This is the list of 100 of the Best Art Works of the World Museums Society. This list of the best 100 famous and important artworks was chosen from a huge selection of the great works of the last five centuries. There is a real cross-section of art work listed here from many countries.
Contemporary Art Gallery Magazine asked the World Museums Society to create a list of famous artworks from the great world art museums based on their importance and influence on contemporary art. The best 100 selections of these important works of art was compiled by voting members of the WMS.
1) Bosch – The Garden of Delights (1504) – Prado, Madrid
2) Michelangelo: The Universal Judgment (1541) – Sistine Chapel, Rome
3) Dali: Persistence of Memory (1931) – Museum of Modern Art, New York
4) Klimt: The Virgin (1913) – National Gallery, Prague
5) Botticelli: Allegory of Spring (1478) – Uffizi, Florence
6) Monet: Nimphee (1926) – Orangerie, Paris
7) Leonardo: The Last Supper/ The Last Supper (1497) – S.Maria delle Grazie, Milan
8) Rubens: Fall of the Damned
9) Van Gogh: Starry Night (1889) – Museum of Modern Art, New York
10) Raphael: Marriage of the Virgin (1504) – Piancoteca di Brera, Milan
11) Dali: Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (1936) – Museum of Art, Philadelphia
12) Bruegel: Triumph of Death (1562) – Prado, Madrid
13) Greco: Toledo (1599) – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
14) Seurat: La Parade du Cirque (1888) – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
15) Rembrandt: Militia Company (1642) – Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
16) Van Eyck: Madonna in the Church (1425) – Gemaldegalerie, Berlin
17) Leonardo: Gioconda/ Mona Lisa (1505) – Louvre, Paris
18) Rousseau: Sleeping Gypsy (1897) – Museum of Modern Art, New York
19) Greco: The Crucifixion (1594) – Prado, Madrid
20) Altdorfer: The Battle of Alexander the Great (1529) – Alte Pinakothek, Munchen
21) Klee: Ad Margins (1930) – Kunstmuseum, Basel
22) Rembrandt: Belshazzar’s Feast (1635) – National Gallery, London
23) Rubens: St Agustine, National Gallery, Prague
24) Renoir: Ball at the Moulin de la Galette (1876) – National Museum of Orsay, Paris
25) Goya: Aquelarre/ The Big Goat (1821) – Prado, Madrid
26) Chagall: I and the Village (1911) – Museum of Modern Art, New York
27) Magritte: False Mirror (1928) – Museum of Modern Art, New York
28) Millet: Harvesters Resting (1853)
29) Veronese: Wedding at Cana (1563) – Louvre, Paris
30) Velasquez: The Spinners (166?) – Prado, Madrid
31) Caravaggio: Davide/ Galea (1607) – Kunsthistorisches Muzeum, Vienna
32) Rubens: Feast of Venus/ Vennsfest (1637) – Kunsthistorisches Muzeum, Vienna
33) Vermeer: The Astronomer (1668) – Louvre, Paris
34) Schiele: Death and the Maiden (1915) – Belvedere, Wien
35) Cezanne: Mount Saint Victoire (1906) – Museum of Art, Philadelphia
36) Klee: Landscape with the Yellow Church Tower (1920) – State Gallery of Modern Art, Munich
37) Leonardo: Virgin of the Rocks I (1486) – Louvre, Paris
38) Rousseau: Virgin Forest at Sunset (1907) – Kunstmuseum, Basel
39) Tintoretto: Miracle of the Slave (1548) – Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice
40) Ernst: Antipope (1942) – Guggenheim, New York
41) Botticelli: Miracle of San Zenobio (1500) – National Gallery, London
42) Picasso: Three Musicians (1921) – Museum of Modern Art, New York
43) Miro`: Hunter, Museum of Modern Art, New York
44) Matisse: Dance (1909) – Museum of Modern Art, New York
45) Braque: Violin and Palette (1910) – Guggenheim, New York
46) Klee: Fish Magic (1925) – Museum of Art, Philadelphia
47) Duchamp: Nude Descending a Staircase #3 (1916) – Museum of Art, Philadelphia
48) Van Gogh: Sunflowers (1888) – Museum of Art, Philadelphia
49) Kokoshka: The Errant Knight (1915) – Guggenheim, New York
50) Murillo: Birth of St. John the Baptist, Norton Simon, Pasadena
