Art Lists: Famous Paintings by Theme, Era and Mood
Every list I have published, in one place. 208 collections of famous paintings, sorted by movement, subject, country and mood, each one telling the story behind the picture rather than just naming it.
Some are here for the record books, like the most expensive canvases ever sold. Others exist because nobody had gathered them: the witches, the plague, the unicorns, the cats. Pick a thread and follow it.
Movements and periods
Painters and their work
People, gods and creatures
Famous mother and child paintings: twelve tender icons, from Raphael to Cassatt.
Famous Greek mythology paintings: twelve myths, from Venus to the forge of Vulcan.
Famous paintings of kings and queens: twelve royal icons and their propaganda.
Twins and doubles in art: the Cholmondeley Ladies, the Two Fridas and one bath.
Courtesans in painting: the women behind Titian, Manet and Lautrec.
Beggars and the poor in painting: twelve works, and who actually bought them.
Animals and nature
Elephants in art: from Rembrandt’s Hansken to Dali.
Famous volcano paintings: twelve eruptions, one leg lost.
Swans in art: the attacks, the myths and the ballet.
Crows and ravens in art: century by century, from omens to Van Gogh.
Famous shipwreck paintings: twelve disasters, from the Medusa to the Slave Ship.
Places and history
Deserts in painting: sand, saints and a goat at the Dead Sea.
Famous battle paintings: twelve battles and what each one argues.
Materials and technique
The most famous statues in the world: twelve icons from David to the Moai.
Famous marble sculptures: twelve miracles in stone, veils included.
Famous bronze statues: the twelve that escaped the furnace.
Famous statues by city: Rome, Florence and Paris, and which are copies.
Backs turned, the Ruckenfigur: the device Friedrich turned into a subject.
Records and curiosities
The most stolen paintings in history: twelve crimes, two still unsolved.
The most controversial paintings: trials, the Inquisition and one farthing in damages.
Money in art: moneylenders, tax men and Warhol’s dollar sign.
The most reproduced paintings: the twelve images that left the museum.
Censored art: fig leaves, loincloths and locked cabinets.
Erotic art through history: from Pompeii to Schiele, and the cabinet locked 150 years.
And a few more
Dreams in art: twelve painted dreams, from Fuseli to Dali.
Hell in painting: twelve visions of damnation, butt song included.
Doctors and medicine in painting: from a ticketed autopsy to Dr Gachet.
Card games and gamblers in painting: cheats, cons and a 250 million dollar table.
Madness in painting: from Bedlam to Gericault’s lost portraits.
Famous funeral paintings: twelve farewells, from Ornans to the Isle of the Dead.
Laughter in painting: why nobody smiles in old portraits, and twelve who did.
Maps and globes in painting: geography as meaning, from Vermeer to Holbein.
Hats in art: twelve hats, from a red turban to a bowler.
Kitchens and cooks in painting: the Milkmaid, fried eggs and a cook made of meat.
Fishermen in painting: twelve works about waiting, weather and who comes back.
Blindness in art: from Bruegel’s six blind men to Monet’s cataracts.
Vampires in art: twelve paintings before and after Dracula.
Poison in art: hemlock, asps and the pigments that killed painters.
Skeletons and the danse macabre: from a 1424 cemetery wall to La Catrina.
Prisons in art: Piranesi, Van Gogh’s yard and a prison that never existed.
Bread in painting: twelve loaves, from the Last Supper to Dali.
Fruit in art: the code behind lemons, apples and pomegranates.
Jewellery in portraits: what the pearls and pendants actually mean.
Shoes in painting: boots, clogs and one very famous slipper.
Gloves in portraits: why one glove is always off.
Pregnancy in painting: the Arnolfini debate, and Frida Kahlo.
Nightmares in painting: from Fuseli’s incubus to Beksinski.
Blacksmiths and workers in painting: twelve paintings of work and what they argue.
Looking for a single artist instead
Every painter has a full guide of their own, indexed here: the complete artist guides. And for the vocabulary, the art glossary explains every term in plain English.