101 Most Famous Painters

Question 1

Pablo Picasso

1881-1973

Answer 1

Spanish painter famous for his Cubist and Surrealist work, including “Les Demoiselles D’Avignon” “Guernica”, and “The Weeping Woman.” Known for his Blue Period, Rose Period, and Crystal Period.

Question 2

Giotto di Bondone

1266-1337

Answer 2

The first great Early Renaissance artist. Known for his frescoes of Christ in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, as well as his design of the campanile of the Florence Cathedral.

Question 3

Leonardo da Vinci

1452 - 1519

Answer 3

Italian polymath known for his High Renaissance paintings, including “Mona Lisa” (aka “Gioconda”), “The Last Supper”, “The Vitruvian Man”, and “Lady with an Ermine”.

Question 4

Paul Cezanne

1839-1906

Answer 4

French Post-Impressionist regarded as key to the transition between 19th century Impressionism and 20th century Cubism. Famous works include “The Card Players” and “The Bathers”. Stylistically employed small, repetitive brushstrokes, and often painted still life featuring fruit.

Question 5

Rembrandt van Rijn

1609-1669

Answer 5

Baroque Dutch Old Master known for his interplay between light and shadow, as well as his self-portraits. Famous works include “The Night Watch”, “Bathsheba at Her Bath”, and “Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild”.

Question 6

Diego Velazquez

1599-1660

Answer 6

Spanish Baroque painter known for his portraits, including “Las Meninas”. Critical influence on later painters such as Manet, Picasso, Dali, and Bacon.

Question 7

Wassily Kandinsky

1866-1944

Answer 7

Russian Abstract Expressionist and art theorist known as the “Father of Abstraction”. Famous works include “On White II” and “Der Blaue Reiter”. Later work became intensely abstract and geometric.

Question 8

Claude Monet

1840-1926

Answer 8

French Impressionist whose work “Impression, Sunrise” gave birth to a movement. Other famous works include “Water Lillies”, “Haystacks”, “Poplars”, and “Camille Monet on her deathbed”.

Question 9

Caravaggio

1571 - 1610

Answer 9

Baroque Italian artist known for his use of tenebrism (abrupt shift from light to dark). Famous works include “Martyrdom of Saint Matthew”, “Calling of Saint Matthew”, “Salome with the Head of John the Baptist”, “Supper at Emmaus”, and “The Resurrection of Lazarus”. Also known for his violent life and early death.

Question 10

J.M.W. Turner

1775-1851

Answer 10

English Romanticist regarded as the greatest Western landscape painter.

Question 11

Jan Van Eyck

1390 - 1441

Answer 11

Northern Renaissance artist from the Netherlands. Known for virtuosity in early use of oil paint and unusual pigments. Famous works include “Portrait of a Man in a Turban” and “The Arnolfini Portrait”.

Question 12

Albrecht Durer

1471 - 1528

Answer 12

German Renaissance painter known for woodcuts and engravings. Famous works include the “Apocalypse” woodcuts, “Knight, Death, and the Devil”, “Saint Jerome in his Study”, and “Melencolia I”.

Question 13

Jackson Pollock

1912 - 1956

Answer 13

American Abstract Expressionist known for his unique style of drip painting. Died in an alcohol-related single-car accident at 44.

Question 14

Michelangelo

1475 - 1564

Answer 14

Italian High Renaissance sculptor and painter known for “David,” “Pieta”, “The Last Judgment”, and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Imitation of his style led directly to Mannerism.

Question 15

Paul Gauguin

1848 - 1903

Answer 15

French Post-Impressionist and Symbolist known for experimental use of color and brief, unsuccessful working relationship with Van Gogh. Famous works include “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?” Many well-known paintings included depictions of Tahitian women.

Question 16

Francisco de Goya

1748 - 1828

Answer 16

Spanish Romantic painter regarded as the last Old Master. Served as court painter to the Spanish Crown, and strongly influenced Manet, Picasso, and Bacon. Famous works include “The Third of May 1808”, “The Nude Maja,” “Yard With Lunatics,” and “The Black Paintings,” such as “Saturn Devouring His Sons”.

Question 17

Vincent Van Gogh

1853 - 1890

Answer 17

Influential Dutch Post-Impressionist who developed his style in Arles and eventually died at 37 by self-inflicted gunshot to the chest. Famous works include “The Potato Eaters”, “The Starry Night”, “Bedroom in Arles”, and “Sunflowers”. Largest collection is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Question 18

Edouard Manet

1832 - 1883

Answer 18

French Realist and Impressionist recognized as pivotal in the transition to Impressionism. Known for his frank depiction of sexuality in works such as “The Luncheon on the Grass” and “Olympia”. His last significant work was “A Bar at the Folies-Bergere”.

Question 19

Mark Rothko

1903-1970

Answer 19

American Abstract Expressionist of Russian Jewish descent known for “multiforms” consisting of large color blocks. Focused on the spiritual component of his art, culminating in the creation of the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas. Rejected the significance of Pop Art. Died by suicide at 66. Later the subject of “Red”, a Tony-winning play featuring Alfred Molina.

