Greatest 20th Century Paintings
Abstract pictures, portraits, landscapes, genre-painting by twentieth century artists.
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Greatest 20th-Century Paintings

Greatest 20th Century Paintings (1900-2000)

NOTE: For earlier works, please see:

Greatest Paintings by Old Masters (800-1800)

Greatest Modern Paintings (1800-1900)

Paintings Listed Chronologically under Artist's Name

A - B - C - D - E-F - G - H - I-J - K - L - M - N-O - P-Q - R - S - T - U-V - W-Z

Introduction

Our list features over 300 of the greatest examples of fine art painting created during the twentieth century. It covers all the great movements, such as Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, and Pop Art, and includes all the main painting genres plus a number of outstanding abstract paintings. All major 20th century painters are covered, although the specific works chosen is always a subjective affair, as is the decision as to whether a painter is best classified as a 19th or 20th century artist. In any event we hope that this list helps you to navigate your way through the jungle of modern and contemporary art, and adds to your appreciation of the subject. For an interpretation of outstanding modern works, see: Analysis of Modern Paintings (1800-2000). For earlier works, see Famous Paintings Analyzed (c.1250-1800).

Greatest 20th Century Paintings (1900-2000)

Josef Albers (1888-1976)
Ex-Bauhaus instructor; one of the most consistent abstract painters of the 20th century.
• Homage to the Square (1964) oil on wood, Tate Collection.

Abram Arkhipov (1862-1930)
Russian genre painter, noted also for colourist works.
• Visiting (1915) Russian Museum, St Petersburg.

Frank Auerbach (b.1931)
German-born Expressionist noted for his extreme impasto painting.
• Head of J.Y.M. No.1 (1981) oil on board, Southampton Art Gallery, UK.
See also: Contemporary British Painting (c.1960-2000).

Francis Bacon (1909-92)
Greatest ever Irish-born painter, noted for his disturbing Expressionism, laced with surrealism.
• The Screaming Pope (1953) William Burden Collection, New York.
• Figures in a Landscape (1956-7) Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery.
• Portrait of George Dyer Talking (1966) private collection.
• Triptych (1976) Roman Abramovich Collection.
• Three Studies for a Self-Portrait (1979-80) Metropolitan Museum, New York.

Giacomo Balla (1871-1958)
Italian Futurist painter, colleague of Umberto Boccioni and Gino Severini.
• Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912) Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo.

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-88)
Important figure, along with Keith Haring and David Wojnarowicz, in the transition of graffiti art from clandestine street painting to mainstream postmodernist art.
• Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump (1982) Private Collection.
• Charles the First (1982) Private Collection.
• Untitled (Skull) (1984) Private Collection.

Max Beckmann (1884-1950)
German Expressionist, member of Neue Sachlichkeit movement, noted for self portraits.
• Self-Portrait in a Tuxedo (1927) Harvard Museum.
• Self-Portrait in Olive and Brown (1945) Detroit Institute of Arts.
• The Beginning (triptych) (1949) Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975)
Missouri-born artist noted for his American Scene painting of life in the South and Midwest.
• The Lord is My Shepherd (1926) Whitney Museum of Art, New York.

Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947)
Founding member of Les Nabis, lifelong colourist painter.
• Green Blouse (1919) Metropolitan Museum.
• Terrace at Vernon (1939) Metropolitan Museum.

Fernando Botero (b.1932)
Columbian painter & sculptor noted for his playful figure painting of super-obese people.
• The Collector (1974) R. Learner Collection, Madrid.
• Dancers at the Bar (2001) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Georges Braque (1882-1963)
Noted for his Cezanne-inspired early Cubist painting (see, for instance, his Estaque landscapes), and his Cubist-style still life painting as well as his experimental collages.
• Big Nude (1907-8), Cuttoli Collection, Paris.

Cecily Brown (b.1969)
British-born painter, notorious for her shocking gestural figuration painting.
• 1000 Thread Count (2004) private collection.

Carlo Carra (1881-1966)
Italian Cubist/Futurist and co-founder of Metaphysical painting (Pittura Metafisica)
• The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli (1911) Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Woman on the Balcony (1912) Private Collection
• The Drunken Gentleman (1916) Private Collection
• Red House (1926) Private Collection.

