Most Famous Artists
Read about the most famous artists from the field of oil painting in this article, and see galleries of their works from the links below. Each artist has a small summary of their contribution to art, and more famous artists can be added all the time. The artists range in time from around the post-middle ages up to the modern day. The main periods of interest are the renaissance era and the contemporary periods from the end of the 19th century up to today. The list will be thoroughly inclusive of different art movements, attempting to include all of the likes of:
Most Famous Art Movements
- Abstract
- Contemporary
- Modern Art
- Cubism
- Baroque
- Renaissance
- Romanticism
- Impressionism
List of Most Famous Artists
- There is a full list of famous artists in our sitemap, which updates automatically
- Or choose below from our most famous artists
Most Popular Artists
Short Biographies of Most Famous Artists
Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Art Nouveau (Vienna Secession) movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects, many of which are on display in the Vienna Secession gallery. Klimt's primary subject was the female body. Klimt's most famous paintings include The Kiss.
Vincent Van Gogh's Impressionist paintings are among the most famous oil paintings in the world. His Post-impressionist style remains popular with art lovers and his classic 19th century paintings are displayed in major exhibitions around the world.
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of the painting Impression,
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, abstract cubist artist and one of the most famous artists of all time. Picasso paintings include the likes of Guernica, Weeping Woman, Femme aux Bras & La Vie. is best known for co-founding the Cubist movement and for the wide variety of styles embodied in his work. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) and Guernica (1937), his portrayal of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.
JMW Turner was perhaps the most famous English romanticist landscape artist. William Turner became known as 'the painter of light'. He is the most famous Romanticist painter. Turner is respected alongside other British artists such as Gainsborough and Constable for developing British art from the medieval and renaissance eras up to the more contemporary styles.
John Constable was an English Romantic painter who helped the rise in landscape oil painting. Constable actually sold more paintings in France than in his native England and took many years before he truly became famous. Constable was also well respected for his watercolours too, with Stonehenge being one of his best. Constable did complete portrait paintings too, but these were predominantly to pay his artist costs rather than ever being chosen for artistic happiness.
Columbian artist Botero is well known for producing paintings of naked fat and obese woman as well as his own unique painting style which is easy to spot and also quite innovative and charming. We add new Botero paintings regularly so check back to see the latest works by this artist.
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid, brilliant and original draughtsmanship. Matisse is regarded, with Picasso, as the greatest artist of the 20th century. Matisse is respected as a leading figure in modern art. He was involved in the fields of painting, printmaking, sculpture, drawing & collage. Matisse's extensive training involved Académie Julian, William-Adolphe Bouguereau & Gustave Moreau. Matisse is believed to have been influenced by many artists, most notably John Peter Russell, Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh & Signac. Later artists who gained inspiration from his paintings include the likes of Hans Hofmann, David Hockney and Tom Wesselmann.
Kandinsky was a Russian painter, famous for his abstract, expressionist art compositions. Kandinsky's abstract paintings followed years as a theorist & art teacher which led to his high quality abstract paintings which remain popular today. Kandinsky's trademarks style involve bright colors, abstract shapes and geometric forms to create a busy series of paintings which he felt best demonstrated his emotions, rather than preset ideas of other art movements.
Piet Mondrian is an abstract artist who chose his contemporary abstract direction after his tree series. Boogie Woogie was the final painting in Mondrian's painting career after years of progression in his use of abstract lines and blocks of colours.
Paul Klee was a famous Swiss German artist who produced more than 10,000 paintings, drawings, and etchings covering art movements such as Expressionism, Bauhaus and Surrealism. Klee's most well known paintings included The Twittering Machine, Flower Myth, Tale à la Hoffmann, Miraculous Landing, Fish Magic and Viaducts Break Ranks. Klee worked in many different media - oil paint, watercolor, ink, pastel, etching, and others.
Juan Gris is a Spanish painter and sculptor who created most of his paintings in France, where he spent the majority of his life. Gris paintings came around the early 20th century and he was an important part of the rise of Cubism, producing many of it's most famous paintings alongside it's figurehead Pablo Picasso.
