Comments on: 50 works of art you should see before you die

50 works of art you should see before you die

kirkaracha — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 11:40:04 -0800

50 works of art you should see before you die, according to Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones and his readers--"probably the most learned cyber-community on the web." (Jones' personal top 20) [via; more inside]

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 11:40:53 -0800

The Guardian has a gallery of 10 of the works; here are links to all of them:

Piero della Francesca, The Baptism of Christ (1450s), National Gallery, London
Antony Gormley, The Angel of the North (1998), Gateshead
Masjid-i Shah (now Masjid-i Imam) Mosque (largely 1612-1630) Isfahan, Iran
JMW Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway (exhibited 1844), National Gallery, London
Claude Monet, Nymphéas (1914-1926), Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris
Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty (1970), Great Salt Lake, Utah
Tikal (AD300-AD869), Late Classic Maya site, Guatemala
Jackson Pollock, One: Number 31, 1950, Museum of Modern Art, New York
John Constable, The Hay Wain (1821), National Gallery, London
The Alhambra (mostly 14th century), Granada
Mark Rothko, The Rothko Chapel (paintings 1965-66; chapel opened 1971), Houston, Texas
Matthias Grünewald, The Isenheim Altarpiece (1509-1515), Musée Unterlinden, Colmar
Masaccio, The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise (c. 1427), Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence
Edvard Munch, The Scream (1893), National Gallery, Oslo
Giotto, Fresco cycle in the Scrovegni Chapel (1305-1306), Padua
Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night (1889), Museum of Modern Art, New York
Terracotta Army of the First Qin Emperor (c. 210BC), Shaanxi province, China
Sandro Botticelli, Primavera (1481-1482), Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Stonehenge (2950BC-1600BC), Salisbury Plain, UK
Limbourg brothers, Les Très Riches Heurs du Duc de Berry (1413-1416), Musée Condé, Chantilly
The Book of Kells (c. AD800), Trinity College Library, Dublin
Ishtar Gate (c. 575BC), Pergamon Museum, Berlin
Pieter Pauwel Rubens, Descent from the Cross (1611-1614), Antwerp Cathedral
Hieronymous Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights (1505-1510), Prado, Madrid
Jan van Eyck, The Madonna of Chancellor Rolin (c. 1435), Musée du Louvre, Paris
Jan Vermeer, View of Delft (c. 1660-1661), Mauritshuis, the Hague
Caravaggio, The Burial of St Lucy (1608), Museo di Palazzo Bellomo, Syracuse, Sicily
Rembrandt, Aristotle with a Bust of Homer (1654), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Francisco Goya, The Third of May 1808 (1814), Prado, Madrid
Edouard Manet, The Dead Torero (1864), National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire from Les Lauves (1904-1906), Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel ceiling and altar wall frescoes (1508-1541), Rome
Leonardo da Vinci, The Adoration of the Magi (c. 1481), Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Pablo Picasso,, Guernica (1937), Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid
Titian, Danaë (1544-1546), Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples
Raphael, The School of Athens (1510-1511), Stanza della Signatura, Vatican Palace, Rome
Parthenon Sculptures (Elgin Marbles) (c. 444BC), British Museum, London
Henri Matisse, The Dance (1910), Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Théodore Géricault, The Raft of the Medusa (1819), Louvre, Paris
Katsushika Hokusai, Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (1829-1833), series of woodblock prints, copies in major museums worldwide
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Hunters in the Snow (1565), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Ice Age paintings (about 30,000 years old) in the, Chauvet Cave, Ardèche
Richard Serra, Torqued Ellipses (1996), includes works on permanent view at the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao
Jasper Johns, Flag (1954-1955), Museum of Modern Art, New York
Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, The Annunciation (1335), Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Jean-Antoine Watteau, Gilles (1718-1719), Louvre, Paris
Hans Holbein,, The Dead Christ (1521-1522), Kunstmuseum, Basel
Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas (1656), Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
Funerary Mask of, Tutankhamun (1333BC-1323BC), Egyptian Museum, Cairo
San Rock Art, South African National Museum, Cape Town, and at open air sites.

By: blucevalo

blucevalo — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:00:46 -0800

Interesting, and many thanks for the links to the magnificent art. But I guess my feeling with lists like this is always, why stop at 50?

By: LooseFilter

LooseFilter — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:01:57 -0800

Why stop indeed, but what a great list! Thanks for the post, kirkaracha.

By: wfc123

wfc123 — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:03:33 -0800

Hmm, then why did I even bother to go here?

By: alteredcarbon

alteredcarbon — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:04:31 -0800

Great post kirkaracha. Thanks.