Cezanne (1839-1906)
Highly influential post-Impressionist, classical style painter.
• The Large Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses) (1894-1905) Various Museums.
• Young Italian Woman Leaning on her Elbow (1900) J.Paul Getty Museum
Note: For earlier works by Cezanne, see: Greatest Modern Paintings (1800-1900).

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Russian-born, Paris-based primitivist folk-painter, illustrator, stained glass artist.
• Sabbath (1909) Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.
• The Fiddler (1911) Kunstsammulung Nordrhein-West Falen.
• View from the Window, Vitebsk (1914) gouache painting, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
• War (1964-6) Kunsthaus, Zurich.

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978)
Co-founder of Metaphysical painting, famous for uneasy, semi-Surrealist townscapes.
• Place d'Italie (1912) private collection.
• The Uncertainty of the Poet (1913) Tate, London.
• The Mystery and Melancholy of a Street (1914) Private Collection.
• Song of Love (1914) Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Chuck Close (b.1940)
Leader of American photorealism movement; ranks alongside Richard Estes.
• Self-Portrait (1997) Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Alex Colville (1920-2013)
Canadian artist; leading exponent of Magic Realism.
• The Swimming Race (1959) National Gallery of Canada, Ottowa.

Lovis Corinth (1858-1925)
German Expressionist painter and printmaker.
• Ecce Homo (1925), Basel, Kunstmuseum.

Salvador Dali (1904-89)
Spanish artist, most famous member of the international Surrealism movement; avant-garde sculptor. See also Automatism in Art.
• The Persistence of Memory (1931) Museum of Modern Art.
• Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (1936), Philadelphia Museum of Art.
• The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1952-4) Salvador Dali Museum, Florida.

Willem De Kooning (1904-97)
Artist of the New York School of painting, best known for his 'Woman' series.
• Seated Woman (1944) Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Woman 1 (1950-2) Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Woman and Bicycle (1952-3) Whitney Museum of American Art.
• Marilyn Monroe (1954) private collection.

Robert Delaunay (1885-1941)
French painter, founder of Orphism, a type of Cubist-inspired colourism.
• The Eiffel Tower (The Red Tower) (1909) Guggenheim Museum, New York.
• A Window (Study for the Three Windows) (1912) Centre Georges Pompidou.

Paul Delvaux (1897-1994)
Surrealist painter known for his haunting paintings of dreams/nightmares & female nudes.
• Venus Asleep (1944) Tate Gallery.

Andre Derain (1880-1954)
French fauvist painter, printmaker, sculptor; adherent of Primitive art, later more classical.
• Harbour of Collioure (1905) Private Collection.
• Portrait of Matisse (1905) Tate Modern London.
• Self-Portrait in a Floppy Hat (1905) private collection.
• Lady in a Chemise (1906) State Art Museum, Copenhagen.
• Charing Cross Bridge (1906) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

Otto Dix (1891-1969)
With George Grosz, the leader of the Neue Sachlichkeit Expressionist movement.
• The Match Seller (1920) Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart.
• Pimp with Prostitutes (1922) private collection.
• Portrait of the Journalist Silvia von Harden (1926) Musee Moderne Paris.

Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931)
Dutch founder of De Stijl as well as Elementarism.
• Composition VII (The Three Graces) (1917) Private Collection.

Kees van Dongen (1877-1968)
Dutch Expressionist and Fauvist, active in Paris, best known for his colourful figures.
• Woman in Black Hat (1908) Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
• Le Coquelicot (The Corn Poppy) (1919) Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, Albi.

Russell Drysdale (1912-81)
Australian expressionist/surrealist 'bush painter'; important figure in Australian modern painting.
• Snake Bay at Night (1959) Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
• Sofala (1947) Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)
French avant-garde Dada artist, noted for his "ready-mades" & conceptual art.
• Nude Descending a Staircase No.2 (1912) Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Raoul Dufy (1877-1953)
French Impressionist/Fauvist artist noted for his colourist works.
• The Pantheon and St. Etienne-du-Mont (1904) Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo.
• Casino at Nice (1927) Private Collection.

E-F

John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961)
Important member of the Scottish Colourists influenced by Matisse and the Fauves.
• Rue St Jacques (1907) National Gallery of Scotland.

