History is full of famous painters who created their artistic legacy, becoming references. Such artists have contributed visual masterpieces to their various movements and styles, even reflected in .
Although there have been many artists who have contributed in one way or another to art, only a few stand out for the influence they have had from their times to the present, being famous, especially for those who are interested in the wide world of art.
Giotto di Bondone
Giotto di Bondone was born near Florence, Italy (1267-1337), and worked as an architect and painter during the late Middle Ages, within the period of Proto-Renaissance art. He was known to be one of the influential artists who moved away from the dominant Byzantine style, thus helping usher in a new era of realist painting that had been missing for a couple hundred years.
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck was born in Maaseik, Belgium (1390-1441), but was most active as a painter in the city of Bruges. His innovations within the art world led him to become one of the first influential artists of Northern Renaissance art. In fact, in the year 1422 he began working in The Hague, and by that time he already had multiple apprentices.
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was born in Italy (1452-1519), who was not only one of the most popular master painters of all time, but also an influential person who was involved in many activities, such as science, engineering, architecture and art. Although he was initially known for his artwork and was regularly cited as the father of the High Renaissance period, it was his diaries that brought him fame among the general public.
Miguel Angel
Michelangelo Buonarroti was born in Rome, Italy (1475-1564), and although he worked as an architect and sculptor and poet, he is most awarded for his work with painting. It is true that he saw himself more as an architect, but because of his ability, Pope Julius II introduced him in some way, almost by imposition, to create his most iconic works of art. Of course, from his time until now, he continues to be admired, contributing to the Renaissance painting movement.
Rafael Sanzio
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino is an Italian Renaissance painter and architect who was born in Rome (1483-1520). Historians have frequently praised his work for its clarity of form and compositional skill, and along with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he is considered a member of the Trinity of Masters.
El Greco
Born Doménikos Theotokópoulos, in Crete, Greece (1541-1614), he was nicknamed El Greco, who despite his Greek ancestry, was considered an important figure in the Spanish Renaissance. He studied and mastered post-Byzantine art, but when he moved to Rome in 1570, he began to include styles of contemporary painters. In 1577, he moved to the city of Toledo in Spain, where he received commissions for many of his most renowned works.
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born in Milan, Italy (1571-1610), but spent most of his life in Rome pursuing a career as an artist. His work had the most striking influence on other painters of his time in the early days of the formation of the Baroque period. His fame grew as a result of his innovative interpretations of classical themes, as well as his use of an artistic technique known as chiaroscuro.
Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Gentileschi was born in Rome, Italy (1593-1656), and is considered by historians to be one of the most respected artists of the 17th century. She paved the way for a generation of women artists who would follow her. Her powerful depictions of women as mythological, biblical, and historical figures were references to the feminine component of her art. She was known for her expertise in using color to communicate layers of drama and complexity.
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin was an artist of French origin, who enjoyed great popularity in his country (1594-1665), but also in the art world. However, he spent most of his life in Rome, Italy, where he lived and worked. His art was characterized by the use of order, rationality and clarity in his compositions, as well as by the preference for line over color in his painted landscapes.
Diego Velazquez
Diego Velázquez was an artist born in Spain (1599-1660), of great renown during the Spanish Golden Age and at the court of King Philip IV. He was recognized for his various depictions of historically significant events, as well as his portraits of Spanish nobles and commoners, which were very distinctive works for the time.
Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt van Rijn was born and raised in the city of Leiden, Netherlands (1606-1669), and is probably one of the most famous Dutch artists. He was an apprentice to the well-known painter Piter Lastman. After that, he started his own painting workshop, also teaching students like Gerrit Dou about this art. Although he had some success in his life, unfortunately the end of it reached him in the midst of poverty.
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer was a Baroque painter from Holland (1632-1675), who created well-known paintings of middle-class life, particularly home interiors. He worked on each painting over a long period of time, taking great care to apply details methodically and without rushing. He enjoyed minor success throughout his career, yet he died in debt, but his contributions are still appreciated today.
