Famous Artists

Let's face it, without famous artists and their work this world would be a pretty drab place filled lots of beige and gray. Lifeless box-shaped forms would fill the landscapes. Even cavemen (and this isn't an endorsement for Geico) could see the value of drawing on cave walls to document what they saw and did so sometimes with an artistic flair.

Vincent Van Gogh

But, the cavemen did not leave much biographical information about themselves.

So, the famous artists that we know today only go back centuries and not millennia. My short top list of famous artists includes the following:

Of course your short list of famous artists throughout history may be slightly different, but there is room enough for all opinions here. My long list of famous artists will include about 125 different names that created or shaped the different art movements throughout history from Realism to Virtual Art.

The most famous artists throughout history have taught us to see differently, feel differently and think differently about the world around us, our relationships and ourselves. When one is touched in head and heart by a painting, sculpture or some other form of artwork, these connections can invoke powerful responses.

For instance, in today's world these powerful emotional and intellectual responses may mean big bucks. Collectors may pay millions of dollars at auction (Christie's or Sotheby's) for a particular Van Gogh or Jackson Pollock painting. Sure, some of it involves calculated investing.

But, the rule of thumb in the art world is still to buy what you love. The money for most collectors is still a secondary issue.

Buying a piece of artwork from one of history's most famous artists has another advantage. And, that is owning a piece of history. Besides owning a beautiful painting, sculpture, etching, lithograph, vintage photograph or musical recording, one also owns a piece of the history surrounding when the work of art was created.

For instance, Leonardo da Vinci worked on and completed the "Mona Lisa" between 1503 and 1519. During this time-frame, Spain defeated France in the first battle won by gunpowder and small arms. Also, during this time, legendary prognosticator Nostradamus was born. A few years later Christopher Columbus died in Spain. In 1507 the first recorded epidemic of small pox broke out. And in 1512, Copernicus shook the worlds of science and religion by placing the sun at the center of the solar system instead of having the whole universe revolve around the world as previously thought.

So, from this one example of what was happening in the world when the Mona Lisa was being painted one can see the deep ties to historical context yet there is still the enigma of that smile that contiues to cause controvery into the present day.

Leonardo da Vinci

And there are similar stories in the biographies of all of the famous artists listed on this website. They did not live in a vacuum. As the biographies of some of the famous artists point out, they were products of their cultures, some were influenced by earlier cultures and yet others were true visionaries (and of course the ones who drank were double visionaries).

So take a look around these pages. Check out your favorite famous artists and their work. Then go visit your local museum or gallery and get an up close and personal look at the things that inspire you and make your inner life a much richer place.