Rainer Fetting (b.1949)
Member of the 1980s Neue Wilden Neo-Expressionism group of German painters.
• Large Shower (1980) acrylic on canvas, private collection.

Sam Francis (1923-1994)
Leading second generation American Abstract Expressionist painter.
• For Rudd (1963) Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) NYC.

Helen Frankenthaler (b.1928)
American abstract expressionist painter, founder of Colour Stain painting.
• Mountains and Sea (1952) National Gallery, Washington DC.

Lucian Freud (b.1922)
Famous for his outstanding portrait art; Berlin-born grandson of Sigmund Freud.
• Interior at Paddington (1951) Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
• Girl with a White Dog (1952) Tate Gallery, London.
• The Painter's Mother (1984) Private Collection.
• Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (Portrait of Sue Tilley) (1995) Private Collection.

Othon Friesz (1879-1949)
Underrated restrained colourist, Impressionist, Fauvist, Expressionist, influenced by Matisse.
• The Seine at Paris, Pont de Grenelle (1901) Glasgow Museums.
• The Woman on the Green Sofa (1927) Private Collection.

Joanne Gair (b.1958)
Best-known for her trompe l'oeil painting.
• "Demi Moore's Birthday Suit" (Vanity Fair, Aug 1992) Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

Natalia Goncharova (1881-1962)
Russian artist noted for her Neo-Primitivism, Cubo-Futurism, ballet-set designs.
• Moscow Street (1909) Private Collection.

Juan Gris (1887-1927)
Spanish painter, sculptor, illustrator; leading Cubist after Picasso and Braque.
• Portrait of Pablo Picasso (1912) Art Institute of Chicago.
• Landscape at Ceret (1913) Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
• Violin and Guitar (1913) Private Collection.

Marcel Gromaire (1892-1971)
French-Belgian Fauvist painter noted for sombre paintings of nudes and peasants.
• The Lines of the Hand (1935) Musee National d'Art Moderne, Pompidou Centre, Paris.

George Grosz (1893-1959)
With Otto Dix, leader of Neue Sachlichkeit German Expressionism movement.
• Suicide (1916) Tate Collection, London.
• Pillars of Society (1926) Nationalgallerie, Berlin.

Philip Guston (1913-80)
American painter noted for his "Abstract Impressionism".
• Dial (1956) Whitney Museum, New York.

Ashley Hanson (b.1960)
English artist noted for his vivid colour painting.
• The Englands (2008) Private Collection.

Keith Haring (1958-90)
New York street artist, noted for signature style of animated graffiti art and other imagery.
• Crack is Wack (1986) Harlem Mural Painting, New York.
• Radiant Baby (c.1980) Graffiti image.

Erich Heckel (1883-1970)
German expressionist painter and graphic artist.
• Nude on a Sofa (1909) Private Collection.
• Reclining Woman (1909) SGMA, Munich.
• Landscape Near Dresden (1910) Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.

Robert Henri (1865-1929)
American urban realist painter; leading figure of the Ashcan School of Art.
• Snow in New York (1902) National Gallery, Washington DC.

Patrick Heron (1920-99)
English lyrical abstraction colourist painter.
• Yellow Painting (1958-59) Tate Collection, London.
• Eight Including Ultramarine (1971) Tate Collection, London.

David Hockney (b.1937)
English Pop-artist, best-known for bright acrylic painting of life & swimming pools in California.
• A Bigger Splash (1967), acrylic on canvas, private collection.
• California Seascape (1968) watercolour on paper, Arts Council Collection, London.
• Mr and Mrs Clarke and Percy (1971) acrylic on canvas, Tate Collection, London.

Hans Hofmann (1880-1966)
German painter, pioneer and influential teacher of Abstract Expressionism in America.
• The Gate (1959-60) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
American artist responsible for some of the greatest genre paintings of the 20th century, most of which depict the isolation of urban life.
• House by the Railroad (1925) Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) NY.
• Chop Suey (1929) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
• Lighthouse at Two Lights (1929) Metropolitan Museum.
• Hotel Room (1931) Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation, Lugano.
• Office at Night (1940) Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
• Gas (1940) Museum of Modern Art.
• Nighthawks (1942) Art Institute of Chicago.