Elisabetta Sirani
Elisabetta Sirani was an artist of the Baroque period who was born in Bologna, a city within the Holy Roman Empire (1638-1665). Her first learning would come from her father in her personal studio, since the Sirani were a creative family. Her work was praised for her professionalism, speed of creation and uniqueness of her compositions.
Francisco Goya
Francisco Goya was an Aragonese painter born in the town of Fuendetodos, Spain (1746-1828). He began studying with José Luzán y Martínez and continued with Anton Raphael Mengs. For his contributions to the Romantic movement, he was appointed court painter to the Spanish Crown in 1786. As a result, much of his early work consisted of commissioned portraits of the Spanish monarchy and aristocracy. However, when he was diagnosed with a condition that left him deaf in 1793, his art became gloomier and darker.
JMW Turner
The English painter named JMW Turner was born in the town of Covent Garden, London (1775-1851). He was not only a painter, but also a romantic printer, known for his vivid and sometimes violent depictions of warships and marine life. He is recognized for being one of the most influential artists in landscape painting.
Eugene Delacroix
To speak of Eugène Delacroix is to refer to the best-known artist of the Romantic era in France in the 19th century and he is often considered the most important French artist of his time (1798-1863). Impressionism was deeply inspired by his vibrant use of color and extremely expressive brush strokes of it. He was not interested in traditions, preferring to explore the unknown by going to places like North Africa for inspiration.
Edouard Manet
Édouard Manet was born in Paris, France (1832-1883), who is noted as a modernist painter in the 19th century for his depictions of modern life. He is still a leading figure in the transitional style movement from Realism to Impressionism. He created a distinctive style that was recognized for his creativity and influenced many later painters during the last two decades of his life.
Paul Cezanne
Paul Cezanne is the best-known post-impressionist painter in France, the country where he was born (1839-1906). He is most recognized for bridging the gap between the Impressionist painters of the 19th century and Cubism, the most popular trend in the early 20th century. He also for experimenting with the notion of geometric simplicity, achieving the use of exploratory and repeated brushstrokes that characterize his art.
Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet, born in France (1840-1926), is a well-known painter who is often called the creator and father of Impressionism. He sought to represent nature as he subjectively saw it and, as a result, is considered an important precursor of the modernist movement.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter (1841-1919) continues to be called one of the most productive famous painters of the 19th century, ranked as a leader among the painters of the French Impressionist movement. He specialized in personal portraits of people in natural settings and postures, highlighting the female form, themes of beauty and sensuality.
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist painter who was born in Zundert, Netherlands (1853-1890). He created several portraits, still lifes and landscape paintings, but only after his death did they gain popularity and critical praise. He founded a style immediately identifiable by its dramatic use of color and expressively spontaneous brush strokes, which served to establish the foundation of contemporary art.
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian art theorist and painter who was born in Moscow (1866-1944). He is often cited as the creator of abstract arts. It wouldn’t be until after he turned 30 that he began studying painting. He helped open the Museum of Painting Culture, but after finding it difficult to combine his personal perspectives with the materialism-driven Soviet society, he returned once again to Germany, where he had previously trained.
Enrique Matisse
Many art scholars consider Henri Matisse to be among the most important and famous French painters of the modern era (1869-1954). He has also been considered the greatest colorist of the 20th century, working in a variety of media such as painting and sculpture, although he is most cited for his Fauvist-inspired works.
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter who, despite being born in the city of Malaga, Spain (1881-1973), would spend most of his working life in France. Picasso is called by art historians as one of the most important painters of the 20th century, co-founder of cubism, collage and constructed sculpture, beginning to demonstrate his remarkable creative capacity from an early age.
Georges Braque
Georges Braque was a very important painter in France in the 20th century, the country from which he originated (1882-1963). He also worked as a draftsman, engraver and sculptor, but his work in the Fauvist movement led to him being highly acclaimed for the contributions he made, even helping to develop Cubism.
Salvador Dali
Salvador Dalí is one of the best-known figures in Spain (1904-1989) and in the art world, and is remembered and adored both for his bizarre and luxurious lifestyle and for his prolific artistic production. Dalí was fully aware of the peculiarities of him and the…