# What's the second most \*famous\* painting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 30, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822 "2018-07-30T18:09:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/61 "2018-07-31T05:05:20Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It was once famous enough [to show up in Mad Magazine](https://www.madmagazine.com/blog/2014/12/12/don-martin-the-blue-boy). (I thought they did an Alfred E. Neumann version, too, but I can’t find it. Found [this](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/393009504973297300/) recent one, though.) [Other parodies are thick on the ground](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22blue+boy%22+parody&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjLxo-GpsjcAhXJ5oMKHQVzDYwQsAQIDQ). Also because it was “famous” in another era (when I was growing up). That first parody is from 1974, but most of the references I remember were in TV shows in the 50s and 60s. It was used as the epitome of stuffy old representational art. You might have heard references to it on Our Miss Brooks or The Lucy Show (I have someone in my head saying “Gainsborough?” in Gale Gordon’s plummy voice). ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/62 "2018-07-31T06:10:02Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Now that we covered the obvious candidates, the thread will continue with people naming obscure paintings to signal their status as art cognoscenti… > > The only one mentioned so far that surprised me is _American Gothic_. I vaguely knew of the work; I could not have named the artist. I was born in the U.K., I think it must be much more well known in the U.S. than elsewhere in the world. _Much_ more well known in the U.S. I also live outside the U.S. but grew up with the original Masterpiece board game that used paintings on display at the National Gallery in London. A subsequent edition features paintings on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. Good candidates all, multiple Van Goghs, and another painting much more well-know in the U.S.: Edward Hopper’s _Nighthawks_ (often seen as Gottfried Helnwein’s _Boulevard of Broken Dreams._) I’m also O.K. with “people naming obscure paintings to signal their status as art cognoscenti…” since that’s not much different than the game being played between the rich, the museums, and the art dealers that manufactures this fame and value. Win-win-win! Edit: forgot to signal! Duchamp, Marcel - Paysage fautif (1946) ---
**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:** [July 31, 2018, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/63 "2018-07-31T06:25:34Z")
What’s that one of the people in the diner? [Nighthawks by Edward Hopper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nighthawks). I don’t even know why it gets parodied so often, I don’t like it all that much, but I see it a lot. ETA: Oh, **eunoia** just mentioned it. D’oh! ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/64 "2018-07-31T07:23:05Z")
One complication is that fame fluctuates. Gainsborough’s _Blue Boy_ would have been a decent contender in the 1920s but its fame has since mostly faded. Similarly, one painting that no one has yet mentioned which is currently famous for much the same reason is Leonardo’s _Salvator Mundi_. In both cases, it wasn’t merely that they had been sold for record-breaking prices; it was that the prices paid seemed remarkable even in comparison to other very expensive paintings. The fame of the _Salvator Mundi_ will doubtless fade in due course. Also, in the cases of _The Scream_, _Sunflowers_ and _Napoleon Crossing the Alps_, there is the complication that the artist produced multiple versions. That most people don’t realise this underlies how famous they are merely as decontextualised images. > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > It’s true that The Mona Lisa is not very impressive when you see it in person. However, as someone pointed out to me, one time when it was stolen, it was cut from the frame, and lost 2-3" around the edges. So it’s smaller now than it originally was. Whoever told you that was talking nonsense. The _Mona Lisa_ is painted on panel, so to be ‘cut from the frame’ would have needed a saw! When Vicenzo Peruggia stole it in 1911 he actually took the frame as well, but having lifted the panel from it, then discarded the frame as he fled. Also, art historians disagree about whether the panel has ever been cut down. That’s because some of the many early copies show more of the columns. But even if that argument is accepted - and, as I say, many experts don’t do so - those early copies equally demonstrate that the original was only ever slightly bigger. The losses would be a matter of millimetres rather than inches. As for the answer to the OP, I would say that it is probably _The Last Supper_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/65 "2018-07-31T12:59:18Z")
Certainly _The Problem we all Live With_ is Rockwell’s most important painting, and it might be his greatest, but I doubt it’s his most famous. That _might_ be his self-portrait in front of the canvass, or possibly the boy sitting at the soda counter. Another one that you see a lot of pieces of, but which nobody (probably including the artist) is familiar with all of, is Bosch’s [The Garden of Earthly Delights](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights#/media/File:El_jard%C3%ADn_de_las_Delicias,_de_El_Bosco.jpg). As an aside, does anyone else find that this question is made more difficult by their local museum? The Cleveland Museum of Art is a very fine museum, but it’s not even close to “the best museum in the country” sort of level. So there are a number of paintings there that I think probably seem more famous to me than they actually are. Jacques-Louis David’s [Cupid and Psyche](https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/d/david_j/5/503david.html), anyone? John Linnell’s [The Eve of the Deluge](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27Noah,_The_Eve_of_the_Deluge%27_by_John_Linnell,_1848,.JPG)? OK, probably not. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2018, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/66 "2018-07-31T13:13:04Z")