I-J

Alexei von Jawlensky (1864-1941)
Russian Expressionist painter known as "The Russian Matisse". For more about his work, please see: Greatest Expressionist Paintings.
• Portrait of the Dancer Alexander Sakharov (1909) Lenbachhaus, Munich.
• Head (1910) Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Head of a Woman (1911) National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh.
• Head of a Woman 'Medusa' (1923) Museum of Fine Arts, Lyon.

Jasper Johns (b.1930)
Innovative American postmodernist; pioneer of Pop-Art.
• Flag (1954-55) encaustic paint on panel, Museum of Modern Art New York.
• Target with Four Faces (1955) Museum of Modern Art New York.
• False Start (1959) Private Collection.
• Map (1961) Museum of Modern Art New York.

Marja Van Kampen (b.1949)
Dutch-born Irish-based colourist painter.
• Rainbow City (2006) Private Collection.

Wassily Kandinsky (1844-1944)
Russian Pioneer of the Expressionist movement; founder of Der Blaue Reiter group in Munich.
• The Blue Rider (1903) Private Collection.
• Autumn in Bavaria (1908) Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris.
• Winter Landscape (1909) Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
• Bedroom in Aintmillerstrasse (1909) Lenbachhaus Gallery, Munich.
• Church in Murnau (1910) Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich.

Joseph Malachy Kavanagh (1856-1918)
Irish painter of the "Antwerp School", best-known for this masterpiece of genre painting.
• The Convent Gate, Dinan (1883) National Gallery of Ireland.

Anselm Kiefer (b.1945)
German Neo-Expressionist painter, noted for his contemporary style history painting.
• Innenraum (1981) Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
• Lot's Wife (1989) The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938)
Major figure in German Expressionism; founder of Die Brucke Expressionist group in Dresden.
• The Street (1908) Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Marcella (1909-10) Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
• Semi-Nude Woman with Hat (1911) Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.
• Berlin Street Scene (1913) Brucke Museum, Berlin.
• Portrait of Gerda (1914) Van der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal.

Paul Klee (1879-1940)
Swiss-born painter and graphic artist, influential figure in European abstract art.
• The Golden Fish (1926) oil/watercolour on paper/board, Kunsthalle, Hamburg.
• Ad Parnassum, (1932) Kunstmuseum, Bern.

Yves Klein (1928-62)
One of Europe's most innovative artists; leader of avant-garde art in the early 60s.
• IKB 79 (1959) Tate Gallery, London.
See also: Yves Klein's postmodernist art (1958-62)

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)
Viennese painter, noted for mosaic-style Byzantine-style portraits. See: Vienna Secesson.
• The Kiss (1907-8) oil & gold on canvas, Osterreichischegallerie, Vienna.

Franz Kline (1910-62)
American Abstract Expressionist, influenced by De Kooning.
• Chief (1950) enamel paint on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Black Reflections (1959) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980)
Austrian best-known for his expressionist portraits.
• Portrait of Herwarth Walden (1910) State Art Gallery, Stuttgart.
• The Tempest (1914) Kunstmuseum, Basel.
• Portrait of Frau Reuther (1921) Norton Simon Foundation, Zurich.
• London, View of the Thames in the Evening (1926) private collection.

Lee Krasner (1908-84)
Wife of Jackson Pollock, co-inventor of "action painting".
• Composition, 1943 (1943) Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC.

Frank Kupka (1871-1957)
Innovative Czech abstract painter and graphic artist; member of Section d'Or Cubist Group.
• Planes by Colours (1910-11) National Museum of Modern Art, Paris.
• Madame Kupka among Vertical Lines (1910-11) MOMA, New York.
• Vertical Planes (1912) MNd'AM, Paris.

Fernand Leger (1881-1955)
French Cubist painter, inventor of "tubism"; also worked with stained glass, sculpture.
• Soldiers Playing at Cards (1917) Kroller-Muller Museum, Otterlo.
• The Mechanic (1920) National Gallery of Canada, Ottowa.
• Three Women (Le Grand Dejeuner) (1921) MOMA, New York.
• Nudes against a Red Background (1923) Kunstmuseum, Basel.
• Two Sisters (1935), Nationalgalerie, Berlin.

