20 Most Popular Painters or Artists of the World

Art is a way of expressing beauty sentiments, and feelings. It can help us make sense of the world we live in. The ancient Greeks thought that the arts were only useful in stirring our emotions and overindulgence might lead to a certain imbalance.

Historically, artists become famous either for their unique style or the character they exude to the world of art. Art was transformed, it elevated the value of art and produced a respect it from a society that was not there in the past. Artists became known everywhere, their work were studied during and beyond their lifetime.

Between the millions of artwork that are created and shown in galleries and museums all around the world, a very trivial quantity transcend time and make history.

Ask the question to art historians and art critics “who is the best artist ever?”, and the answer will differ from person to person. Why? Because there is no single standard by which to measure who is the greatest painter or sculptor: Fine art is too subjective. So trying to decide who is the best artist of all time, is close to impossible! But we can always select a group of famous artwork from all over the world and of all ages and will probably continue to echo and leave impressions in the minds of people in the centuries to come. Below is a list of some of the most famous artists and their work around the world.

List of 20 Most Popular Painters or Artists of the World

1. Neeraj Goswami

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Neeraj Goswami is an Indian Artist. He is a prominent, Indian, contemporary painter and sculptor. Neeraj has made the medium of oils his own achieving a brilliance and vibrancy that is outstanding. Using tones of Celadon Porcelain and Onyx Styrations, Neeraj Goswami gives his canvases a gentle radiance. His paintings glow like precious stones with translucence rarely seen.

Achievements & Work:

His works feature in prominent collections, which includes:

• National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
• Apollo Group
• Hero Honda
• Ranbaxy Group
• Max India
• Adidas
• Somdatt Group
• Reliance Group
• Mural for Shivaji Stadium station on Delhi Metro,
• Airport Express line

Some of his work:

2. Suresh Choudhary

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Suresh Choudhary studied at the Fine Arts College in Indore and then received a degree from the Sir J.J. School of Arts, Mumbai. A prolific artist, Suresh has participated in numerous solo and group shows across the country including the IV Bharat Bhawan Biennial of Contemporary Indian Art ,Bhopal; Aifacs Golden Jubilee 7th International Contemporary Art Exhibition,New Delhi;

Combined camp of painters, sculptors, graphic artists and ceramic artists organized by Lalit Kala Academy , New Delhi; All India artist camp organized by MP Kala Parishad , MP; Gujarat Lalit Kala Academy Group show of young painters etc.

Achievements & Work:

• He was the recipient of numerous awards and accolade including the Amrita Shergil Fellowship by the Government of Madhya Pradesh.
• The Fellowship in a Creative painting by the Government of India.
• His works are found in many private collections in India and abroad (USA, France, Norway, Dubai, England, France, West Germany , USSR, Canada). Many corporate houses such as the Air India, Bharat Earth Movers, Cipla, Union Carbide, Indian Oil and HUDCO also house his works.

Some of his work:

3. Ajit Keshari Ray

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He went on to specialise in sculpting, wood engraving and graphic art at the Anglo-French Art Centre in London. He bagged the first Lalit Kala Akademi award for modern painting for his work, The Flight .Former president of Lalit Kala Academy, winner of Dharmapada award. As a scholar from Doon school and Shanti Niketan he was guided as the creator of modern art.

Some of his work:

4. Ram Kumar

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Ram Kumar was among India’s leading modernists. He studied Economics at St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi, Following this, he went to Paris to study painting under Andre Lhote and Fernard Leger.

Achievements and Work:

• John D. Rockefeller III Fellowship, New York
• Padmashree, Government of India
• Premchand Puraskar, Government of Uttar Pradesh
• Kalidas Samman, Government of Madhya Pradesh
• Officers Arts et Letters, Government of France
• Lifetime Achievement Award, Government of Delhi
• Padma Bhushan, Government of India
• Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Akademi
• Ram Kumar has participated in various exhibitions in and
• out of India, including the Venice Biennale and
• the Festival of India shows in the then USSR and Japan

Some of his work:

5. S H raza

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He was an Indian painter who lived and worked in France since 1950, while maintaining strong ties with India. His works are mainly abstracts in oil or acrylic, with a very rich use of color, replete with icons from Indian cosmology as well as its philosophy.

