label or something there. Rembrandt’s Syndics of the Clothmakers’ Guild (which is on Dutch Masters’ cigar boxes) would be vastly more famous in the US.
I think a lot of people would recognize The Scream from pop culture redeployments but couldn’t name the artist.
I think the Birth of Adam from the Sistine Ceiling’s a good thought.
Gainesborough USED to be ubiquitous, but few under 35 know or care, I suspect. Same with the Syndics and Whistler and Hals. I think the Hokusai is increasingly familiar but few could name him. Meanwhile everyone knows Picasso’s name but not as many could connect Guernica with it.
Ah, how about the Night Watch? I mean, The Officers and Men of the Kloeveniers-Doelen Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruijtenburgh Preparing to March.
Here’s one person’s attempt to name the nine most famous by American standards.
1 MONA LISA
2 THE LAST SUPPER
3 THE BIRTH OF VENUS
4 AMERICAN GOTHIC
5 THE SCREAM
6 SUNDAY AFTERNOON ON THE ISLAND OF LA GRANDE JATTE
7 THE STARRY NIGHT
8 THE GREAT WAVE OF KANAGAWA
9 ARRANGEMENT IN BLACK AND GREY, PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST’S MOTHER
edit: I don’t recognize The Great Wave at all.
That’s a good point, but would the average person asked to “name a famous painting” care about the distinction? I’d argue that Warhol’s soup cans and Marilyns and Munch’s Screams deserve mention on the list because, in the popular mind (which is what I’m curious about), they’re “a painting.”
pulykamell, American Gothic and La Grande Jatte are forehead-slappers for me – shoulda thought of 'em.
I would have added Nighthawks
I think both “American Gothic” and “Arrangement in…” are mostly popular with the American audience. I haven’t had any major exposition to either.
I believe Dali’s "Persistence of memory"or Monet’s water lillies would both do in a European poll.
That’s the Hokusai piece mentioned in post #18. It’s part of his Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji, a series of paintings that are widely celebrated in the art world, but probably less familiar to most Americans.
Some might recognize it as the inspiration for Roger Zelazny’s award-wining novella, “24 Views of Mount Fuji, by Hokusai,” as explained here.
It was that story that introduced me to Hokusai.
You may be right about that. IMHO, I think in any poll of Americans those two and “Nighthawks” would come out at the top, (although I’m not sure how many people would know the actual names of the pieces. American Gothic, sure, but I suspect the others would be called “Whistler’s Mother” and “that one of the people in the diner.”) but in Europe they may not be as well known. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if more people worldwide have seen parodies of American Gothic than any other painting.
I have GOT to place my vote for
I dunno about American Gothic, either… I’ve seen threads here of “What’s the name of that painting with the farming couple?”.
Just a reminder: my question in the OP doesn’t really care whether or not they know the correct name for the painting. So “that painting with the farmer and his wife* – with the pitchfork” counts as a vote for American Gothic in my poll.
And I agree with Telemark – Nighthawks would probably be way up there on an American list.
(The cultural differences between the US and other western countries regarding this question is a really interesting sub-debate, by the way.)
*Yes, I know it’s actually the dude’s daughter.
I think it’s pretty cool that three of the American Top Ten (if we accept the addition of Nighthawks) are here in Chicago.
Still, I have to go with the Sistine Chapel as Number Two–American or world-wide. I suspect it was left off of the list posted by pulykamell only because the author didn’t consider it a single painting. But everyone knows the SC has a painted ceiling, everyone knows Michelangelo did it, and absolutely everybody recognizes the picture of God–the Onion uses it every time they put God in a story!
Among historical images, it strikes me that Washington crossing the Delaware and Napoleon on his rearing horse have pretty high recognition.
That’s my vote.
My first thought was “American Gothic” but on further reflection, I have to go with Warner Sallman’s “Head of Christ.”
Clearly this is a minority opinion, but if you discount The Scream as being a series, I’d go with Magritte’s Son of Man , or Guy with a Granny Smith Apple in Front of His Face .
Worldwide? I doubt it. I have a whole book of nothing but parodies of the Mona Lisa.
Is that the actual name of the painting? Cause if so, then I like it a LOT more. 
If the *Mona Lisa * is the most famous painting in the world then the second most famous painting would…
…a group of tourst walks into the Lourve and sees the Mona Lisa. They stop and look at the painting. But before they move on their eyes are drawn to the painting to the right (not to the left, to the right). Whatever painting that is, that is the second most famous painting in the world.
Maybe art wasn’t meant to be subjected to such a science. How can any other painting compare to the Mona Lisa?
Googling “American Gothic parody” comes up with a tons of different hits, so that seems to be a big market for sure. But for worldwide exposure, I still think different variations of The Scream and the God giving life to Adam piece are more common (where I grew up, there was a MacDonald’s restaurant with a wall painting of God giving Adam a french fry or something to that order).
And as for iconic pictures, we mustn’t forget Escher’s dwindling staircases. At least for the “Oh, it’s that one!”-category.