Tamara de Lempicka (Tamara Gorska) (1898-1980)
Polish-Russian Art Deco style painter famous for her stylized figures and nudes.
• Auto-Portrait (Tamara in Green Bugatti) (1925) Private Collection.
• Girl with Gloves (1929) Private Collection.

Percy Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957)
English painter, founder of British Cubism group known as Vorticism.
• Portrait of TS Eliot (1938) Durban Art Gallery, South Africa.

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-97)
Famous cartoon-style American Pop-artist.
• Wham! (1963) magna on canvas, Tate Collection, London.
• Still Life with Goldfish (1974) Philadelphia Museum of Art.
• Bedroom at Arles (1992) Fitzhugh Farm, Robert/Jane Meyerhoff Collection.

L.S. Lowry (1887-1973)
Manchester painter, noted for his industrial townscapes and stick-like people.
• Coming from the Mill (1930) Salford Museum & Art Gallery, Salford.

August Macke (1887-1914)
German Expressionist painter, member of Der Blaue Reiter; close friend of Franz Marc.
• Park Restaurant (1912) Kunstmuseum, Basel.
• Zoological Garden I (1912) Lenbachhaus Gallery, Munich.
• Turkish Cafe I (1914) Stadtisches Kunstmuseum, Bonn.

Rene Magritte (1898-1967)
Belgian Surrealist painter, had strong influence on Pop-art movement.
• La Condition Humaine (1933) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
• Empire of Light, II (1950) Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• The Listening Room (1952) Menil Collection, Houston.

Kasimir Malevich (1878-1935)
Founder of Russian Suprematism movement of geometric abstract art.
• Black Square on White Ground (1913) State Russian Museum, St Petersburg.
• Black Circle (1913) State Russian Museum, St Petersburg.
• Red Square (1915) State Russian Museum, St Petersburg.
• White on White (1918) Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Franz Marc (1880-1916)
With Kandinsky, co-founded Der Blaue Reiter Expressionist group in Munich.
• Large Blue Horses (1911) Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis.
• Tiger (1912) Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich.
• Little Blue Horse (1912) Saarland Museum.

Georges Mathieu (1921-2012)
French painter famous for his gestural painting; known as "The Salvador Dali of Art Informel".
• Homage to Death (1950) Private Collection.
• Capetians Everywhere (1954) Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
Post-Impressionist leader of Fauvism, noted also for his later blue nudes.
• Luxe Calme et Volupte (1904) Musee d'Orsay, Paris.
• Woman with a Hat (1905)
• Nude (Black and Gold) (1908) Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
• La Danse (1910) Hermitage, St Petersburg.
• Nasturtiums and the 'Dance' (1912) Metropolitan Museum.
• Woman with a Green Parasol on a Balcony (1919) Private Collection.
• Blue Nude III (1952) gouache on paper, Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris.

Joan Miro (1893-1983)
Spanish Surrealist painter, noted also for his lithographs, etchings, ceramic art.
• The Farm (1921-2) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
• The Harlequin's Arrival (1924-5) Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo NY.
• Dog Barking at the Moon (1926) Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art.
• Woman (1934) pastel on paper, private collection.
• Blue I/II/II (1961) (Triptych) National Museum of Modern Art, Paris.

Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907)
Worpswede artist, noted for her pioneering expressionist portraits of peasants and farmers.
• The Old Farmer (1903) Kunsthalle, Hamburg.
• Poorhouse Woman with Glass Bowl (1907) Ludwig Roselius Collection, Bremen.

Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920)
Bohemian Paris-based Italian painter famous for his Expressionist female nudes and for some of the greatest portrait paintings of the twentieth century.
• Portrait of Moise Kisling (1915) Private Collection.
• Chaim Soutine (1915) Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart.
• Portrait of Juan Gris (1915) Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Bride and Groom (1916) MOMA, New York.
• Portrait of Leopold Zborowski (1916) Private Collection.
• Paul Guillaume (1916) Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Milan.
• Seated Nude (1916) Courtauld Institute Galleries.
• Reclining Nude (1917) Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart.
• Portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne (1918) Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Girl with Braids (1918) Nagoya City Art Museum.