By: sarcasman

sarcasman — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:06:21 -0800

Yes, why stop at 50... but to see this many images of great art during work is wonderful. Thanks kirkaracha. And to add some spice: "To name the worst artist is easy; his name is Turner" -Dali.

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:14:05 -0800

"...probably the most learned cyber-community on the web." Ha. Do they have pancakes?

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:14:29 -0800

Turner gets maligned way too often. I used to slag him off too until I saw some of his work at the National Gallery in London and was converted (but tempered somewhat because I had not the fever of the convert). This is a fun list. I wish something by El Greco would have been included, there is something about the elongated bodies of his saints that I find endlessly intriguing.

By: splatta

splatta — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:15:40 -0800

Looking at the paintings and sculptures in the links is all well and good, but there's no way it actually compares to standing in front of some of these works. I never fully appreciated a Jackson Pollock until I stood in front of one. Starry Night is so much smaller than I originally would have guessed, and though I've never actually seen it, I'm pretty sure I could stare at The Adoration of the Magi for the better part of a day.

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:16:16 -0800

By the way: this is awesome. Thanks.

By: splatta

splatta — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:16:54 -0800

Whoops, hit post too early. What I was getting at is GO SEE ART IN PERSON! It's so worth it.

By: jeremy b

jeremy b — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:21:58 -0800

the whole "50 things to see before you die" ultimatum really isn't that big a gauntlet to run what with the interweb and all. We should probably mitigate such expressions...."50 things to see before you leave work today."

By: hermitosis

hermitosis — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:23:02 -0800

Most bad art experienced in person is more impressive than most good art seen in a book or on a screen. There is nothing wrong with that.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:31:21 -0800

And to add some spice: "To name the worst artist is easy; his name is Turner" -Dali. That's hilarious, coming from a glorified craftsperson who needed to be kicked out of the Surrealists for being a fake-ass piece of shit.

By: sarcasman

sarcasman — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:31:49 -0800

The list makes me miss MOMA. But Chicago's Art Institute is worth mentioning for its excellent works by Turner and El Greco (what a master!) as well as many many others. Included therein is Picasso's old guitarist, which in the right light reveals the dried, painted over remnants of a woman's portrait rising from the crook of the guitarist's neck. There's just nothing like seeing it face to facies.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:32:01 -0800

Oh, and great post, by the way.

By: liam

liam — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:33:59 -0800

With regard to Smithson's Spiral Jetty, be warned that it is often under water. When I went out there - three hours west of Salt Lake City - it was just discernable below the surface of the lake. Well worth the trip, though. For those like me who enjoy the whole effort entailed in getting to see the art, Walter De Maria's Lightning Field in New Mexico is a good time, too.

By: bruzie

bruzie — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:45:56 -0800

I cried when I saw Starry Night - it was the only thing I wanted to see at MoMA and every time I thought about it I got Don McLean's Vincent playing in my head. I loved other works at MoMA - Monet's massive 'Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond' and seeing Dali's 'Persistence of Memory'. I was surprised at how small his paintings were, but then amazed at how much detail he managed to put in.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:47:29 -0800

GO SEE ART IN PERSON! Absolutely, reproduction or photographs of art works just don't even come close to seeing them in person. You lose the scale, the colors, the textures, the details, it's just not the same. I saw Van Gogh's Wheatfield with Crows at the National Gallery a few years ago and the reproductions of that painting just look pathetically flat and washed out in comparison.

By: R. Mutt

R. Mutt — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:47:53 -0800

Men, men, men, men....

By: kika

kika — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:08:36 -0800

I saw 21 of those in the flesh. I feel so well traveled now.

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:15:44 -0800

Men, men, men, men.... It is a function of who had the wherewithal and the social ability to pursue art in the past that results in this, not some sort of modern cabal trying to erase women from the past. In as much as this list looks to the whole body of Western art (for the most part) that women are excluded. If this was the best art of the past 50 years, the list would likely have more women.

By: MNDZ

MNDZ — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:16:27 -0800

go see in person is oh so especially true of the terracotta warriors. thanks FCHS

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:20:32 -0800

Baby, they left yo' ass off tha list.

By: elendil71

elendil71 — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:40:31 -0800

Man, there's an endless list of the 50 "enter appropriate art/architecture/holy places/books/etc" I should experience before I die. Stupid mortality, work and limited bank account! That being said, its a beautiful list. I wish I've seen more. I should work on that.

