My immediate thought, after The Scream, was this one. But as nobody else seems to have mentioned it, I guess it’s not in the running.
Some of the most famous paintings in the world are in the caves at Lascaux 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’.
Yeah, I had that same thought too, including the caveat :).
Daniel
How about “Chinese Girl” by Vladimir Tretchikoff?
Apparently it was massively popular a few decades ago. I don’t recognize it at all personally.
That was ubiquitous back in the 70’s.
Sistine Chapel ceiling gets my vote.
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 is certainly a candidate because of the two little angels at the bottom.
L.H.O.O.Q. by Marcel Duchamp. Fountain might be more famous, but isn’t strictly speaking a “painting.”
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.
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.
I would think “Starry Night” would rank very highly.
Las Meninas
I would also guess something by Escher. Either the two hand drawing each other, the impossible water fountain or the crazy stairs one.
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?
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.
I have a print of that in my living room. I love it.
My art text book calls this painting: Oath of the Horatii 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.
We may have a winner. According to the latest issue of Newsweek:
A billion times.
And I expect Sallman didn’t get royalties from most of them. Or else he’d be the richest artist ever.
Oh, and I forgot that Maxfield Parrish graced a lot of American walls before Rockwell and Wyeth came along.
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.
What if you were to impose the following rules:
- Can be any artpiece
- Must correctly name Artiste and Piece
Would would you expect to be the top three?