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 | | | Who do you rate as the greatest artist of the 20th century? Interestingly, this seemingly simple question is one that invites a great deal of heated arguments and disagreement. Most art critics and art lovers find it very difficult to agree on a definitive list. However, a recent poll of over 1.4 million people in Britain goes some way to identify the public’s view of who our finest modern artists actually are. And despite many critics disagreeing with the results, most view the list as an interesting starting point for discussing how we view modern art. The list stirs up a number of surprises. Whatever your own views, here are the final results of the poll and the current Top Ten artists of modern art: |
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1. Pablo Picasso
2. Paul Cezanne
3. Gustav Klimt
4. Claude Monet
5. Marcel Duchamp
6. Henri Matisse
7. Jackson Pollock
8. Andy Warhol
9. Willem de Kooning
10. Piet Mondrian
Despite intensive debate, most art critics agree that Spanish artist Pablo Picasso is a fine choice to be at the very top of the poll. As one art expert commented, no other modern artist was more “relentlessly inventive, more tenaciously productive, more implacably brilliant than Picasso”. As a co-founder of the Cubist movement, one of Picasso's most famous works is Guernica, painted in 1937. The painting shows the terrible damage and heartbreaking suffering inflicted on the city by enemy bombing during the Spanish civil war. As a controversial and colourful figure, most agree that Picasso really does deserve his position as the greatest modern artist.
At second place, Paul Cezanne, heralded as the father of Modernism, helped to prepare the ground for artists such as Picasso and Matisse. Indeed, both Matisse and Picasso, at one time or another described Cezanne as being "the father of us all".
Next on the list is the widely popular Austrian artist, Gustav Klimt. Gustav Klimt pioneered an instantly recognised style of portraiture using gold leaf and rich colour to create a highly decorative effect. There is no doubt that Klimt’s much-loved masterpieces helped to inspire the rise of Art Nouveau in Europe.
French painter, Claude Monet, comes fourth on the list. As a founding member of the famous Impressionist movement, Monet is an obvious choice. However, the art world and general public initially ignored or disliked Monet’s work when it first came out. The Paris Academy Salon rejected a number of Monet’s now world-famous paintings when the artist submitted them for review. Fortunately, the paintings found a more appreciative audience when they were shown at the Salon de Refuses – literally meaning the Room of Rejection!
To view the complete article, subscribe to Just English magazine.
Glossary
Definitive (adj)
clear and certain.
Tenacious (adj)
determined and difficult to change.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 19 August 2009 15:20 )
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