By: Gungho

Gungho — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:42:21 -0800

Unless I am mistaken there are No Photography No Films No Ceramics No Glass, stained or otherwise No Architecture for its own sake No Music. Yes hard to see, but I'm on a roll here... Nothing mechanical

By: Gungho

Gungho — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:44:25 -0800

Well, no architecture except for that there mosque...sweet

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:52:47 -0800

I used to live a block from the Rothlo Chapel, but other than that, I'm coming up a big, fat zero. I would have ranked a Kieth Haring in there somewhere, but then I'm such a philistine.

By: lobstah

lobstah — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:05:36 -0800

Great Post, nice job on the links.

By: Terminal Verbosity

Terminal Verbosity — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:12:25 -0800

One of you more enlightened folk please educate me. I took an art history class in college, from which I carried away virtually nothing. I do remember, however, looking at Turner's Rain, Steam and Speed. The prof claimed that among the other indiscernible items in the painting was a white rabbit crossing the tracks. (This was, IIRC, Turner's expression of how the train age was undermining/endangering Nature, though I could be making that up). It's of course possible she was pulling our legs, but this particular prof wasn't very mirthful so I doubt it. Will someone pretty please point out the rabbit? I'll Fed-Ex some pancakes if you do (unless you are outside the U.S. because--like wine, cheese and beer--only fresh pancakes are worth it).

By: InfidelZombie

InfidelZombie — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:19:14 -0800

Fresh wine?

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:24:02 -0800

Well, no architecture except for that there mosque...sweet Plus the Mayan city of Tikal, Guatemala, and you could probably throw in Stonehenge, as well (all of which I have visited, btw). An incredibly western-centric list, though. The fact that there is absolutely nothing from the Subcontinent, for example, is laughable.

By: purplemonkie

purplemonkie — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:26:58 -0800

InfidelZombie: see here.

By: The God Complex

The God Complex — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:29:26 -0800

Good post (both here and there). "probably the most learned cyber-community on the web." Where's this quote from? I don't see it in the main link. I always get a kick out of these sorts of claims when they're made. There really isn't a better way to set people at odds with you before they even know what you're all about. I'm always reminded of this girl from university who, when writing an album review, could not understand that claiming the album was "the best ever" actually worked against her expressed purpose of extolling the album's virtues. When you tell people something is the best, or someone (or thing) is the smartest, their gut reaction, more times than not, is to think of their favorite [insert item under discussion] and immediately look for reasons to disagree with the assessment.

By: peacay

peacay — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 15:29:02 -0800

kirkaracha, thank you for going to such effort. It really is greatly appreciated.

By: Artw

Artw — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 15:37:40 -0800

And don;t bother with th Mona Lisa, it's overrated.

By: Danf

Danf — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 16:03:35 -0800

4 *sigh*

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 16:13:29 -0800

I never cared for paintings. Not in that wilfully obtuse class warfare way - "let them have their pink wine and their blue cheese and their snooty art" - nor for reasons of dismissive hipsterism or plain undereducated ignorance. They just never really got to me. This used to cause quite some cognitive dissonance, as I'm obsessively in love with art and cultural expression in many other forms: novels, stories, poems, films, songs - I know how it sounds, but hell, I live for art. But I grew to kind of accept it: so what, I don't 'get' paintings, no problem. Then, on a Saturday afternoon in New York City, having spent the evening and night partying in the Village with my new single-serving hostel friends and making out with the Danish girl in Washington Square Park I, beflipflopped, hungover and alone, stumbled up the steps to the Metropolitan Museum. First came a smaller epiphany: while I was apathetically indifferent about paintings, I outright hated conceptual art - a running joke of mine used to go "I poop on conceptual art... then I scoop it up and sell it to museums". But then there was this piece called "Every Episode, Every Shot" in which every episode ever made of "Starsky & Hutch" was broken down and categorised by shot containing a certain cliché or well-known concept - i.e., one disc had all the sequences of the show in which a doctor appeared, another disc would be labelled "Every Restaurant" - you get the idea. I actually though this was pretty clever, and it's the first work of conceptual art I actually liked. But that was not by far the highlight of that day. Armed with a dry mouth and four hours of sleep I idly wandered into the Impressionist wing - what harm could it do - and from 30 yards away, through two doorways, I saw the wheat and the cypresses. I immediately recognised the style: everyone with a passing acquaintance with art would, and especially so as a Dutchman I would think, our everyday culture being saturated with Dutch Masters imagery. So, sure, I approached the painting, thinking why not, let's check out the Van Gogh. I got so unbelievably close. Suddenly, the mere fact of being right next to the work made it, I know how it sounds, but really, made it come so alive - like the first live performance you attend of your favourite band having only heard them on CD before. Like your first punk rock show. Like the warm, dreamy flicker of 35mm film in a darkened room. Like the fishing out of the tub of the photograph you just developed. But then a hundred times. Most media are flawed and limited: no pixel, no data, no postcard or poster could ever convey this. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. So yeah, go see art in person, it *is* worth it.