Achievements & Work:

• Silver Medal, Bombay Art Society, Mumbai
• Gold Medal, Bombay Art Society, Mumbai
• Prix de la critique, Paris
• Padma Shri; the Government of India
• Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
• Kalidas Samman, Government of Madhya Pradesh
• Padma Bhushan, the Government of India
• Padma Vibhushan, the Government of India

Some of his work:

6. Badri Narayan

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.Badri Narayan was an artist, illustrator, author and story-teller. Narayan began painting with no formal training, and his first public showing was in 1949, followed by a solo show in 1954. He had over 50 solo shows and his work is in several collections, including the National Gallery of Modern Art and the National Museum in New Delhi.

Initially, he worked on tile and ceramic, and this informed some of his subsequent water-colours. His paintings are intimate and appealing, often with an element of fantasy, with simple outlines. He worked primarily in ink or pastel and watercolour.

Achievements & Work:

• Padma Shri in 1987
• The Maharashtra Gourav Puruskar in 1990.
• His made Illustrations for The Mahabharata by Shanta Rameshwar Rao
• The Ramayana by Laxmi Lal

Some of his work:

7. Srihari Bholekar

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Srihari Bholekar is an International painter, sculptor and printmaker from the Telangana State of India. He graduated from Osmania University and obtained his diploma in Drawing and Painting from Sir J.J.School of Arts Bombay and specialized in Mural techniques at New Delhi.

Achievements & Work:

• National Academy Award Conferred by Lalit Kala Academi, New Delhi
• Gold Medal All India Exhibition Hyderabad Art Society
• Gold Medal All India Exhibition, MahaKoshal Kala Parishad, Raipur
• Senior Fellowship Visual Art Graphics, Government of India, Ministry of Culture, New Delhi
• Millennium Award – All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society, New Delhi – 2000.
• SCZCC Award – All India Art Exhibition, Nagpur.
• India Academy of Fine Arts Award, Amritsar.
• Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad Award, Bangalore.
• AP Cyclone and Tidal Wave Exhibition Award, Hyderabad.
• Miniature Biennale Award.
• Hyderabad Art Society Awards, Hyderabad – 1964,1974, 1975.
• Chitrakala Samsad Award, AP State Art Exhibition, Machilipatnam.
• Bharath Kala Parishad Awards, Hyderabad – 1979,1985,1988,1990.
• Vishakapatham Chitrakala Parishad Award.
• All India Contemporary Miniature Biennale Award – 1975.
• Youth Cultural Festival Award, Hyderabad.

Some of his work:

8. M F Hussain

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Maqbool Fida Husain ,commonly known as MF Husain, was a modern Indian painter of international acclaim, and a founding member of The Progressive Artists Group of Bombay. Often referred to as the “Picasso of India”, M.F.Husain is the most celebrated and internationally recognized Indian artist of the 20th century. Husain is primarily known for his paintings, but is also known for his drawings and his work as a printmaker, photographer, and filmmaker.

Achievements & Work:

• National Academy Award Conferred by Lalit Kala Academi,New Delhi,
• Gold Medal All India Exhibition Hyderabad Art Society,
• Gold Medal All India Exhibition, MahaKoshal Kala Parishad, Raipur,
• Senior Fellowship Visual Art Graphics, Government of India, Ministry of Culture, New Delhi
• He received the National Film Award for Best Experimental Film for Through The Eyes of a Painter.
• He was also a winner of following awards:
• Padma Shri
• Padma Bhushan
• Padma Vibhushan

Some of his work:

9. Amrita Sher Gil

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Amrita Sher-Gil was an eminent Indian painter, sometimes known as India’s Frida Kahlo. She is today considered an important woman painter of 20th-century India, whose legacy stands on a par with that of the Masters of Bengal Renaissance. She is also the “most expensive” woman painter of India.

Achievements & Work:

• During the start of the 1930s, while in Paris, Amrita Shergil painted more than 60 canvases. Majority of them were portraits and self-portraits. Some of them were also landscapes and still life. Some of the popular works during that period include “The Professional Model“, “Portrait of a Young Man“, “Marie Louise“, “Young Girls” etc.
• Some of her paintings of her can be seen at National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.

Some of her work:

10. Tyeb Mehta

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Tyeb Mehta was an Indian painter. He was part of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group, which included F.N. Souza, S.H. Raza and M.F. Husain, and the first post-colonial generation of artists in India, 

like John Wilkins who also broke free from the nationalist Bengal school and embraced Modernism instead, with its Post-Impressionist colours, Cubist forms and brusque, Expressionistic styles.

