These paintings owe their existence to the genius, creativity, and innate talent of their creators. However, the most powerful reason for their fame involves telling stories. Take a look at some of the most famous paintings in the world from different countries and the interesting tales hidden behind them.
The World’s Famous Paintings
1. Mona Lisa; by Leonardo da Vinci
The Mona Lisa is the world’s most famous painting, created by Leonardo da Vinci in 1503 on poplar wood. In this masterpiece, da Vinci portrayed one of the most realistic and captivating smiles ever painted. This painting is believed to have been commissioned by Francesco del Gioconda, a rich Florentine silk merchant, as a portrait of his wife Lisa Geraldine. The painting is a half-length portrait; however, experts are not absolutely sure about its subject, and the identity of the Mona Lisa remains an enigma. Another name for the painting, La Gioconda, comes from the surname of the Florentine merchant.
Some, like Freud, speculate that the Mona Lisa is a depiction of da Vinci’s mother, while others believe it is a self-portrait of da Vinci himself. The Italian genius started painting the portrait, titled Mona Lisa, in his native land. King Francis I showed it within the Palace of Fontainebleau, where it spent much of the next hundred years. Later, Louis XIV shifted it to the Palace of Versailles, and at the start of the 19th century, this picture hung in Napoleon’s bedroom.
The Mona Lisa was installed at the Louvre Museum in 1804. According to historians, the painting was not that well-known outside of the art circles until the 20th century. However, in 1911, the painting was stolen by a former employee of the Louvre, who kept it for two years. He was an Italian patriot who believed that the Mona Lisa should go back to Italy. This theft brought the painting into the public eye and skyrocketed its fame. Eventually, the Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre, where it is now displayed and holds the record for the highest insurance valuation at $100 million. Under French cultural heritage law, the painting cannot be bought or sold; it belongs to the people.
Mona Lisa
2. The Scream; by Edvard Munch
The Scream, by Edvard Munch, the famous Norwegian painter, is known throughout the world as the embodiment of anxiety, fear, suffering, and excitement. The Scream is not a single work; Munch did four versions of this painting. It is said that he was inspired to do this work when he was out for an evening stroll with friends; he saw an amazingly beautiful red sunset. Munch wrote about the moment: “The sky turned red, like blood. I stopped and felt exhausted, leaning against a fence. Above the city, the blood and the fiery tongues of the sky. My friends kept on walking but I stood there, trembling with anxiety, and I felt that a big scream was passing through the nature.
The Scream is generally held to represent anxiety, fear, suffering, and excitement. It was made in 1893. Two versions of The Scream were stolen in 1994 and 2004 and garnered high levels of public interest. Both have since been recovered. In 2012, one of the pastel versions sold at auction for $120 million. Interestingly, the androgynous figure in the foreground of the painting is not the source of the scream but rather an attempt to shield itself from the harrowing cry that emanates from nature itself. This painting is among the few artworks to have inspired its own emoji.
.The latest discovery concerning The Scream took place in February 2021, when the authorship of a faint inscription in the top-left corner of the painting was revealed. These words, which are visible only with close inspection, are the following: “Only a madman could have painted this. For years, it was debated who might have written this phrase. In 1904, the inscription first caught the attention of a Danish critic, who suspected that it might be the work of a vandal. After scans and thorough research, though, it was confirmed that these words in pencil were written by Edvard Munch himself after the completion of the painting.
3. The Last Supper; by Leonardo da Vinci
The Last Supper is a mural in rectangular form located in the dining hall of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. It is one of the most famous artistic spectacles in the world that represents Jesus’ last dinner with his 12 disciples before his crucifixion. Da Vinci didn’t use traditional fresco in this work, he used oil paints instead. With the slow-drying tendencies of oil paint, he could take a good amount of time to develop the painting. In order to develop the painting, da Vinci first had to seal the wall with a double layer of gesso and mastic, then apply paint.
Over the years, The Last Supper has undergone numerous restorations due to environmental factors that have severely damaged the painting. Unfortunately, very little remains of the original colors da Vinci used. This was a work from a period where religious themes were the most dominant in works of art. It has also faced two major threats: the first was when Napoleon’s men used the wall on which it hangs as a target practice area, and the second during World War II, when the bombing of the monastery’s roof left the painting open to the air for several years.
4. Girl with a Pearl Earring; by Johannes Vermeer
Girls with a Pearl Earring created in 1665 is compared more to the world’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa, created by a much-renowned Dutch painter by name Johannes Vermeer. However, it needs one has to understand that these two completely contrasting works. Girl with a Pearl Earring is not a portrait but a tronie. This genre, coming from the poorer countries of Vermeer’s time, is not concerned with the representation of particular persons but rather with the representation of imaginary characters or models dressed up in fantastic costumes and assuming grotesque postures.
The black background of Girl with a Pearl Earring was, in fact, painted deep green by applying a green glaze over a black ground. The green glaze has faded over the years, but the girl depicted in the painting is still a beauty. Interestingly, a Dutch physicist suggested in 2014 that the big, pear-shaped, shiny earring is not of pearl material. It is rather a polished tin earring that reflects Vermeer’s masterly use of light and texture.
Girl with a Pearl Earring
5. Birth of Venus; by Sandro Botticelli
The Birth of Venus, painted by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, was completed in the mid-1480s. The painting represents Venus, who has just landed, emerging from a large shell, which symbolizes her rebirth after she grew up in the profundity of the sea. This is a work that melts the Renaissance with classical Greek culture, representing a mythological theme with a unique artistic interpretation.
Botticelli painted The Birth of Venus upon commission by the Medici family, one of the most influential banking dynasties of the time in Florence. Known patrons of the arts, the Medici family helped support artists throughout the generations. It is also worth noting that The Birth of Venus is one of the few paintings by Botticelli painted on canvas, not on wood, which was the more common medium for him.
“To be continued…