Piet Mondrian (1872-1944)
Dutch master, leader of Neo-Plasticism movement of non-objective art.
• Apple Tree in Bloom (1912) private collection.
• Composition with Yellow, Blue, Red (1942) Tate Collection, London.
• Broadway Boogie Woogie (1942-3) Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964)
Italian artist, one of the best still life painters; influenced by Jean Chardin & Paul Cezanne.
• Still Life (1960) private collection.

Robert Motherwell (1915-91)
Abstract Expressionist noted for his "Elegy" series inspired by Spanish Civil War.
Extended series of acrylic paintings entitled: Elegy to the Spanish Republic.
• Elegy to the Spanish Republic No 55 (1955-60) Cleveland Museum of Art.
• Elegy to the Spanish Republic No 108 (1965-67) Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Gabriele Munter (1877-1962)
German expressionist painter; partner of Kandinsky.
• Misthaufen, Murnau (Dorfstrasse in Murnau) (1908) Private Collection.
• Portrait of Marianne von Werefkin (1909) Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich.
• Meditation (1917) Lenbachhaus Gallery, Munich.
• Staffelsee in Autumn (1923) National Museum of Women in the Arts.

N-O

Paul Nash (1889-1946)
Neo-Romantic English painter of visionary landscapes, influenced by De Chirico.
• Totes Meer (Dead Sea) (1940-1), Tate Collection, London.

Barnett Newman (1905-70)
Co-founder of Colour Field Painting movement.
• Vir Heroicus Sublimis (1950-1) MoMA, New York.
• Adam (1951-2) Tate Gallery, London.
• Onement VI (1953) Private Collection.

Sidney Nolan (1917-92)
Australian painter, best-known for series of pictures about the outlaw Ned Kelly.
• Death of Constable Scanlon (1946) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

Emil Nolde (1867-1956)
Powerful Die Brucke German Expressionist painter, watercolourist, etcher & lithographer.
• The Prophet (1912) woodcut, various locations.
• Young Men From Papua (1913-14) Staatliche Museen, Berlin.
• Red Poppies (1920) watercolour painting, Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York.

Chris Ofili (b.1968)
Controversial Young British Artist, winner of the Turner Prize (1998).
• No Woman, No Cry (1998) Tate Modern, London.

Roderic O'Conor (1860–1940)
Talented Irish post-Impressionist painter active at Pont-Aven and later Paris.
• Bretonne (Breton Girl) (c.1890)
• Une Jeune Bretonne (A Young Breton Girl) (1903) Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane.
See also: Irish Painting: 20th Century.

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)
Wife of Alfred Stieglitz; painted urban landscapes, and expressionist flowers.
• Radiator Building (1927) Private Collection.
• Black Abstraction (1927) Metropolitan Museum.
• Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue (1931) Metropolitan Museum.

Julian Opie (b.1958)
British painter, sculptor, printmaker, noted for minimal figurative images.
• Woman Taking off Man's Shirt in two Written Stages (2003) private collection.

William Orpen (1878-1931)
Irish classical academic portraitist, hugely influential in Ireland.
• Cafe Royal in London (1912) Musee d'Orsay.

P-Q

Max Pechstein (1881-1955)
Leading member of the Dresden-based Die Brucke expressionist group.
• Young Woman with a Red Fan (1910) Folkwang Museum, Essen.

Joseph Pennell (1857-1926)
American etcher, lithographer and graphic artist; member of Ashcan School.
• Waldorf Astoria Hotel (1904-8) Charcoal and pastel on brown paper, Private Collection.

Francis Picabia (1879-1953)
French Surrealist painter famous for his fantasy motifs and images.
• Catch as Catch Can (1913) Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Spanish artist, co-founder of Cubism. One of the great figures in modern art.
• Blue Nude (c.1904) Picasso Museum, Barcelona.
• La Vie (1903) Cleveland Museum of Art.
• Boy with a Pipe (Garcon a la Pipe) (1905) private collection.
• Girl In a Chemise (1905) Tate Collection, London.
• Two Nudes (1906) Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Portrait of Gertrude Stein (1906) Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Seated Woman (Picasso) (1920) Paris.
• Large Bather (1921) Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris.
• Two Women Running on the Beach (The Race) (1922) Musee Picasso, Paris.
• Woman in White (1923) Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Guernica (1937) Reina Sofia, Madrid.
• Weeping Woman (1937) Tate Gallery, London.
See also: Portraits by Picasso.

