Here is a Guardian list, via CrookedTimber. It is not bad, but surely Giotto’s Padua murals (this panel is clearer) should be added, Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tuyp is far better than his Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer, and how about Thomas Eakins’s The Gross Clinic? I am not anti-Picasso but Guernica is in my view overrated. How about this one? El Greco’s Toledo picture is another contender.
Try this list too. Your thoughts?
At least your second list has some Goya – the Guardian list had none. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is worth seeing,
though of course it’s a very traditional choice.
Personal favorites of mine include Caravaggio’s ‘The Calling Of Saint Matthew’ and Van Gogh’s ‘Old Shoes’, but I’m not sure
I’d really recommend them as must-sees for everyone… especially the shoes.
I second Crooked Timber’s nomination of the Monets at Orangerie and Martin’s nomination of the Ravenna mosaics.
Rembrandt’s “Aristotle” is the only painting I’ve ever really had any desire to see in person. Mostly because of “Picture This” by Joseph Heller, which features the painting. For anyone who hasn’t read it, “Picture This” is, as far as I’m concerned, the greatest work of literature ever written in English.
I really like Chuck Close, and I think much of his work needs to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. I’m not saying his name should be wedged in there between Van Gogh and Da Vinci, but I like him.
One can argue over, quibble with, any such list ad nauseam. So I won’t.
I will say however that in 2005 I saw at long last the Giotto works in Padua. If you have been there before they were “restored,” you are in for quite a surprise. They are now in what can best be described as a part-2001, part-Disney, “clean room” that is accessed through multiple air locks. Visits are rationed and strictly time-limited. While this may be good, or even necessary, for the health of the paintings, it is antithetical to appreciating the wonder of these works. My recommendation if you are at all serious, book two visits at least.
For visitors to Italy, the “discovery” for me on this last trip were the Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna. As they say in the Michelin guide, “worth a detour.”
I agree about Guernica.
I always thought that I’d want to see “Persistence of Memory” by Dali. You know…sagging clocks and what not. It was supposed to be one of the four most influential paintings of the last 200 years. …what a disappointment that it was the size of a piece of notebook paper. I dunno…in my mind, great art is sort of grand too.
If you’re not actively dying, these are worth getting on a plane for:
Rembrandt, Hendrickje Bathing in a River
Rubens, The Massacre of the Innocents
Henri Rousseau, The Dream
Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night
Katsushika Hokusai, Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji
Diego Velazquez, Las Meninas
Delacroix, The Death of Sardanapalus
Diego Rivera , Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central
Diego Rivera Museo Mural, Ciudad de México
José Clemente Orozco, El Hombre del Fuego, Instituto Cultural Cabañas
There is the beer, the chocolate and … Fouquet to enjoy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Fouquet
Why is it that the eastern side of the globe is forgotten when disucussing
art? ?There are Chinese,Indonesian,Japanese, African and Indian works of art too’well worth seeing before you die’.
Most famous paintings aren’t all that much better in person than in fine reproductions. The Louvre, however, is defintitely worth visiting, not for the Mona Lisa, but for the many enormously large masterpieces like Gericault’s Wreck of the Medusa that can’t be adequately reproduced in a coffe table books.
For the one work of art that must be seen in person since reproductions, even life-sized ones, don’t do it justice, I’d nominate Michelangelo’s David. It’s amazing.
Good lord–how can no one have mentioned Turner?
Check out the massive harbor scene on display in the main gallery at the Frick: if you look directly into the sun, your eyes will burn just a bit.
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