By: octomato

octomato — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 16:27:42 -0800

I`m glad there`s only one african and one central american work of art, because only europeans make great art.

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 16:34:58 -0800

One of you more enlightened folk please educate me. I took an art history class in college, from which I carried away virtually nothing. I do remember, however, looking at Turner's Rain, Steam and Speed. The prof claimed that among the other indiscernible items in the painting was a white rabbit crossing the tracks. (This was, IIRC, Turner's expression of how the train age was undermining/endangering Nature, though I could be making that up). I wouldn't say I am enlightened, but a friend of a friend was an art museum curator and she was taking us around the National Gallery and said the same story and pointed out the rabbit, so I think your teacher was on the level. Also, octomato is dead on. This guy should have just called this the best art in the Western tradition and eliminated the few token pieces from other cultures. Because he did include some, he opens up the list to all sorts of valid criticism about the stuff he left off.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 16:40:40 -0800

Thanks for the links, kirkaracha! I agree with many of these if the emphasis is on "in person." That would really exclude a lot of photography and film where the "in person" doesnt make sense. Guernica and the Sistine Chapel, for example, will defy your expectations. There should be more architecture though. I disagree with Bosch. Its a tiny, dark thing. I think its actually better in reproduction.

By: quin

quin — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 16:54:19 -0800

Really excellent post kirkaracha. Your shooting for the Wii aren't you? ;)

By: bunglin jones

bunglin jones — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:10:32 -0800

As much as I hate the "before you die" theme that's popped up everywhere over the last few years (I mean - as opposed to what? The art I should see after I die?) this is an excellent, excellent, excellent post. Thank you.

By: bardic

bardic — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:12:18 -0800

A rare occasion when a good link is made into a great series of links due to a mefite. This took some work. Thank you kirkaracha.

By: beagle

beagle — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:44:51 -0800

No one is struck by how Eurocentric this list is? There are just five that are essentially token representatives from Africa, Asia and South America. I have no quibble with the list as it stands, but I'd like 50 more that are outside Europe /North America.

By: LoriFLA

LoriFLA — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:44:57 -0800

Great link and list. I have seen about 6 or 7 of these works in person. What a great adventure it would be to see them all.

By: wfc123

wfc123 — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 18:37:57 -0800

You can't get close to Mona.

By: Marit

Marit — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 18:57:22 -0800

Terminal Verbosity -- Here it is circled and here it is traced.

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 20:37:26 -0800

I'll get on the choir, preach to the bandwagon – absolutely go to see art in person. But for that purpose, I'd put the "Nightwatch" ahead of Aristotle for Rembrandt. Yes, it gets put on every mug and postcard and eraser in Amsterdam, but for good reason. In person, it's HUGE and is almost dizzying at first glance. Also, Vermeer is wonderful to examine almost edge-wise. It's incredible to suddenly be able to see the brushstrokes on a painting you thought you knew well all those years and find new layers (npi) to it.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 20:51:52 -0800

I definitely agree that art should be seen in person; I just thought the list was dumb without pictures. (I noticed the list was pretty Eurocentric, too.) I think I've seen about 10 of these. I've been to the Louvre but it's been a long, long time, and I got kicked out of the British Museum for touching the Rosetta Stone before I could see much. I was just in Italy last month, and the Sistene Chapel and the Uffizi were incredible. I'm suprised they left out Botticelli 's Birth of Venus (odd 3D rendering) and Michaelangelo's David. Oh, and I'm afraid I left out dogs playing poker and the naked woman on the side of a van.

By: furiousthought

furiousthought — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 20:58:48 -0800

I disagree with Bosch. Its a tiny, dark thing. I think its actually better in reproduction. Oh, it's not bad, but its colors are/ have gotten pretty dark and I also was disappointed when I saw it in person – it didn't help that it was completely overwhelmed by Brueghel's Triumph of Death, which was in the same room. Bosch is such a literary artist that he's more interesting, I think, when dissected in books.

By: horsewithnoname

horsewithnoname — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 21:10:00 -0800

I stopped at 49 of these works because I don't want to die.

By: tehloki

tehloki — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 22:27:53 -0800

One day, somebody is going to link you to a seemingly innocuous youtube video, but contained within it will be a single-frame flash of Tutankhamun's death mask. You will clutch your chest and keel over dead.