Jackson Pollock (1912-56)
Inventor, with Lee Krasner, of "action-painting" style of all-over expressionism.
• The She-Wolf (1943) MoMA, NY.
• Pasiphae (1943) Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Number 4 (1950) The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh.
• Number 6 (1948) Private Collection.
• Lavender Mist (Number 1) (1950) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
• Blue Poles (Number 11) (1952) National Gallery of Australia.
See also: Jackson Pollock's paintings (c.1940-56).

Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008)
Neo-Dada artist and pioneer of Pop-art.
• Bed (1955) MOMA, New York.

Odilon Redon (1840-1916)
French symbolist painter.
• Lady with Wildflowers (1895-1900) Hermitage, St Petersburg.
• The Cyclops (1914) Kroller-Muller Museum, The Netherlands.

Ad Reinhardt (1913-67)
A disciple of minimalist art, Reinhardt is best-known for his "Black Paintings".
• Abstract Painting (1966) Samuel R Guggenheim Museum, New York.

Gerhard Richter (b.1932)
German Neo-Expressionist, multi-media artist.
• Domplatz, Mailand (Cathedral Square, Milan) (1968) Private Collection.

Bridget Riley (b.1931)
British painter, designer; leader, with Victor Vasarely, of Op-Art painting movement.
• Fission (1963) tempera on board, Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Movement in Squares (1961) British Council Collection.
• Current (1964) MoMA, New York.
• Cataract 3 (1967) British Council, London.

Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923-2002)
Canada's leading abstract expressionist artist.
• Leaves III (1967) (Lithograph).

Diego Rivera (1886-1957)
Mexican artist best-known for his Mexican murals; ranks with Jose Orozco and David Siqueiros.
• The Organization of The Agrarian Movement (1926) Private Collection.

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978)
American Saturday Evening Post illustrator noted for his nostalgic genre painting.
• Thanksgiving. Mother and Son Peeling Potatoes (1945) Private Collection.

Mark Rothko (1903-70)
Latvian-born artist, pioneer of a style of Abstract Expressionist painting known as "Colour Field".
• No 8 (1952) Private Collection
• Orange And Yellow (1956) Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY.
• Blue and Grey (1962) Private Collection.
• White Over Red (1957) Private Collection.
For more details, see: Mark Rothko's Paintings (1938-70).

Georges Rouault (1871-1958)
French artist, one of the most distinctive expressionist painters of the Paris school, noted for his jewel-like "stained-glass" style of painting.
• Self-Portrait (1911) Private Collection.
• The Clown (1912) Musem of Modern Art, New York.
• The Old King (1937) Private Collection.

Henri Rousseau "Le Douanier" (1844-1910)
Greatest of French naif artists, greatly admired by Picasso. See: Primitivism and Primitive art.
• The Sleeping Gypsy (1897) Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• The Dream (1910) Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Jenny Saville (b.1970)
Best-known for fleshy female nudes.
• Fulcrum (1997-99) Private Collection.

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884-1976)
Member of Die Brucke German expressionist group, noted for vividly coloured paintings.
• Pharisees (1912) Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Double Portrait of S and L (1925) Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund.

Egon Schiele (1890-1918)
Neurotic Viennese genius, one of the greatest daughtsmen and self-portraitists.
• Self-Portrait (1912) Leopold Collection, Vienna.
• The Embrace (1917) Osterreichischegallerie, Vienna.
• Portrait of Valerie Neuzil (1912) Private Collection.

Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942)
British painter, pupil of Whistler, advocate of French avant-garde art in Britain.
• Mornington Crescent (1908) private collection.

Maria Helena Vieria da Silva (1908-92)
Portugese artist, exponent of Art Informel painting, noted for architectural imagery.
• Theatre de Gerard Philipe (1975) Unterlindenmuseum, Colmar.

John Sloan (1871-1951)
Painter of the early 20th century Ashcan School, New York.
• McSorley's Bar (1912) Detroit Institute of Arts.

