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Iām certain that as soon as I publish this, one of my pals is going to say, ābut what about ___? You love his work!ā But hereās my list of the top ten painters of all time, in date order.
The ‘ten’ thing is a joke, of course. This is after I weeded it down to 33.
Jan van Eyck (1390-1441). If heād never painted anything but the Ghent Altarpiece and the The Arnolfini Portrait, heād still rank in the top tier of art history.
Albrecht DĆ¼rer (1471-1528). His engravings and woodcuts dazzle with their perspective, complexity, delicacy and religious sensibility.
Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543). If you love Tudor history, you’ll love Holbein. Not only did he paint the definitive portraits of Henry VIII and his movers and shakers, his painting of Anne of Cleves changed the course of history.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1528-1569). He taught me the difference between subject and focal point in a painting.
Bronzino, (1503-1572). Iām not sure which I like more, his treatment of fabric or the arrogance of his models.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610). Yeah, heās the best of the Baroque tenebrists, but itās the gritty realism of his religious paintings that slays me.
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Everyone carries on about his plump women, but I think his action paintings are the forerunner of modern comic books.
Diego VelƔzquez (1599-1660). Tenebrism with a saturnine Spanish twist, and oh, so human.
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Francisco Goya (1746-1828). He was a bit of a misery-guts, but he depicted the horrors of war like no other artist ever.
William Blake (1757-1827). He was eccentric to the point of madness and singular in his beliefs and he gave us the words to the hymn Jerusalem.
Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). You could write him off as just another Romantic, except his symbolism is so deep itās narrative.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867). Itās all about the fabric, although I do think Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne is brilliant social commentary.
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John Constable (1776-1837). He invented plein air, and then went to France and explained it to the Barbizon School. His field studies are as fresh as any modern painterās.
Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900). Nobody could build a showstopping theatrical painting like Church.
Ćdouard Manet (1832-1883). Yes, his social commentary is incisive, but Iām also moved by the little still lives he did while dying.
Winslow Homer (1836-1910). He painted two of my favorite placesāthe Adirondacks and the Maine coastāand he taught me everything I know about diagonals in composition.
Claude Monet (1840-1926). Everything we know about optics and color can be credited to him.
Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884) I love his Joan of Arc for the way it weaves visions into the landscape, but he also had a real feel for the French peasantry.
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). The older I get, the more I appreciate him as a color and brushwork revolutionary. I just wish he could have been happier.
JoaquĆn Sorolla (1863-1923). He edges past the other two greats of Edwardian-era painting, John Singer Sargent and Anders Zorn. It’s the color of the light.
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George Bellows (1882-1925). Whether he was painting in New York or on the Maine coast, he was a man of the people. Which is not to downplay the importance of his color or composition.
Arthur Streeton (1867-1943). Heās my favorite of the Heidelberg School painters for his ethereal depictions of the Australian bush.
David Davies, (1864-1939) runs a very close second to Streeton, particularly for his bush nocturnes.
Maynard Dixon (1875-1946) Heās on my list for the way he organizes the chaos and color of the western landscape.
John F. Carlson (1875-1947). His gloomy winter skies, flat landscapes and sweeping woods are a dead giveaway that he grew up in my hometown of Buffalo, NY. Somehow, he manages to make them look good.
Tom Thomson (1877-1917) He treats a subject I love (the woods and water of Ontario) with a raw, vital and uniquely North American version of Impressionism.
Rockwell Kent (1882-1971). He was a brilliant designer, and a painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer, sailor, and adventurer. Thatās a life to emulate.
Francis Cadell (1883-1937) is my favorite of the Scottish Colourists, both for his impeccable design and for his light and lovely depictions of Iona.
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Lawren Harris (1885-1920). Of all the Group of Seven, heās the one who took the longest stylistic and spiritual journey, and most revered the notion of the Great White North.
Sir Stanley Spencer (1891-1959). He was too soft to protect himself against a designing woman, but his depictions of English life, his Biblical narratives and his paintings for the Sandham Memorial Chapel are all moving.
Clyfford Still (1904-1980). Whether youāre a figurative or abstract painter, you can learn so much about design from him.
Wayne Thiebaud (1920-2021). Everyone knows him for his pies, lipsticks, cakes and hot dogs, but he was a brilliant landscape painter.
Lois Dodd (1927-present). Sheās a keen observer who knows how to simplify exactly the right amount. She never gets stuck in the weeds.
What painters have influenced you? Who did I miss on my list? Who would you have never included? And why?
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