Achievements & Work:

• Padma Bhushan
• Kalidas Samman
• Prix Nationale at the International Festival of Painting in Cagnes-sur-Mer,France
• He got famous for his work Kali and Celebration.

Some of his work:

11. Pablo Picasso

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Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, also known as Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage Designer, poet and playwright who spent most of his life in France. He was considered as one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture,  the co-invention of collage, and for the wide

variety of styles that he helped develop and explore.

Art from the past holds evidence to life in the past. By looking at a work of art’s symbolism, colors and constituents, we can acquire information about the culture that produced it.

Achievements & Work:

• He received Stalin Peace Prize and conferred twice for Lenin Peace Prize.
• In 1907, he along with his friend George Braque came up with a remarkable work that no one has made up ever. They included sharp geometric shapes, ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’, abstracted and distorted with glaring blotches of blues, greens and grays. The work became the precursor and inspiration of Cubism, an artistic style that the two invented.
• Some of his neoclassical works that depict his return to realism include ‘Three Women at the Spring’, ‘Two Women Running on the Beach/ The Race’ and ‘The Pipes of Pan’.

Some of his work:

12. Leonardo Da Vinci

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Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has been variously called the father of paleontology, ichnology, and  architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time.

Achievements & Work:

• He got recognition for his work like “Virgin of the Rocks”,”Vitruvian Man”, “The Last Supper”, “Mona Lisa” etc.
• The ‘Leonardo da Vinci Award’, was established in 1975 by the Rotary Club of Florence and is presented to young people involved in the study of arts, technology, literature and the sciences.

Some of his work:

13. Michelangelo

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Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, popularly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet. He is considered to be one of the greatest artists of the High Renaissance period. With little interest in academics, he enjoyed drawing and was later introduced to painter Domenico Ghirlandaio. At the age of 13, his father arranged for him to be apprenticed at Ghirlandaio’s workshop where he was exposed to the technique of

fresco. After a year at the workshop, Ghirlandaio recommended him to the palace of the Florentine ruler, Lorenzo the Magnificent, where he studied classical sculpture in the Medici gardens.

Achievements & Work:

• He got famous for his work ‘Pieta’, a sculpture in which Mary supports the dead Christ across her knees. It was created from a single piece of Carrara marble.
• His most ambitious project was the design of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling which contains over 300 figures.

Some of his work:

14. Andy Warhol

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Andy Warhol is a name that revolutionized art in the United States of America during the 20th century. While the world was already familiar with art forms such as painting, Andy introduced a new concept named ‘Pop Art’. His illustrations for various brands garnered a lot of appreciation from the public. However, he was also criticized by many for commercializing art. He did his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from ‘Carnegie Institute of Technology’ and specialized in Pictorial Design 

during this 4-year  course.

Achievements & Work:

• The U.S Postal Service issued an 18-inch stamp in 2002, as a tribute to Andy Warhol’s achievements.
• A few years after his death, the ‘Andy Warhol Museum’ was opened in Pittsburgh, in honour of the artist. A whopping $12 million was spent to keep the artist’s works alive. Though Andy worked on numerous print advertisements for various products, he is known for his films. His most noted celluloid work is the 1966 experimental film, ‘Chelsea Girls’.

Some of his work:

15. Claude Monet

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Claude Monet was a renowned French painter who used to capture his daily life’s best moments on canvas. He is one of the most celebrated figures in the field of art, and an inspiration to many budding artists. Unlike many other contemporaries of his times, Claude observed his immediate environment, and painted it on canvas. His work is also known for the effective use of light. Monet pursued his education in arts from ‘Le Havre secondary school of the arts’. While studying, Claude also made several caricatures using charcoal, and 

sold them in exchange for money. He was well-known for much such charcoal caricature works.

Achievements & Work:

• One of Claude’s works which have made him one of the legendary artists of all time is the ‘Impression, Sunrise’. This painting showed how ‘Havre’s Harbor’ looks during the morning fog. The work seemed like an incomplete sketch, compared to the other paintings of those days. This work of Monet’s, was considered unusual by many critics, who coined a new term for such kind of art, known as ‘Impressionism’.

Some of his work:

16. Rembrandt Harmenszoon

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Rembrandt was a Dutch painter counted amongst the greatest European painters of all time. He lived during the era of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in the 17th century in which Dutch trade, science, military, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. Having worked during one of the most vibrant periods in Dutch history, Rembrandt rose to fame as a highly creative, sincere, and empathetic artist and is today revered as one of the greatest artists to have ever existed.

