# The art of the world will be destroyed. You can only save 10 items. Which ones? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** arts-crafts\ **Created:** [March 9, 2022, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747 "2022-03-09T12:33:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/1 "2022-03-09T12:33:23Z")
In the spirit of “desert-island movies”, what if the mass of people lost all interest in artworks and let them deteriorate or even discarded them? You get to save 10 items - without regard to practicality. (If you want to nominate the Statue of Liberty - fine!) Please, no items such as “the Pontiac GTO”. Just off of the top of my head: Guernica by Pablo Picasso The Nefertiti Bust Water Lilies by Claude Monet The Pieta by Michelangelo The Rose Window (stained glass) from the Strasbourg Cathedral ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/2 "2022-03-09T12:51:25Z")
I have a sweater box with artwork my kids did in school. Losing that would mean more to me than losing art that strangers produced. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/3 "2022-03-09T13:20:49Z")
I’ll be the boring and predictable person and open with: **The Starry Night** by Van Gogh. **Relativity** by Escher **The Great Wave** by Hokusai The **Diana** statue at the Met. I want to save a Monet, have to figure out which. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/4 "2022-03-09T13:28:05Z")
Chuck Berry’s Greatest Hits. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/5 "2022-03-09T13:31:58Z")
Winged Victory Any version of van Gogh’s Sunflowers. I believe there are 4? Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/6 "2022-03-09T14:22:10Z")
My top 6, generally listed from most to least well known: [‘The Scream’, Edvard Munch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scream#/media/File:Edvard_Munch,_1893,_The_Scream,_oil,_tempera_and_pastel_on_cardboard,_91_x_73_cm,_National_Gallery_of_Norway.jpg) [‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’, Hieronymus Bosch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights#/media/File:The_Garden_of_earthly_delights.jpg) [‘Saturn Devouring His Son’, Francisco Goya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Devouring_His_Son#/media/File:Francisco_de_Goya,_Saturno_devorando_a_su_hijo_(1819-1823).jpg) [‘Christ’s Entry Into Brussels’, James Ensor](https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/christ-s-entry-into-brussels-in-1889/IAGzNorm2VRqjA?hl=en) [‘Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X’, Francis Bacon (one of a series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Study_after_Vel%C3%A1zquez%27s_Portrait_of_Pope_Innocent_X#/media/File:Study_after_Velazquez's_Portrait_of_Pope_Innocent_X.jpg) [‘Death on a Pale Horse’, Albert Pinkham Ryder](https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/03/21/pale-horse-pale-rider-a-story-of-the-1918-flu-pandemic/) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/7 "2022-03-09T14:54:38Z")
[Cloud Gate](https://www.choosechicago.com/articles/tours-and-attractions/the-bean-chicago/). That’s it for now. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/8 "2022-03-09T15:19:08Z")
I’ll take full advantage of “without regard to practicality”. 1. [Lascaux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux). 2. [King Tut’s Tomb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Tutankhamun). 3. [Necropolis of Qin Shi Huang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_the_First_Qin_Emperor). 4. [Alhambra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra). 5. [Geumsamsa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geumsansa). 6. [Statue of Liberty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty). 7. [Sagrada Família](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia). ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/9 "2022-03-09T15:40:16Z")
Is music included? If so, how about a book (or memory device) with all of Bach. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/10 "2022-03-09T15:53:47Z")
It certainly looks to me like the OP meant visual art (the kind of things you study in the Art Department and not some other department like the Music Department). What’s not clear to me is whether the OP is hypothesizing that just the originals are destroyed (but we still have reproductions, photos, etc.), or whether all memory of the artworks is completely wiped out. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/11 "2022-03-09T16:11:14Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > Guernica by Pablo Picasso This is the only painting I have ever seen that I would say HAS to be seen in person to truly appreciate. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/12 "2022-03-09T17:25:47Z")
