Famous Artworks and When They Were Made

Ochre paintings of pigs and hunting scenes in Indonesian limestone caves, the oldest figurative art yet found

Series of hand stencils and animal figures painted in a large cave complex in Cantabria northern Spain

Detailed charcoal drawings of lions rhinoceros and mammoths found on the walls of a sealed limestone cave in southern France

Underwater images of horses and penguins located inside a cave whose entrance now lies below sea level near Marseille

Ochre paintings on rock shelters across northern Australia, part of the longest continuous art tradition anywhere

Spotted horses and hand stencils applied to the walls of a cave system in the Lot valley of southwestern France

Multicolored paintings of horses, bulls and deer on the limestone walls of a cave in the Dordogne

Polychrome bison and horses painted on the low ceiling of a cave in northern Spain

Polychrome images of reindeer and bison located in a narrow cave passage in the Dordogne region of France

Rock shelter in Patagonia covered with hundreds of stencilled hands, mostly left hands, sprayed in ochre and manganese

Carved slate palette showing a king in the crowns of both lands, among the earliest Egyptian historical records

Inlaid box from a Sumerian royal grave showing war on one side and a banquet on the other

Minoan wall painting from Knossos showing acrobats vaulting over the back of a charging bull in a ritual setting

Minoan marine scene of dolphins and fish painted on the walls of the queen's megaron inside the palace at Knossos

Detailed agricultural and banquet scenes covering the walls of an eighteenth dynasty tomb in the Theban necropolis

Famous fragments showing a garden pool banquet and hunting scenes from an eighteenth dynasty Theban tomb

Painted limestone and stucco bust of an Egyptian queen, found in a sculptor's abandoned workshop at Amarna

Wall paintings in the burial chamber of a minor pharaoh, found almost intact with the tomb in 1922

Extensive painted reliefs illustrating funerary texts on the walls of the largest tomb in the Valley of the Kings

Vivid wall paintings inside the burial chamber of queen Nefertari showing her journey through the Egyptian underworld

Colorful scenes of daily life and the afterlife inside a small tomb belonging to an artisan in Deir el Medina

Basalt heads up to three meters high carved in Mexico, each with different features under a close-fitting helmet

Babylonian city gate faced in glazed blue brick with molded bulls and dragons in relief

Thousands of life-size clay soldiers buried in formation to guard a Chinese emperor's tomb

Large floor mosaic showing Alexander the Great charging toward the Persian king Darius during the battle of issus

Enormous figures and straight lines scraped into the desert floor of southern Peru

Extensive floor mosaic depicting the Nile river from source to delta with numerous animals and Egyptian buildings

Continuous wall paintings in a Pompeian villa illustrating a sequence of initiation rites for the cult of Dionysus

Painted wooden panels of Roman-era Egyptians, bound into their mummy wrappings over the face

Roman floor mosaics from the city of Zeugma showing mythological scenes including the wedding of Dionysus

Embroidered linen strip seventy meters long telling the Norman conquest of England in a continuous sequence of scenes

Chinese handscroll five meters long showing a city and its river on a festival day, painted for the Song court

Byzantine icon of the Virgin and child, carried to Russia in the twelfth century and venerated ever since

Fresco by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel showing the moment of betrayal in the garden

Fresco by Giotto depicting mourners gathered around the body of Christ after the crucifixion

Panel painting by Gentile da Fabriano crowded with richly dressed figures and exotic animals

Large polyptych by the van Eyck brothers installed in Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent

Oil painting by Jan van Eyck showing a richly dressed couple standing in a bedroom interior

Fresco by Fra Angelico in the monastery of San Marco showing the angel Gabriel visiting Mary

Panel by Piero della Francesca showing John the Baptist pouring water over Jesus in a river

Small panel by Piero della Francesca with the scourging scene placed in a classical courtyard

Panel painting by Giovanni Bellini showing the saint receiving the stigmata in a rocky landscape

Large tempera painting by Sandro Botticelli depicting allegorical figures in a flowering orange grove

Tempera painting by Sandro Botticelli showing the goddess Venus arriving on the shore of Cyprus

Oil painting by Leonardo da Vinci showing the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus and John the Baptist

Pen drawing of a man inscribed in both a circle and a square, after a Roman architect's proportions

Large mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci showing Jesus and his apostles at their final meal together

Small portrait of a Florentine silk merchant's wife by Leonardo da Vinci, now held in the Louvre in Paris

Triptych by Hieronymus Bosch filled with fantastical figures and scenes across three panels

Fresco by Raphael portraying ancient Greek philosophers gathered in a grand architectural setting

Vast fresco cycle by Michelangelo depicting scenes from Genesis across the vault of the papal chapel

Altarpiece panel by Matthias Grünewald showing Christ on the cross with vivid emotional figures

Large panel by Albrecht Altdorfer depicting the ancient clash between Alexander and Darius

Double portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger of two French diplomats with scientific instruments

Reclining nude by Titian painted for the Duke of Urbino and now in the Uffizi Gallery

Panel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder illustrating the biblical story of the unfinished tower

Monumental canvas by Paolo Veronese showing the biblical miracle at a grand Venetian banquet

Panel painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder showing winter hunters returning to their village

Genre painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder of a lively wedding feast in a barn

