Top 10 Most Famous Artworks in the World

Michelangelo's 'The Creation of Adam' is yet another masterpiece by the renowned artist, painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. Created between 1508 and 1512, the fresco depicts a biblical scene where God gives life to the first man, Adam.

Part of a larger set of works on the chapel ceiling, this painting features a complex and symbolic theme from the Bible. The almost-touching hands of God and Adam have become a symbol of humanism, representing the divine gift of life and the connection between mankind and the Creator.

'The Creation of Adam' tells the story of how God created Adam, the first human being, giving him a body but leaving out the soul and intellect. In the painting, a cloth shaped like a human brain contains an image of a young woman and children, symbolizing the divine gifts of intellect, soul, love, and continuity of life. This represents a time when humanity was still pure, faithful, and innately good, embodying the beauty bestowed by God.

The Thinker, the iconic sculpture by 19th-century French artist Auguste Rodin, stands proudly at the Rodin Museum in Paris, right at the entrance. Originally created in Paris, several copies of this famous statue are displayed in museums around the world, including one at Rodin's tomb, as per his will.

The figure of a man with his chin resting on his hand, hunched over in deep contemplation, embodies an intense inner struggle. The strength of this sculpture lies in its powerful depiction of the emotional turmoil contained within the figure's form. The muscular tension and the furrowed posture express the depth of the subject's mental anguish.

What is the thinker contemplating? Perhaps only the artist, Rodin, truly knows the secret behind one of his most enigmatic works. According to Le Figaro, the statue was originally titled 'The Poet' and was commissioned for the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris, to be placed above a grand doorway. It was intended to represent Dante, contemplating the fate of the damned souls in his 'Divine Comedy.' However, the figure, later renamed 'The Thinker,' never made it to the door of hell as originally planned. The statue, which stands at 71.5 cm tall, was completed between 1880 and 1882 and was first displayed in Copenhagen in 1888. In 1906, a larger version of the statue was gifted to the city of Paris, to be placed at the Pantheon. The unveiling of 'The Thinker' sparked significant debate in French public opinion.

The widespread fame of this sculpture explains why, when visiting Paris, tourists not only flock to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa but also seek out this powerful image of intellectual struggle. 'The Thinker' is a life-sized bronze statue by Auguste Rodin, showing a nude man resting his chin on his hand in deep thought. His entire body twists in tension, depicting an intense philosophical battle. The image of 'The Thinker' has come to represent the essence of philosophical contemplation.

In a letter to Emile Bernard in April 1888, Van Gogh expressed his desire to capture the night sky in a painting, asking whether he could achieve this through the style of the Impressionist painters. In September 1888, before his breakdown and hospitalization in December, he painted 'Starry Night Over the Rhône,' a depiction of the river at night illuminated by gas lamps.

In May 1889, Van Gogh entered the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy, where he spent the next year. Despite suffering from intermittent episodes, he continued to paint prolifically. Inspired by the view from his room, he created 'Starry Night' in June 1889. Unlike his earlier 'Starry Night Over the Rhône,' this version was painted from memory during the day. By mid-September 1889, after a particularly severe crisis lasting from July to August, he decided to include 'Starry Night' in a shipment of works he was sending to his brother Theo in Paris. To save on shipping costs, he kept three paintings, including 'Starry Night,' which were sent in the next batch. When Theo didn't immediately respond upon receiving the paintings, Vincent followed up and finally received his brother's feedback on the piece.

Starry Night (Dutch: De sterrennacht) is a painting by the Dutch Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh, created in June 1889. It depicts the view from the window of his asylum room in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Southern France, at night, though it was painted from memory during the day. 'Starry Night' is part of the collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, acquired in 1941 as part of the Lillie P. Bliss collection. This painting is one of Van Gogh's most famous works, marking a pivotal moment in his artistic journey toward greater creative freedom.

The Scream (Norwegian: Skrik) refers to one of four versions of this iconic work by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, created between 1893 and 1910. The paintings all depict a figure filled with despair and anxiety, contrasted against a turbulent sky. Rather than focusing on visual accuracy, Munch aimed to express raw, intense emotion. The distorted, unbalanced lines, exaggerated strokes, and vibrant, almost jarring colors serve to convey a sense of emotional upheaval. The landscape in the background represents the city of Oslofjord, viewed from Ekeberg, Oslo.

Edvard Munch produced four versions of 'The Scream' in various mediums. The National Gallery of Norway in Oslo houses one of the tempera paintings from 1893 (shown on the right). The Munch Museum holds another version from 1910 and a pastel version. The fourth version, a pastel from 1895, was sold at an auction for $119.9 million in 2012, making it the highest-selling artwork ever at the time. Another piece by Paul Cézanne, 'The Card Players,' was sold privately in 2011 for over $250 million.

'The Scream' has also been the target of art thieves. In 1994, the version held by the National Gallery in Oslo was stolen but recovered months later. In 2004, two paintings, 'The Scream' and 'Madonna,' were stolen from the Munch Museum, only to be recovered two years later.