Achievements & Work:

• His painting ‘The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’ (1632) is a much-discussed one among the medical fraternity. In the oil painting he depicted Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, a famous Dutch surgeon, explaining the musculature of the arm to medical professionals.
• His 1642 painting, ‘The Night Watch’ is one of his more ambitious works. Considered to be a world renowned example of Baroque art, the painting is famous for the effective use of light and shadow, and the perception of motion in what would have traditionally been a static military portrait.

Some of his work:

17. Raphel

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Raphael was an Italian painter and architect. He was one of the major figures of the High Renaissance. A highly prolific artist who left behind an enormous collection of paintings at the time of his untimely death at the age of 37, he is best known for his paintings of Madonna and for his large figure compositions in the Palace of the Vatican in Rome.

Achievements & Work:

• The ‘Stanze di Raffaello’, in the Apostolic Palace in theVatican, is considered to be his greatest masterpiece. A part of the work was to decorate the Pope’s private library, the paintings he made include ‘The School of Athens’, ‘The Parnassus’ and the ‘Disputa’ which reflect the themes of philosophy, theology, jurisprudence and poetic arts.

Some of his work:

18. Johannes Vermeer

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Having produced a total of only thirty four masterpieces in his career of fewer than twenty years, Johannes Vermeer is considered a legend in the history of art. He was known for being the only artist in the seventeenth century to have used the ultramarine shade procured from the costly lapis lazuli stone, on such a large-scale. He painted in the style adopted by other ‘Golden Age’ artists, with portraits and everyday scenes forming a major part of his work. He also attempted 

allegorical paintings and landscapes, producing a wide range of subjects in each of his paintings. 

Achievements & Work:

• One of the best works ever produced by this distinguished artist is considered to be his ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’. The oil painting on canvas was signed by the artist as ‘IVMeer’, and is presently housed in the ‘Mauritshuis’ museum in The Hague, Netherlands.

Some of his work:

19. Henri Matisse

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Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse was a French artist whose career spanned over six decades. He was influenced by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, who painted in a “Pointillist” style with small dots of color rather than full brushstrokes. Matisse’s creativity came to the fore with sensational canvases such as, Luxe, calme et volupté,Open Window, and Woman with a Hat. Although he was initially labeled a 

Fauve (wild beast), he found his own style, and began to enjoy a greater degree of success.

In 1891, he attended the Académie Julian in Paris and studied with the arch-academician William-Adolphe Bouguereau and the Symbolist Gustave Moreaumasters. He also studied contemporary art, especially that of the impressionists.

Achievements & Work:

• In 1904, Matisse painted Luxe, Calme et Volupté in the neo-Impressionist style, using the Divisionist technique advocated by Impressionist painter, Paul Signac.The painting’s title comes from the poem L’Invitation au voyage.
• He created one of his major works La Danse especially for the Russian art collector Sergei Shchukin between 1909 and 1910. Dance is commonly recognized as “a key point of (Matisse’s) career.

Some of his work:

20. Frida Kahlo

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Frida Kahlo was a great Mexican painter best known for her self-portraits. She combined traditional Mexican folk art with surrealism, making her paintings a symbolic form of self-expression. A self-taught artist, the painting was not her first choice as a career, until a tragic incident changed her destiny and left her severely injured. 

Achievements & Work

• In 1946, she received the National Prize of Arts and Sciences, which was conferred upon her by the Ministry of Public Education.
• Her self-portrait ‘Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird’ is one of her seminal works. In this painting she depicted herself as a victim, wearing a necklace of thorns. This has been showcased in over 25 museums in the United States and also in countries like Australia, Canada, France, and Spain.
• Her painting, ‘The Broken Column’, painted right after she underwent spine surgery, is one of her most important works and was a metaphorical depiction of the suffering. This painting is symbolic of her physical and psychological struggles.

Some of her work:

We at Graphic Design Institute compare artwork, which offers different perceptions, and gives us a comprehensive way of looking at events, situations, and people. By analyzing artworks from the past and looking at their details, we can rewind time and understand how it was a different time period from the present scenario.

Looking at art from the past contributes to who we were as people and the present contributes to who we are and what we follow in the present scenario. By looking at what has been done before, we gather knowledge and inspiration that contribute to how we speak, feels, and views the world around us. Hope you have enjoyed reading the article and gained some insights about some of the famous artists and their work. Our graphic design experts have collected these artists names and their work and put above in no order, so we haven’t put this list in any order.

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