Huge canvas by Paolo Veronese originally titled The Last Supper but later renamed

Group portrait by Rembrandt showing a surgeon demonstrating arm muscles to seven watching colleagues

Vast group portrait of an Amsterdam militia company by Rembrandt, unusual for showing the men moving rather than posed

Complex court scene by Velázquez showing the royal family and their attendants reflected in a mirror

Genre scene by Vermeer of a servant pouring milk from a jug in a simple kitchen interior

Intimate portrait by Vermeer of a young woman turning toward the viewer with a large pearl earring

Neoclassical work by David depicting three brothers swearing allegiance before their father

Neoclassical painting by David showing the philosopher reaching for a cup of hemlock while teaching

Revolutionary martyr painted dead in his bath by David, the knife and the letter that lured him both shown

Dramatic history painting by Goya depicting the execution of Spanish civilians by a French firing squad

Figure seen from behind on a rocky summit, looking out over cloud that hides the landscape below

Romantic history painting by Géricault showing survivors of a shipwreck on a makeshift raft at sea

Landscape by Constable showing a horse-drawn wagon crossing a shallow river in rural Suffolk

Romantic allegory by Delacroix of a bare-breasted woman waving a flag over fallen fighters in Paris

Japanese woodblock print of a breaking wave with Mount Fuji small behind it, printed in thousands of impressions

Japanese woodblock series of the fifty-three post stations along the road from Edo to Kyoto

History painting by Delaroche showing the blindfolded noblewoman being led to the block

Seascape by Turner depicting an old warship being towed to its final berth at sunset

Realist painting by Courbet showing two laborers breaking rocks beside a rural road

Large history painting by Leutze showing George Washington standing in a boat during the 1776 crossing

Drowning figure floating among river plants, painted with every leaf and flower rendered separately from life

Controversial work by Manet showing a nude woman picnicking with clothed men in a wooded setting

Portrait by Whistler of his seated mother in profile against a gray wall with a framed picture

Harbor at Le Havre in fog with a red sun and two boats, painted in loose strokes

Abstract fireworks scene by Whistler showing exploding rockets over the Thames at night

Medical scene by Eakins showing Dr. Gross lecturing during an operation in a crowded amphitheater

Pointillist masterpiece by Seurat depicting Parisians relaxing on a river island in meticulous dots of color

Series of still-life paintings by Van Gogh featuring bright yellow blooms in a simple earthenware vase

Post-impressionist landscape by Van Gogh showing a village beneath a turbulent night sky with swirling stars

Expressionist image by Munch of a figure clutching its head on a bridge beneath a swirling sky

Series of genre paintings by Cézanne showing Provençal peasants intently playing cards at a table

Painting of a blind street musician in near-monochrome blue, from the artist's poorest and bleakest years

Bronze of a seated man leaning on his hand, first modeled as a small figure on a set of doors

Series of large canvases of a garden pond, painted repeatedly across the last decades of the artist's life

Pablo Picasso canvas of five nude women with angular faces and bodies in a brothel setting

Gustav Klimt oil and gold leaf work showing an embracing couple wrapped in ornate patterned robes

Henri Matisse large canvas of five nude figures holding hands in a circle against a blue and green ground

Henri Matisse interior scene dominated by a single red color showing his own paintings and sculptures

Cubist-futurist painting breaking a figure into overlapping planes to show motion down a flight of stairs

Porcelain urinal signed with a false name and submitted to an exhibition, the founding object of conceptual art

Wassily Kandinsky abstract canvas of geometric shapes circles and lines in bright primary colors

Rene Magritte painting of a pipe with the caption this is not a pipe written beneath it

Painting by Grant Wood of a stern farmer and his daughter standing before a Gothic style farmhouse with a pitchfork

Surrealist painting by Salvador Dali showing melting clocks draped over a barren landscape with ants and a distorted face

Large mural by Picasso depicting the bombing of a Basque town in stark black white and gray tones

Frida Kahlo double self portrait showing two versions of the artist connected by a shared heart

Joan Miro abstract figure with bright colors and playful shapes suggesting a bird and stars

Edward Hopper scene of three customers and a waiter inside a brightly lit downtown diner at night

Piet Mondrian grid of yellow blue and red lines suggesting the rhythm of New York streets

Wifredo Lam painting of hybrid figures and dense tropical foliage in muted earth tones

Andrew Wyeth tempera of a woman crawling across a dry field toward a distant gray farmhouse

Jackson Pollock drip painting made by flinging and pouring household enamel across a large canvas

Henri Matisse large collage of colored paper cut into shapes arranged in a spiral pattern

Series of thirty two canvases by Andy Warhol each showing a different variety of the famous soup label

Silkscreen of fifty repeated film-still portraits, half in color and half fading to black and white

Roy Lichtenstein diptych showing a fighter plane firing a rocket with comic book style lettering

Rene Magritte portrait of a man in a bowler hat whose face is obscured by a floating green apple

Painting of a skull-like head in oilstick and spray on canvas, by an artist who began on New York walls

Stencilled figure reaching towards a heart-shaped balloon, first sprayed on a London wall and endlessly reproduced since

Polished stainless steel form in a Chicago park, seamless and mirrored, that reflects the skyline and the crowd around it

Floor of a London gallery covered in a hundred million porcelain seeds, each one painted by hand