Chaim Soutine (1893-1943)
Belarus-born painter, leading member of Ecole de Paris expressionists.
• Portrait of Oscar Miestschaninoff (1923) Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris.
• Page Boy at Maxim's (1927) Albright-Knox Art Gallery.
• Portrait of Madeleine Castaing (1928) Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Nicolas de Stael (1914-1955)
Russian-French painter noted for his lyrical abstraction.
• Composition on Red Background (1951) Private Collection.

Frank Stella (b.1936)
Minimalist American painter associated with Hard Edge Painting and Shaped Canvas.
• Bam (1966) Louisana Museum of Modern Art.
• Madinat as-Salam I (1970) Frederick R. Wisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles.

Clyfford Still (1904-1980)
With Rothko & Newman, member of Colour Field Painting style of Abstract Expressionism.
• Painting 1944 (1944) Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Painting 1951 (1951) Detroit Institute of Art.
• 1957-D no.1 (1957) Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY.

Graham Sutherland (1903-80)
British painter, engraver and etcher, noted for portraits & semi-abstract landscapes.
• The Crucifixion (1946) St Matthews Church, Northampton.
• Portrait of Somerset Maugham (1949) Tate Gallery, London.

Yves Tanguy (1900-55)
French surrealistic painter best-known for his biomorphic imagery.
• Infinite Divisibilty (1942) Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY.

Antoni Tapies (b.1923)
Barcelona painter influenced by Klee and Miro, noted for abstract paintings & prints.
• White and Orange (1967) mixed media on plywood, Private Collection.

Mark Tobey (1890-1976)
American painter noted for abstract works fusing Pollock with eastern calligraphy.
• Edge of August (1953) MoMA, New York.
• White Journey (1956) distemper on paper, Beyeler Collection, Basel.

Cy Twombly (1928-2011)
American calligraphic expressionist active in France.
• Leda and the Swan (1962) MoMA, New York.

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Maurice Utrillo (1883-1955)
Alcoholic French painter, noted for his "White Period" and street scenes of Montmartre.
• Marizy-Sainte-Genevieve (1910) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
• Church at St Hilaire (1911) Tate Modern.
• La Rue du Mont-Cenis (1915) Pushkin Fine Arts Museum, Moscow.
• Flag Over the Town Hall (1924) Musee de L'Orangerie, Paris.

Jack Vettriano (b.1951)
Populist Scottish subject painter.
• The Singing Butler (1992) Private Collection.

Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958)
French painter, best-known for his Fauvist landscape painting.
• The Bar Counter (1900) Musee de Calvet, Avignon.
• Champs de Ble and Restaurant at Bougival (1905-6) Musee d'Orsay, Paris.
• The Blue House (1906) Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
• The Wheat Field (Champs de Ble) (1906) Milwaukee Art Museum.

W-Z

Andy Warhol (1928-86)
Leader of American Pop-Art movement, best-known for his celebrity silkscreen portraits.
• Four Marilyns (1962) Private Collection.
• Liz No 2 (1962) Private Collection.
• Four Mona Lisas (1963) Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• Jacqueline Kennedy No.3 (1965) Hayward Gallery.
• Self-Portrait (1967) Tate Modern, London.
• Mao (1973) Art Institute of Chicago.
For details, see: Andy Warhol's Pop Art of the sixties and seventies.

Grant Wood (1891-1942)
American Iowan artist associated with Regionalism: Mid-West American Painting; known as the "Hans Memling of the Mid-West".
• American Gothic (1930) oil on beaverboard, Art Institute of Chicago.
• Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (1931) Metropolitan Museum, New York.

Christopher Wool (b.1955)
Leading exponent of Word Art (text-based painting).
• Apocalypse Now (1988) Private Collection.

Andrew Wyeth (b.1917)
American realist painter in watercolour or tempera, noted for nostalgic regionalist pictures.
• Christina's World (1948) tempera on panel, Museum of Modern Art.

Jack B. Yeats (1871-1957)
One of the great Irish artists of the twentieth century, noted for his expressionist genre scenes.
• The Liffey Swim (1923) National Gallery of Ireland.
• The Whistle of a Jacket (1946) Private Collection.

Jiro Yoshihara (1905-72)
Gestural expressionist, exponent of concrete art, founder of Gutai Group, Japan.
• To Martha's Memory (1970) Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY.

• For more about twentieth century painting, both abstract and representational, see: Homepage.