51) Renoir: Bal a Bougival (1883) – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
52) Manet: Execution of Emperor Maximilian (1867) – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
53) Manet: Olympia (1863) – Musee National d’Orsay, Paris
54) Monet: Water Lilies I (1905) – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
55) Leger: Acrobat at the Circus, Museum for Contemporary Art, Basel
56) Hodler: The Day (1899) – Kunstmuseum, Bern
57) Munch: The Scream (1893) – National Gallery, Oslo
58) Altdorfer: Rest on the Flight to Egypt (1510) – Gemaldegalerie, Berlin
59) De Hooch: The Mother (1660) – Gemaldegalerie, Berlin
60) Stone: St Nicholas Eve (1660) – Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
61) Rembrandt: Man in Oriental Costume (1635) – Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
62) Rembrandt: The Betrayal of Peter (1660) – Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
63) Rembrandt: Philemon and Baucis (1658) – Washington, National Gallery
64) Rembrandt: Landscape with Bridge (1636) – Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
65) Vermeer: Kitchen Maidservant (1660) – Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
66) Marc: Stables (1914) – Guggenheim, New York
67) Hals: The Regents of the Poorhouse (1664) – Hals Museum, Harleem
68) Carpaccio: St. George Fighting the Dragon (1507)
69) Bellini: Altarpiece of San Giobbe (1487) – Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice
70) Pisanello: Departure of San Giorgio (1438) – Sant’Anastasia, Verona
71) Boccioni: The Rising City (1910) – Museum of Modern Art, New York
72) Chagall: Dedie a Ma Fiance (1911) – Kunstmuseum, Bern
73) Chagall: The Soldier Drinks (1912) – Guggenheim, New York
74) Kandinsky: Some Circles (1926) – Guggenheim, New York
75) Rousseau: Football Players (1908) – Guggenheim, New York
76) Leger: Le Grand Dejeuner/ Three Women (1921) – Museum of Modern Art, New York
77) Delaunay: St Severin (1909) – Guggenheim, New York
78) Ernst: La Grande Foret (1927) – Museum of Contemporary Art, Basel
79) Picasso: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) – Museum of Modern Art, New York
80) Picasso: Night Fishing at Antibes (1939) – Museum of Modern Art, New York
81) Van Dyck: Crowning of Thorns – Prado, Madrid
82) Titian: Venus, Cupid and Organist – Prado, Madrid
83) Leonardo: Annunciation (148?) – Uffizi, Florence
84) Perugino: The Delivery of the Keys (1482) – Sistine Chapel, Rome
85) Giorgione: Three Philosophies (1508) – Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
86) Grunewald: St Erasmus and St Maurice (1523) – Alte Pinakothek, Munich
87) Gauguin: Where Have We Come From (1897) – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
88) Gauguin: The Great One/ Day of the God (1894) – Art Institute, Chicago
an dMuseum of Art, New York
89) Greco: Baptism of Christ (1596) – Prado, Madrid
90) Van Eyck: The Fountain of Grace (1429) – Prado, Madrid
91) Picasso: Guernica (1937) – Museum of Modern Art, New York
92) Leonardo: Epiphany, Uffizi, Florence
93) Ghirlandaio: Old man and nephew, Louvre, Paris
94) Van Gogh: Self-portrait (1887) – Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
95) Carpaccio: Dispute of the Sanhedrin (1514) – Brera, Milan
96) Pissarro: Orchard at Pontoise (1872) – National Museum of Orsay, Paris
97) Toulouse-Lautrec: Moulin Rouge (1892) – Art Institute, Chicago
98) Delacroix: The Death of Sardanapalus (1827) – Louvre, Paris
99) Degas: Dance Class (1874) – Louvre, Paris
100) Gericault: The Raft of the Medusa (1819) – Louvre, Paris
This list of 100 of the Favorite Art Works of the World Museums Society has a cross-section of art work from several centuries and many countries. If you are intersted in contemporary art please see the links below. The WMS voted these to be the best of important and influential art works from the world museums.