Here are a couple of other very famous ones that I’m not sure have been mentioned yet. [The Son Of Man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Son_of_Man) and [The Treachery Of Images](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treachery_of_Images) both by Magritte ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/67 "2018-07-31T13:19:19Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > Las Meninas has a disadvantage in a way - without its full range of complex detail, the whole thing is lost. Tell that to all the people who’ve copied the Infanta time and again and again, starting with Picasso. I totally agree with you, mind you, but the Infanta should still be getting “image rights”\* despite being dead all these years. - hope that’s actually the right expression. What you get paid for letting people use your likeness for commercial purposes. > [@Chronos](#): > > Would any of Picasso’s be contenders? I’m thinking either [Three Musicians](https://www.pablopicasso.org/images/paintings/three-musicians.jpg) or [Don Quixote](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote_(Picasso)). Guernica. Some people may even remember its official name is _Los horrores de la guerra_, The Horrors of War or The Horrors War Brings. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/68 "2018-07-31T13:46:09Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > Fifty years ago, I’d have said “Whistler’s Mother” in the US. Not because everyone knew what it looked like, but the name was used a lot in jokes. That was the painting that popped into my head on reading the thread title. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/69 "2018-07-31T14:39:32Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Guernica. Some people may even remember its official name is _Los horrores de la guerra_, The Horrors of War or The Horrors War Brings. Weirdly, on reading the thread title, Guernica was my first thought. It’s pretty obviously wrong, there’s no way it’s more famous than Scream or Making of Adam, but it’s what popped into my head. It may be the most famous painting from a Spanish painter, though (I still think Meninas is nowhere in the running). ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/70 "2018-07-31T14:46:24Z")
Not a painting, but an artwork that is instantly recognizable: Albrecht Durer’s _Praying Hands_. Somewhere in time it became clip art and is now ubiquitous. Church bulletins, news articles, tee-shirts, you name it. If prayer is the subject, this image will show up. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Albrecht\_D%C3%BCrer\_-\_Praying\_Hands,_1508_-\_Google\_Art\_Project.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_Praying_Hands,_1508_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/71 "2018-07-31T15:07:20Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Told you this would happen. Dogs Playing Poker is not obscure. It is more well known than many paintings mentioned in the thread. ---
**Author:** ![pseudograph](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pseudograph/32/19768_2.png) [@pseudograph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudograph)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/72 "2018-07-31T15:23:59Z")
Pretty sure **Riemann** was making a joke regarding art cognoscenti, not a statement regarding the obscurity of the painting. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2018, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/73 "2018-07-31T15:26:27Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Dogs Playing Poker is not obscure. It is more well known than many paintings mentioned in the thread. Yeah, I wasn’t sure if his comment was joking or not. But in case it’s serious, “Dogs Playing Poker” may very well be one of the most famous paintings for an American who has absolutely no art history knowledge, as it is (or at least was) ubiquitous kitsch art. I don’t know if there is one specific “dogs playing poker,” though, or if it’s a whole series of similar images. (Actually, looking online, there appear to be eighteen versions of it from 1894-1910.) ---
**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:** [July 31, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/74 "2018-07-31T15:31:33Z")
If I had _Mona Lisa_ hanging in my living-room, I’d want _Starry Night_ in my dining-room. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/75 "2018-07-31T15:37:00Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I think it’s probably The Last Supper, and The Scream is #3. > > It’s true that The Mona Lisa is not very impressive when you see it in person. However, as someone pointed out to me, one time when it was stolen, it was cut from the frame, and lost 2-3" around the edges. So it’s smaller now than it originally was. The Scream was the first painting I thought of, but The Last Supper is probably the correct answer. Cut from its frame? The Mona Lisa isn’t a canvas, it’s painted on a plank of poplar. That’s one reason why it’s kept in temperature- and humidity-controlled conditions, variations in either can make the wood swell or shrink and crack the paint. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/76 "2018-07-31T15:37:20Z")
I thought there was some humor in **Riemann** ’s statement but it is quite well known. Nighthawks was also mentioned, another image well known beyond the fine art crowd, although not so many may even recognize the painting’s title. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/77 "2018-07-31T15:45:45Z")
I don’t know what would win a “name a painting other than the _Mona Lisa_” contest, but _The Last Supper_ is probably the only other painting pretty much anybody could correctly name if they saw it. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/78 "2018-07-31T15:57:36Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > I don’t know what would win a “name a painting other than the _Mona Lisa_” contest, but _The Last Supper_ is probably the only other painting pretty much anybody could correctly name if they saw it. I am so surprised at the votes for The Last Supper. I encounter references to it much less often than I encounter references to some of the others mentioned. Even if we just look at religious artwork, The Creation of Adam seems much better-known. But this may get to the question of what constitutes fame: if we’re going by ability to name the painting, The Last Supper may win, just because its name is so straightforward. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/79 "2018-07-31T15:59:48Z")
_The Hands Resist Him_? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822/80 "2018-07-31T16:14:20Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > I don’t know what would win a “name a painting other than the _Mona Lisa_” contest, but _The Last Supper_ is probably the only other painting pretty much anybody could correctly name if they saw it. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I am so surprised at the votes for The Last Supper. I encounter references to it much less often than I encounter references to some of the others mentioned. Even if we just look at religious artwork, The Creation of Adam seems much better-known. > > But this may get to the question of what constitutes fame: if we’re going by ability to name the painting, The Last Supper may win, just because its name is so straightforward. Agreed. I think _Creation Of Adam_ is so iconic that it would likely win if fame were defined as describe the most famous painting you know after _Mona Lisa_". [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-second-most-famous-painting/818822.md?page=5)