By: heliopod

heliopod — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 23:43:08 -0800

Curious that this stream generated so many posts....would be glorious if there was the same level of interest in supporting the arts in general. Or maybe galleries just need more top ten or 12 lists.

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 02:59:35 -0800

Great post. The chorus of people correctly suggesting that art is best experienced in the flesh (obviously, does anyone not think that?) started me thinking - this list could be a wonderful guide for a modern equivalent of the Grand Tour. Assuming you live in Europe, it would cost next to nothing in day trips on Easyjet.

By: IndigoJones

IndigoJones — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 05:58:03 -0800

The fact that there is absolutely nothing from the Subcontinent, for example, is laughable. I don't disagree, but I would be grateful for some suggestions. Not my strongest area.... Re Mona Lisa- it's not that it's not good, it just suffers from overexposure. Given the "must-be-seen-to-be-believed" quality, it could have done with a bit more populism (or what some might call cheese). I'm thinking this, or this, or even this . Or, lest I be thought hopelessly provincial, this. Just a thought.

By: Hactar

Hactar — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 06:21:04 -0800

I'll echo again the seeing in person aspect of all this. I could kind of appreciate Van Gogh before seeing his works in person, but they always felt kind of boring. Then I saw some of his actual paintings. In some places (like this one) it seemed that he was just trying to put as much paint as possible on the canvas and still have a picture. It was breathtaking. A hated Turner until I visited the National Gallery. Then I fell in love. Even Andy Warhol, who I didn't get, makes some sense when you see his works in person. I don't know why, but seeing 16 feet of camoflague at a 5x magnification makes a huge impression on you in person. On a computer screen it's dumb and boring. So yes, see these in person. Hell, see as much art as you can in person. There is crap out there, but there is so many beautiful works to see. (And if you get to the louve, go to the spot where the mona lisa is, and then go over a gallery. They have some amazing work by El Greco and other spanish artists that puts the Italian master's to shame.)

By: Terminal Verbosity

Terminal Verbosity — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 06:30:12 -0800

Thanks, Marit, but it's still like looking at a sonogram when everyone else can see the smiling, waving fetus and all I see is static.

By: matteo

matteo — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 06:51:33 -0800

your favorite painter sucks

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 07:47:57 -0800

splatta, you shamed me into walking over to the Library of Congress and viewing the perspective study for the Adoration of the Magi, on display only until 5 pm today. It's about the size of a piece of notebook paper, but fascinating, just the same. I know it's totally last-minute, but if anyone wants to go see it, let me know, and I'll meet you over there!

By: odasaku

odasaku — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 09:21:12 -0800

Wow. I didn't realize that Art was strictly a white European thing... Thanks for the tip.

By: splatta

splatta — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 09:39:35 -0800

MrMoonPie, if I could get down there today I would, please do some extra appreciating for me.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 15:22:57 -0800

The fact that there is absolutely nothing from the Subcontinent, for example, is laughable. I don't disagree, but I would be grateful for some suggestions. Not my strongest area.... Well, they list the mosque in Esfahan, which has a slightly more famous cousin known as the Taj Mahal. It's hard to see why one is listed & the other isn't. You could also throw in the elaborate rock-hewn temples of Ajanta & Ellora, pretty much any Jain temple, the entire tradition of miniature painting, Gandharan Buddhist art & the Hoysala temples, to name a few. The list seems to me to be largely skewed towards the western romantic notion of the individual artist as a gifted innovator making some sort of breakthrough of genius, which automatically excludes from the ratings most generic, yet skillful, traditions or collaborative works.

By: wfc123

wfc123 — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:39:04 -0800

No women, huh?

By: IndigoJones

IndigoJones — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:45:51 -0800

Thank you UbuRoivas. Quite right, of course, though architecture in general is underrepresented here. Right too on miniatures and Gandharan stuff (a relative has some of the latter and oh, do I covet), though I'm guessing that it's lack of a particular masterpiece that helped push them aside - which goes along with your comment on the name brand individual artist. No Greek vase painters either, I noticed. So - best of/worst of lists - useful paidagogical tool, or just an easy way to fill blank magazine space when nothing new or different's coming to mind?

By: quarsan

quarsan — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 22:31:06 -0800

Everyone's list is different but I liked the idea of the author asking readers for theirs. How useful is it? Well it made me look at some new stuff and realise that I don't spend enough time looking at art.

By: SisterHavana

SisterHavana — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 08:56:16 -0800

The Elgin Marbles are amazing. I'm surprised nothing from the Art Institute in Chicago made that list. My favorite painting there is Edward Hopper's Nighthawks - I could sit and look at that all day.