I just heard a news report call Edvard Munch's Scream series of art works 'the second most famous work of art in the world'. - Well since this is the Europe forum let us even limit this contest to Europe - I would take issue with the Scream series even being the most important or famous or whatever you want to call it art work in Europe behind the Mona Lisa, which obviously is the most famous, by far.

But I can think of many I would call more popular - starting with Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling or Picasso's La Guernica as being more famous than the Scream series, even though the Scream movies with Jason may well have catapulted Munch's work into minds that are generally blank about famous works of art.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scream

Guernica

Rembrandt's Night Watch

I would have thought it would be the Last Supper. I'm sure
Leonardo has been rolling in his grave over the uber
popularity of his fresco - it seems to me devout tourists
think of it as a shrine thus elevating it to iconic stature.

I'd go with Guernica as the most meaningful work of art from
the 20th century.

being famous and the best are different things. i do think the scream is certainly famous and well known. it's also an important piece of work.

i am currently taking an art history class and have become fascinated with two artists from the 1600's - Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileshi.

not just their work (which is brilliant) but their fascinating personal lives (especially Caravaggio's)!

I would be interested in just knowing what is the second most <b>recognizable</b> work of art. Guernica, the Night Watch or The Scream probably would not qualify because not enough "ordinary" people would recognize them. Things by Dali or Renoir would score higher, as would things like Picasso'a peace dove. But if I had to bet money on it, I might say that the Venus de Milo would come in second.

Sistine Chapel or Michelangelo's statue of David or Last Supper fresco (but it's been heavily damaged over the years) are all works of art I'd personally rank higher than the Scream series.

Van Gogh's Sunflowers or Starry Night.

Carla Bruni

I teach art history and I would have to say that if you ask someone to "name a work of art, any work of art," they are most likely to come up with the Mona Lisa or occasionally Leonardo's Last Supper or Michelangelo's David or Sistine Chapel Ceiling. Grant Wood's American Gothic shows up a lot, too. As does Rodin's Thinker. If you talk about works that are "quoted" in popular culture, The Scream is right up there with the Mona Lisa and the Thinker. And American Gothic.

And people are righ--famous and best are two entirely different things.

Oh, and famous, best, and popular are three unrelated things. Kerouac is right about what ordinary people might recognize. Ordinary people often can't name names or titles if asked to come up with something, although they can generally describe the work.

I have a favorite game I play with students: "Name the five artist most influential on the evolution of Western art since the middle ages. Explain your choices." Pretty interesting what they choose on the first day of class and what they choose at the end of the semester...

There is no reward in identifying the first, third, or fifth most famous anything. Whenever I hear or read of such an exercise, I think of Borat and his line about his sister, "She is number four prostitute in all of Kazakhstan."

The Scream may be up there based on all of the publicity surrounding the theft.

If I had to guess the next most well known I would say Van Gogh's Starry Night. I dare anyone to say they've never seen it.

Say whatever you want. I would think the hand of God reaching out to Adam as depicted on the Sistine chapel is MUCH more "recognized" than about anything suggested in this thread.

As to what is a real "work of art"..hmmmm, staning out in the sun all day on Las Ramblas as a "living statue" might just qualify.

Breaking your territorial limit, I nominate the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC -- that long black stone wall engraved with the names of the dead, so reflective that when you stare at a name you see yourself. In terms of numbers of visitors, and influence, it rates with La Guernica as a statement on war. As a bonus, it was designed by a woman of Asian heritage who was the same age as many of the casualties chiselled into the wall. Those characteristics all add up to a mighty work of art.

My bet would be on either Michelangelo's David or Botticelli's Birth of Venus or Primavera. They're referenced in pop and consumer culture all the time.

But I think the very idea is irrelevant and ranking great works of art in terms of fame, importance, etc. is extremely dumb.

In Britain, this is more famous than the Mona Lisa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKqqk...e_gdata_player

Greatest work of art by any Englishman.

Stuff Damien , this is genius.

What is "famous"? That people recognize it, can name it, or the number of visitors to it? And further are we limiting this to painting or all "forms of art"?

As much as I love them, I don't think anything Rembrandt or Van Gogh rate (and Starry Night is in MOMA-NYC). I also don't think the average American anyway could tell you Guernica even with the hint that it's Picasso.

I'd say Michelangelo's David is instantly recognizable and therefore second, but not as visited as the Venus de Milo. I think folks would recognize the Hand of God from Sistine Chapel but not necessarily tell you what/where it is, or who it's by.

Something from Scotland.