Pablo Picasso, who showed great artistic aptitude in his early years, went on to become the most influential artist of the twentieth century. He defied convention and helped to launch the art movement Cubism. Cubist artists depicted the topic from a variety of perspectives to give it more context, resulting in largely abstract artwork.

The movement radically altered European painting and sculpture. Picasso's style evolved throughout his career as he experimented with various theories, techniques, and concepts. He was a prolific artist who, in addition to producing a great amount of work in various mediums, produced around 1900 paintings during his long career. During his lifetime, no artist was more famous than him.

Several of his paintings are among the most costly ever sold, however, the majority of his most famous works are held by museums. Pablo Picasso is without a doubt the most recognized artist, and many consider him to be the greatest painter of all time.

Masterpiece:

• Guernica (1937)
  
• Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907)
• The Weeping Woman (1937)

Lifespan: April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519
Movement: Renaissance
Nationality: Italian

Leonardo da Vinci was the perfect Renaissance man, the greatest Universal Genius, who was a painter, mathematician, engineer, architect, botanist, sculptor, and anatomist, among other things. However, for four centuries following his death, his fame was primarily based on his achievements as a painter. His extensive grasp of anatomy, light, flora, and geology aided him in creating some of history's most recognized works.

Da Vinci is noted for capturing subtle expressions in his paintings, making them appear more alive than others. He made significant contributions to painting, including the development of sfumato, the smooth transition from light to shadow, and chiaroscuro, the use of great contrasts between light and dark to generate a three-dimensional appearance.

Da Vinci created the world's most iconic painting, the Mona Lisa. He also created The Last Supper, the most reprinted religious painting, and Vitruvian Man, one of the most reproduced creative images. Leonardo da Vinci is without a doubt the most famous Renaissance artist.

Masterpiece:

• Mona Lisa (1517)
• The Last Supper (1498)
• Vitruvian Man (1490)

Lifespan: April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519
Movement: Renaissance
Nationality: Italian

Vincent Van Gogh was a Post-Impressionist painter who struggled with mental illness throughout his life. He died two days later after shooting himself in the chest with a handgun. A decade after his death, Van Gogh rose to popularity. He was eventually regarded as being a crucial factor in the development of contemporary art. He is now universally recognized as one of the most significant personalities in Western art history.

In barely over a decade, Van Gogh made around 2,100 artworks, including landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits. He is regarded as one of the most accomplished painters in all of these fields. Van Gogh's art is distinguished by its strong color, rugged beauty, emotional honesty, and impetuous and passionate brushwork.

He created some of the most well-known contemporary art masterpieces, including The Starry Night, the Sunflower series, and the Irises series.

Masterpiece:

• The Starry Night (1889)
  
• Sunflowers series
• Irises series

Lifespan: March 30, 1853 – July 29, 1890
Movement: Post-Impressionism
Nationality: Dutch

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was a "Renaissance man" or "Universal Genius" who excelled in painting, architecture, poetry, and engineering. Above all, he is largely considered to be the greatest sculptor of all time. Michelangelo was known as Il Divino ("the divine one") during his lifetime. Following his death, painters attempted to mimic his passionate, extremely personal approach, resulting in Mannerism, the next great trend in Western art.

Michelangelo is possibly the most influential individual in Western art history, with works in painting, sculpture, and architecture has had an unmatched impact on the evolution of art in the West. His David statue is one of the most famous sculptures in the world; his frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and The Last Judgement on its altar wall ensure him a position among the greatest painters, and his St. Peter's Basilica is the most iconic masterpiece of Renaissance architecture.

Masterpiece:

• David (1504)
  
• The Creation of Adam (1512)
• St. Peter’s Basilica (1626)

Lifespan: March 6, 1475 – February 18, 1564
Movement: Renaissance
Nationality: Italian

Frida Kahlo and her friend Alex were riding in a bus when it collided with a street trolley car on September 17, 1925. Frida had to undergo 35 procedures in her life due to the severe injuries she sustained in the accident, endure relapses of excruciating pain, and was unable to have children. While in the hospital, Kahlo began painting, and she eventually left medicine to pursue a career as an artist.

Frida Kahlo is most known for her self-portraits, which frequently include symbolic depictions of physical and psychological traumas. “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.”

Frida Kahlo is regarded as one of the finest self-portrait artists of all time. Though her impact on art may not be as big as that of some of the other painters on this list, Frida Kahlo is without a doubt one of the most recognized artists and possibly the most renowned female painter of all time. She is also regarded as a feminist icon because to the manner she lived her life.

Masterpiece:

• The Two Fridas (1939)
  
• Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (1940)
• The Broken Column (1944)

Lifespan: July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954
Movement: Surrealism
Nationality: Mexican

Surrealism was a major modern art movement in the twentieth century. Its artists eschewed logic and literary realism in favor of harnessing the unconscious mind in order to reveal the power of the imagination.

