Art Everyone Should Know

October 15, 2008

Art Everyone Should Know

One of my favorite blogs, the Cranky Epistles, has posted a list of books everyone should read (part two of the the list here). In response, I’d just like to note an incomplete list of art objects everyone should know. There are images that pervade our society, shape it, change it, and make us ask that most basic of questions: what is art? 

Now, you may not like all of these objects. It doesn’t matter. What is important is that they are important to society, to the history of communication and culture. It’s a good start.

La Gioconda (The Mona Lisa)
Leonardo Da Vinci
1503-1505 CE, oil on canvas
Milan, Italy

The Sistine Chapel
Various Artists
1477-1541 CE; restored 1984-1994 CE.

On A Mountain Path In Spring
Ma Yuan
ca. 1200-1225 CE
China; Southern Song Dynasty
Album leaf; ink and color on silk.

The Parthenon
Architecture: Iktinos and Kallikrates
Sculpture: Phidias
447-432 BCE
Marble and limestone
Athens, Greece

David
Donatello di Niccolo di Betto Bardi
Bronze, ca. 1440 CE
Florence, Italy

The Pantheon
Design attributed to Hadrian
Concrete with marble and travertine veneer
ca. 125 CE
Rome, Italy

The Horyu-ji
Dedicated by Shotoku Taishi in 607 CE
Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Original timber constructions
Current construction, completed 711 CE, restored 1374 CE, 1603 CE, 1954 CE

American Gothic
Grant Wood
1930 CE; oil on beaverboard
Chicago, Illinois

Les Demoiselles D’ Avignon
Pablo Picasso
1907 Ce, oil on canvas
Paris, France

Amida Nyorai
Jocho Busshi
Joined wood, gilded, ca. 1053 CE
Ho-o-do, Byodo-in, Kyoto, Japan

What at objects do you find significant?

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