good evening friends,
the scream hangs on the wall behind me as i type this.
Georges de la Tour, The Repentant Magdalene. Can’t really explain why.
I’m also really drawn to Piet Mondrian.
Hands down, it has to be The Giant by N.C. Wyeth.
( Second image down on that link ).
I can not get that image out of my head for very long, it is just so perfect for me.
Cartooniverse
I also have Edvard Munch’s The Scream on my wall, as well as a book of M.C. Escher’s works. I’m fondest of Escher’s Reptiles, especially the one blowing smoke.
As am I. 
View of Toledo by ‘El Greco’:
Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring”.
andygirl, have you seen the Vermeer’s at the National Gallery in D.C.? They’ve got “Lady Writing a Letter”, “Girl With a Red Hat”, and “Woman Balancing Scales”. Last time I was there, my companion was literally forced to drag me out of the room so we could go eat.
I’m partial to Roy Lichtenstein’s Drowning Girl:
http://www.postershop.com/Lichtenstein-Roy/Lichtenstein-Roy-Drowning-Girl-oversize-2801600.html
It makes me laugh every time I see it.
There’s a painting I can’t find online - it was featured in Carl Sagan’s book Pale Blue Dot. It is a watercolor painted by Greg Mort entitled “The Fabric of Space.” Imagine an unwrapped present resting on a white tablecloth. The narrow blue satin ribbon has been untied, the lid has been removed and the tissue paper carefully folded back to reveal the contents - a spiral galaxy floating in a black void.
I would love to find a copy of this!
La Cappuccina by my wife.
Christina’s World is my favorite too, but I’ve never considered it to be cliche. Why is it considered a cliche to like it?
Thanks, Eve, for starting this thread. I’ve seen a lot of great art tonight.
Probably my top favourite (can you have more than one favourite?) was already mentioned by acicadasings, View of Toledo by El Greco.
My second choice is Dream of a Sunday Afternoon at Alameda Park by Diego Rivera.
Third would have to be A Harlot’s Progress by William Hogarth, especially the first panel. Edification, titillation, and condemnation, all in one.
Just ask, and it is yours.
Lawoot, I will name my firstborn after you. (That kid is going to have a LOT of names.)
Thank you!
So, not having a one favorite painting, I’m kinda jealous of tdcat who knew instantly how to answer this question. I’ll limit myself to two, while noting some others:
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for heart-aching beauty, I’d give it to Gustav Klimt’s Beethoven Friezes, particularly this panel. I also like Mark Rothko for this reason; I find his work to be very expressive, ranging from great pain to a kind of meditative quality.
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for simplicity and just “I really like this” sans any art historical blabbering, I choose Maxfield Parrish’s * Aquamarine*.
To me, these paintings are notable because they represent something far different from what I traditionally like in art (Chicago, Rauschenberg). The Parrish and the Klimt are much more picture-y, less abstract. I guess it represents the difference between what I appreciate art-wise and what I would want to hang on my living room wall (Frida Kahlo is a good example of this, too; love her paintings, just may be too disturbing to look at daily.).
Okay, I’m gonna stop now. 
Found it. (Again…a lithograph, not a painting)
Felicien Rops; “L’Idole”.
M.C. Escher’s Hand with Reflecting Sphere
The beauty of this picture is in the mathematics.
I’m a sick individual. I like the works of Pieter Breughel the Elder and Hieronymus Bosch. It’s almost a cliche to admit to liking The Garden of Earthly Delights, but my interpretation of it is different from everyone else’s. I have to point out that this is not the title Bosch gave it – we don’t know what he called it. The earliest recorded title fr this piece s The Strawberry Plant
http://www.3dresearch.com/bosch/delight.html
I like The Suicide of Saul partly because it is so little known. These thumbnails don’t do it justice:
http://www.saskia.com/Query/Selected_Work.asp?WorkID=203
The Tower of Babel is great, and filled with details from real 16th century technology and memories of Brueghel’s trip to Rome:
http://www.postershop.com/artist/brueghela/bda1_e.htm
Probably “The Scream”.
Ack! Just one? Can’t do it, but here are just a few of my favs:
Carlos Schwabe, Death of the Gravedigger
It took me a hell of a time to find a link, but here it is:
Fixing käse’s link. Nifty painting by the way. Squish, I also really like Kandinsky’s Yellow-Red-Blue and had a print hanging in my dorm room for years during University.
Here’s a wildly random sampling of my favourites. I love the French Impressionists, especially Monet’s Impression Soleil Levant. I also love Dadaism and surrealism, but since Dali has been linked to fairly often I’ll link to Rene Magritte’s Son of Man, instead.
Canada’s Group of Seven, especially Emily Carr, Thom Thompson and Lawren Harris deserve mentioning, although I can’t cite specific examples. I really enjoy Alex Colville’s To Prince Edward Island and Horse and Train.
There are, of course, many others that’ll probably pop into my head as soon as I press submit.