Salvador Dali, known for his quirky demeanor, created some of the most iconic Surrealist masterpieces. The paranoiac-critical method, in which the artist strives to delve into his subconscious through systematic irrational thought and a self-induced paranoid condition, was one of his contributions to Surrealist painting.

Dali was best renowned for his striking and surreal pictures, but he also employed a lot of symbolism in his work. Elephants with brittle legs that convey weightlessness are recurring subjects in his works, as are ants, which are supposed to be his emblem for decay and death, and melting timepieces, which may represent the non-linear human experience of time.

Salvador Dali is widely recognized as the most famous Surrealist painter and one of the most influential personalities in modern art.

Masterpiece:

• The Persistence of Memory (1931)
  
• Lobster Telephone (1936)
• Swans Reflecting Elephants (1937)

Lifespan: May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989
Movement: Surrealism
Nationality: Spanish

Claude Monet was a founding member of the Impressionist art movement, which emphasized vibrant colors, candid attitudes, and, most crucially, a realistic depiction of light in its shifting aspects. Monet was the revolutionary art movement's guiding force, as well as its most steady and prolific practitioner. The name of the movement was inspired by his work Impression, Sunrise, and was coined in a satirical critique.

Monet was obsessed with discovering new ways to express himself via painting. He defied convention by thinking in terms of colors, light, and shapes. Some of his series looked at how smoke, steam, mist, rain, and other elements affected color and visibility. Monet's most famous series, Nympheas (Water Lilies), which encompasses roughly 250 paintings, has been dubbed "The Sistine Chapel of Impressionism."

Claude Monet is the most famous French artist and is regarded as one of the greatest painters of all time.

Masterpiece:

• Water Lilies series (1896 – 1926)
  
• Impression, Sunrise (1872)
• Rouen Cathedral series (1892 – 1893)

Lifespan: November 14, 1840 – December 5, 1926
Movement: Impressionism
Nationality: French

Pop Art was the final major modern art movement. Its painters incorporated popular culture motifs such as ads, celebrities, and comic book characters. Andy Warhol, born Andrew Warhola, was the most well-known and influential artist of the Pop Art movement, earning him the title "Pope of Pop." The non-painterly manner and commercial components of his works sparked outrage at first because they challenged the technique and concept of Abstract Expressionism, the dominant style in the United States at the time.

His works caused a stir in the American art community, and the ensuing controversy helped Warhol become a household brand. Warhol was a prolific artist who experimented with several media such as painting, silkscreening, photography, film, and sculpture. His works are among the most valuable ever sold.

Though many continue to question the quality of his work, Andy Warhol is without a doubt the most famous American artist and a pivotal figure in twentieth-century modern art.

Masterpiece:

• Marilyn Diptych (1962)
  
• Campbell’s Soup Cans (1962)
• Eight Elvises (1963)

Lifespan: August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987
Movement: Pop Art
Nationality: American

The Dutch Golden Age was a time in Dutch history when, among other things, Dutch art was among the most acclaimed in the world. Rembrandt dominated the Dutch Golden Age and has remained the most famous Dutch artist ever since.

Rembrandt is widely regarded as the master of light and shadow. His paintings have outstanding realism, which he achieved using his signature light and shadow effects. Rembrandt painted in a variety of genres during his productive career, although he is best known for portraits and depictions of biblical and mythical subjects.

He is well-known as a portrait artist for capturing his subjects' moods. At the time, group portraiture flourished in the Netherlands, and Rembrandt painted some of the most famous group portraits.

He is also regarded as one of the finest self-portrait artists and is notorious for not showing pity for himself. Many consider Rembrandt to be the greatest portrait painter of all time and one of the greatest painters of all time.

Masterpiece:

• The Night Watch (1642)
• The Abduction of Europa (1632)
• Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar (1659)

Lifespan: July 15, 1606 – October 4, 1669
Movement: Dutch Golden Age
Nationality: Dutch

Through his series of tapestry cartoons, Francisco Goya rose to popularity in the art world and became the court painter to the Spanish Crown. He then developed a taste for gloomy representations, for which he is most known today. His Black Paintings depict powerful, disturbing themes that represent both his fear of insanity and his pessimistic outlook on humanity.

Goya's art is particularly known for its highly inventive themes and strong use of paint. He, more than anyone else, personified the Romantic values of the artist's expression of feelings and his particular imagined universe. His work exemplifies the Romantic emphasis on subjectivity, imagination, and emotion. Goya has been described as the last of the Old Masters as well as the first of the Moderns. He has also been described as "the last great painter whose art balanced and blended thought and observation to achieve a faultless unity."

Francisco Goya is the most famous Romantic artist, as well as one of the greatest modern portraitists.

Masterpiece:

• The Third of May 1808 (1814)
  
• The Nude Maja (1800)
• Saturn Devouring His Son (1823)

Lifespan: March 30, 1746 – April 16, 1828
Movement: Romanticism
Nationality: Spanish