Aphrodite of Milo is an ancient Greek sculpture, believed to have been crafted around 130–100 BC, with the identity of its artist still unknown. The statue depicts Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. It was discovered in 1820 on the Greek island of Milo, though its arms and part of the base are missing. It is considered one of the most beautiful surviving examples of ancient Greek sculpture and is displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The statue is dated to approximately 130 BC, a late period in Greek sculpture, yet it encapsulates the classical Greek sculptural style. The exact representation of the goddess is uncertain. Most scholars believe it shows Venus Victrix holding a golden apple, referencing the myth of Paris of Troy (see also the Judgment of Paris). This could also explain the wordplay with the name of the island of Milos, which means "apple" in Greek. A fragment of an arm holding the apple was found near the statue, and is believed to be part of the original sculpture. Although many attempts to restore the original appearance of the statue have been made since its discovery, none have been entirely successful. A sketch by Adolf Furtwängler proposing a restoration of the original form can be found in a publication by Kousser.

The Persistence of Memory (original title in Catalan: La persistència de la memòria, in English: The Persistence of Memory) is a renowned oil painting by the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, created in 1931. It was first displayed at Julien Levy's gallery in 1932 and was later acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 1934.

This iconic surrealist work depicts melting pocket watches, symbolizing Dalí's exploration of the concepts of "softness" and "hardness," which were central concerns for contemporary artists. Art historian Dawn Adès writes that the clocks are an ambiguous representation of Einstein's theory of relativity, embodying the surrealist view of the collapse of fixed concepts within a stable universe. However, Dalí himself clarified in a conversation with chemist Ilya Prigogine that the inspiration for the melting clocks came not from relativity theory but from the sight of a piece of melting Camembert cheese under the sun.

The Discus Thrower of Myron is a classical masterpiece from ancient Greece, capturing the image of an athlete in the perfect moment of executing a discus throw. The balanced proportions of his muscles and his intense focus convey the tension of an arrow drawn on a bowstring, ready to be released.

Approximately 2,500 years ago, a cultural revolution unfolded in ancient Greece. Democracy was born in Athens, the first works of tragedy and comedy were written, and sculptures began to reflect a more lifelike accuracy than ever before.

One striking feature of these sculptures is that most were crafted in the nude, a concept we now take for granted. However, at the time of their creation, it was a bold defiance of a significant taboo. The Discus Thrower stands as one of the most renowned marble replicas, closely matching the proportions of the original bronze masterpiece by the sculptor Myron from the 5th century BCE. This sculpture gained immense fame in the ancient world. Roman critics, in a work titled *Philopseudes*, referenced Myron, with a dialogue between characters Tychiades and Pholocles stating: “The discus thrower portrays a young male athlete, his perfect physique frozen in the act of throwing his discus. Despite being in the middle of a strenuous action, his face and body are unnervingly calm and relaxed.”

Today, the sculpture is displayed at the Palazzo Massimo in the National Museum of Rome, dating back to the 2nd century and serving as a replacement for the original statue. Nearby, another version with a missing head, discovered on Esquiline Hill in 1781, was sent to Germany in the late 1930s and returned to Rome in 1948.

No masterpiece is more deserving of the top spot than Leonardo da Vinci's iconic Mona Lisa. This oil painting portrays Mona Lisa, the wife of a wealthy silk merchant from Florence, Italy. It is believed that Leonardo began working on this portrait in 1503.

The painting is a half-length portrait of a woman with a famously enigmatic expression. The ambiguity in her facial features, the unusual composition with only half of her face visible, and the ethereal quality of the background and patterns contribute to the enduring allure of the artwork. Perhaps the most famous painting ever stolen, the Mona Lisa was recovered and is now housed in the Louvre Museum. Few works of art have been subjected to as much care, research, myth-making, and imitation. A charcoal and graphite sketch believed to be by Leonardo of Mona Lisa is held in the Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY.

Behind this masterpiece lies a web of mysteries, such as why she lacks eyebrows, whether she is smiling or not, and the hidden codes in her gaze. The Mona Lisa's mysterious and ambiguous demeanor has sparked centuries of analysis and debate among scientists, artists, and psychologists alike. The painting is preserved and displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris, attracting an estimated 6 million visitors annually.

As a true genius of Italy, Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519) gifted the world with remarkable masterpieces, many of which still hold secrets that baffle scientists and researchers to this day. His painting The Last Supper carries a peculiar story. The faces of both Jesus Christ and Judas (one of the twelve apostles, later the betrayer) were modeled from the same person.

Why did Leonardo depict both a 'saint' and a 'sinner' through the same individual? The tale begins when da Vinci started the work in 1495 and completed it in 1498. After painting the face of Jesus, he spent considerable time searching for the right model for Judas. He wanted someone who could portray the malice and deceit of the man who would betray Christ. Remarkably, the model he chose for Judas was the same person he had used for Jesus just a few years earlier. This odd coincidence seems to suggest that while human nature is inherently good, circumstances and choices can lead some to stray from that path and embrace evil.

The Statue of David is a masterpiece sculpted by Michelangelo between 1501 and 1504, a pinnacle of Renaissance art and one of his two greatest sculptures, alongside the Pietà. David's statue is widely regarded as the most recognized sculpture in art history. The figure has long symbolized the beauty of youth and human strength.

During the Renaissance, small genitalia were seen as a sign of beauty, as large genitalia were associated with wild animals. Hence, David's genitals were intentionally sculpted to reflect the ideals of human beauty of that time. The marble statue stands at 4.34 meters and depicts the Biblical King David at the moment he chooses to face Goliath. It became a symbol of the Republic of Florence, a city-state threatened by powerful rival nations. The unveiling of the statue took place on September 8, 1504. One enduring mystery that remains unanswered by scientists is why David is depicted uncircumcised, despite being a Jewish king, for whom circumcision was a common practice. Scholars suggest this was because Michelangelo followed the style of ancient Greek sculpture, where circumcision was not commonly depicted.