Question 20

Henri Matisse

1869 - 1954

Answer 20

French painter initially regarded as a Fauvist, but later moving on to modernism and Impressionism. Notable works include “Woman with a Hat”, “Nu Bleu”, and “La Danse”. Noted for expressive use of color in paintings of women and still life. Introduced to Picasso, a lifelong friend, in Paris by Getrude Stein and Alice Toklas.

Question 21

Raphael

1483 - 1520

Answer 21

High Renaissance Italian painter and architect adhering to Neoplatonic ideals. Died at 37. Best known work is “The School of Athens.”

Question 22

Jean-Michel Basquiat

1960 - 1988

Answer 22

African-American graffitti artist whos works on the Lower East Side during the late 1970s were classified as “neo-expressionist” and “primitivist.” Died of a heroin overdose at 27.

Question 23

Edvard Munch

1863 - 1944

Answer 23

Norweigian Expressionist and Symbolist whose works incorporated intensely psychological themes. Famous works include “The Scream”, “Madonna”, and “The Sick Child”.

Question 24

Titian

1476 - 1576

Answer 24

Influential Italian Renaissance painter who headed the Venetian school. Most famous works include “Assumption of the Virgin”, “Bacchus and Ariadne”, and “Venus of Urbino”.

Question 25

Piet Mondrian

1872 - 1944

Answer 25

Dutch expressionist known for contributions to the De Stijl art movement. Most famous work is “Broadway Boogie Woogie”.

Question 26

Piero Della Francesca

1416 - 1492

Answer 26

Early Renaissance Italian painter known for his use of geometry in his paintings. Most famous work is “The Legend of the True Cross,” in Tuscany. Others include “The Baptism of Christ” and “Flagellation of Christ”.

Question 27

Peter Paul Rubens

1577 - 1640

Answer 27

Flemish Baroque painter based in Antwerp and known for emphasis on movement, color, and full-figured feminine sensuality. Famous works include “The Elevation of the Cross”, “The Descent from the Cross,” “Samson and Delilah”, “Prometheus Bound”, and “The Fall of Man”.

Question 28

Andy Warhol

1928 - 1987

Answer 28

Leading American figure in Pop Art. Famous for his studio, known as the Factory, as well as for his management of the Velvet Underground. The Andy Warhol Museum in his hometown of Pittsburgh is the largest U.S. museum dedicated to a single artist. Famous works include the film “Chelsea Girls”, and “Campbell’s Soup Cans” in 1962.

Question 29

Joan Miró

1893 - 1983

Answer 29

Spanish painter and sculptor from Barcelona. Dabbled in Fauvism and Magical Realism before settling in as a Surrealist who used a pictorial sign language in many of his works. Famous works include “The Farm”, “Harlequin’s Carnival”, and the Constellations series from the 1940s.

Question 30

Tommaso Masaccio

1401 - 1428

Answer 30

First great Italian painter of the Qauattrocento. Name translates to “Messy Tom”. Early employer of linear perspective and the vanishing point. Notable work includes “Explusion from the Garden of Eden”, “Pisa Alterpiece”, and “Holy Trinity”.

Question 31

Marc Chagall

1887 - 1985

Answer 31

Russian-French Expressionist and Cubist known for his work as a Jewish artist and participation in the School of Paris. Notable works include “The Fiddler” and the ceiling of the Paris Opera.

Question 32

Gustave Courbet

1819 - 1877

Answer 32

Leading French Realist committed to painting things he could see. Known for bold social statements in his work by depicing unglamourous laborers and peasants. Imprisoned for association with the Paris Commune, and spent several years in exile in Switzerland. Famous works include “A Burial At Ornans” and the graphic “L’Origine du monde”.

Question 33

Nicolas Poussin

1594 - 1665

Answer 33

Well-known French Baroque painter, serving as inspiration to David and Cezanne. Most works are history paintings of religious or mythological subjects with a large landscape element. Most famous work is “Et in Arcadia ego”, depicting shepherds examining a tomb.

Question 34

Willem de Kooning

1904 - 1997

Answer 34

Dutch American abstract expressionist who participated in the New York School with Pollock, Rothko, and many others. Notable works include “Woman I”, “Easter Monday”, “Attic”, and “Excavation”.

Question 35

Paul Klee

1879 - 1940

Answer 35

Prolific Swiss-German painter and Bauhaus colleague of Kandinsky whose often morbid works touched on Expressionism and Surrealism. Wrote extensively about color theory. Known for his humor, musicality, and skill as a draftsman. Died of scleroderma, a painful wasting disease.

Question 36

Francis Bacon

1909-1992

Answer 36

Maximum exponent, along with Lucian Freud, of the so-called “School of London”. Known for his bleak triptychs often featuring caged figures, including “Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion”.