1. “Mona Lisa” by da Vinci 2. Michelangelo’s “David” 3. “the Birth of venus” by Boticelli 4. The Great Sphinx of Gaza 5. The painting of Henry the Eighth holding a turkey leg 6. Lascaux cave paintings 7. Mount Rushmore . ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/13 "2022-03-09T19:36:02Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > It certainly looks to me like the OP meant visual art (the kind of things you study in the Art Department and not some other department like the Music Department). > > What’s not clear to me is whether the OP is hypothesizing that just the originals are destroyed (but we still have reproductions, photos, etc.), or whether all memory of the artworks is completely wiped out. Yes, that’s what I was thinking of. On the other hand trying to limit a discussion on these boards can be like the proverbial “herding cats”. So have at it. The originals would be left to deteriorate, or even trashed. And since (in this brave new society) there would be little interest in preserving them - reproductions would be saved by accident, if at all. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/14 "2022-03-10T10:03:18Z")
[Michael Jackson and Bubbles](https://www.thebroad.org/art/jeff-koons/michael-jackson-and-bubbles) [A Bold Bluff](https://www.wikiart.org/en/cassius-marcellus-coolidge/a-bold-bluff-1903) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/15 "2022-03-10T10:46:59Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > This [“Guernica,” by Pablo Picasso] is the only painting I have ever seen that I would say HAS to be seen in person to truly appreciate. Yes, and I fully agree. I saw it in New York in 1979, before it was returned to Spain. It is huge, and it is overwhelming, and it makes a statement. No reproduction in a coffee-table book can ever do it justice. I don’t know what other nine items I’d save, but one would have to be a recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Okay, another would be Handel’s “Messiah.” Okay, seven to go. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/16 "2022-03-10T11:24:42Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > Guernica by Pablo Picasso > The Nefertiti Bust > Water Lilies by Claude Monet > The Pieta by Michelangelo > The Rose Window (stained glass) from the Strasbourg Cathedral All but one is western. Interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/17 "2022-03-10T11:54:55Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > This is the only painting I have ever seen that I would say HAS to be seen in person to truly appreciate. I think to have a valid opinion on any work of art, you _have_ to experience it first hand. Any painting, any sculpture, _anything_. Experiencing them second hand is like having someone describing a cake to you through words and pictures and you deciding that you do or don’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/18 "2022-03-10T13:35:58Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I think to have a valid opinion on any work of art, you _have_ to experience it first hand. Any painting, any sculpture, _anything_ . Experiencing them second hand is like having someone describing a cake to you through words and pictures and you deciding that you do or don’t like it. I heard this said about Rothko paintings-- those sloppily-painted colored rectangles: “you have to see a Rothko in person! The luminosity of the colors is amazing!” I’ve seen a Rothko or two in person. I still don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/19 "2022-03-10T13:37:54Z")
I’ve seen them in person at the Guggenheim. They’re the worst. Rothko and art like Rothko is terrible and to me at least insulting. But hey, they did make me feel something… Anger ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/20 "2022-03-10T13:50:55Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I heard this said about Rothko paintings-- those sloppily-painted colored rectangles: “you have to see a Rothko in person! The luminosity of the colors is amazing!” > > I’ve seen a Rothko or two in person. I still don’t get it. Sure, though I was careful to say that you need to have seen them in order for you to form a _valid_ opinion, not that seeing them in person guarantees a _positive_ reaction. I personally dislike any implication that someone should be _expected_ to react in any given way towards a work of art. Art is personal, emotional response is intimately personal. Oh, and I confess that some of the most deeply moving reactions I have ever had were towards the unexpected, coming to them fresh and unknown, completely divorced from anyone else’s thoughts, opinions and judgements. Also by having seen famous works in the flesh that were so, so much greater than I had anticipated. Van Gogh’s “sunflowers” paintings are a great case in point. Their 3d nature and agricultural construction is amazing to witness at first hand and can never come across either in print or description. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747.md?page=2)