17. School of Athens by Raphael
Also known as Scuola di Atene, this famous Italian fresco that ranks 17th in our list of most famous paintings in the world is found at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. Renaissance artist Raphael worked on this from 1509 to 1511. It depicted the gathering of the greatest philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists discussing and exchanging insights. Philosophers Plato (left) and Aristotle (right) are seen in the middle of the painting. Pythagoras, Ptolemy, Euclid, and Zoroaster are also seen in the magnificent fresco.
School of Athens is one of the four frescoes painted by Raphael. It is one of the best examples of High Renaissance art. The fresco is Raphael’s greatest masterpiece. Since then, there have been multiple copies of the painting. One is by Anton Raphael Mengs in 1755 found at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In the US, it can be found at the University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, and Baylor University in Texas.
16. No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock
Created by American Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock, No. 5, 1948 ranks 16th in our list of most famous paintings in the world. It was done on a fiberboard eight feet high and four feet wide. It is an abstract of mainly brown, gray, white with drizzles of yellow. Pollock’s contribution to the abstract movement is his drip painting technique, and he was called Jack the Dripper because of this. This technique gave birth to “action painting.” Pollock’s masterpiece once fetched for $140 million in 2006 or $4 million per square foot.
The band The Stone Roses alluded to the painting in the song Going Down (“she looks like a painting, Jackson Pollock’s Number 5”). It was also central to the multi-awarded, 2015 movie Ex Machina wherein Nathan Bateman played by Oscar Isaac used the painting as an object lesson for Caleb Smith played by Domhanall Gleeson.
15. American Gothic by Grant Wood
This iconic painting that ranks 15th in our list of most famous paintings in the world was created in 1940 by American painter Grant Wood. American Gothic is currently housed at the Art Institute of Chicago. It was one of the most popular artworks in the 20th century. He was inspired by the Dibble House or now known as the American Gothic House. Wood asked his sister Nan and dentist Dr. McKeeby to be the models of the realistic painting. This painting paved the way for the art movement called Regionalism, depicting the beauty of rural settings.
According to his biographer, Wood tried to convey “borrowed pretentiousness” as seen in the Gothic window on a “flimsy-frame house.” This painting has been parodied many times with couples dressing up and taking pictures in front of the house. It has been featured in the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the Broadway show The Music Man, and TV show Green Acres.
