NationStates Jolt Archive

Who do you thnk is the greatest artist ever?

(poll coming)

I'm voting for Bob Ross. The late great host of the old PBS show, 'The Joy of Painting' who taught thousands of people how to paint and could paint a beautiful landscape in a mere 30 minutes on each show.:)

Bob Ross was the Mozart or art; Bringing art to the masses.

I miss that guy. I used to sit in my den practically glued to the TV for that show. But I think it'd be some surrealist for me. I'm most familiar with Dali from that movement.

I had to say DaVinci just because he was so far ahead of his time... he drew things only he could see. But I had to think about it, and switched between more than one other before deciding on him.

best Artist ever is Tony Hart

Where's the Rolf Harris option?

Nah. I'll vote Da Vinci, as he was a genius.

you people know NOTHING about art. the greatest artist ever is obviously thomas kincaide --the painter of light!

he is so good he even made his own subdivision patterned after his paintings. he is so good that he (or one of his associates) slaps a bit of extra paint onto a print and sells it as an original! he is so good that he even copyrighted his "painter of light" moniker. (i wonder if that means that no one can put light into a painting without violating his copyright)

The question is not only too broad but but goes against the concept of "art".
It's like asking who was the greatest performer of the 20th century, Nadia Sonnenberg or Charlie Parker? Or the greatest composer, Stravinsky or Ellington?

I voted for Vincent Van Gogh. But I also like Salvador Dali, the surrealistic painter from Spain. Magritte, also a surrealist, from Belgium, is really fantastic too. Surrealism certainly is the greatest style!

Either Michelangelo or King Gimp.-How many criples do you now that can paint with their feet?

Leonardo DaVinci

I went with Picasso because I've actually seen his works in person.
They've all got they're strong points.

you people know NOTHING about art. the greatest artist ever is obviously thomas kincaide --the painter of light!

he is so good he even made his own subdivision patterned after his paintings. he is so good that he (or one of his associates) slaps a bit of extra paint onto a print and sells it as an original! he is so good that he even copyrighted his "painter of light" moniker. (i wonder if that means that no one can put light into a painting without violating his copyright)

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a213/ThreeFingerPete/general/bunny_pancake.jpg

I went with Picasso because I've actually seen his works in person.
They've all got they're strong points.
I went to a Picasso museum in Barcelona and found it boring...It's hard to believe that it's even possible to fill a museum with Picasso's art and end up with a boring result.

But the Dali museum in Figueras... Now that's worth a visit.


Voted da Vinci even though I like e.g. Michelangelo's art more. Da Vinci was a genius and probably the greatest artist ever born even if I'm not so keen about his paintings.
edit: my personal favourite of those options is Matisse.

Either Michelangelo or King Gimp.-How many criples do you now that can paint with their feet?
Well quite many of them try to sell me Christmas cards every autumn :)

LOL! Paintings.... Ghey... Though if I was to buy one it would have to match the couch.

But the Dali museum in Figueras... Now that's worth a visit.
Looks like I'll be going back to Spain sometime.
Not that I mind or anything! ;)

Da Vinci, Cezanne, Monet, Michelangelo, Dali...

Sorry, I can't pick one and exclude the others.

I voted Picasso, my best reason is probably "Guernica". In my opinion the best painting ever made.Ever.

Looks like I'll be going back to Spain sometime.
Not that I mind or anything! ;)
Go! I've been there -hmm- 9 times. Barcelona (and Catalunya in general) is my favourite place. Miró, Gaudi, Dali, Picasso, great food, great landscapes, great bars, great shopping (well, hey, I am from Finland) and the famous bad service. (don't speak English, or if you do, try to speak it with a foreign accent :) )

I haven't really been in many places, only on few islands, Catalunya and Andalucia. Next time I'll go to Madrid.

Who do you thnk is the greatest artist ever?

(poll coming)

I'm voting for Bob Ross. The late great host of the old PBS show, 'The Joy of Painting' who taught thousands of people how to paint and could paint a beautiful landscape in a mere 30 minutes on each show.:)

Bob Ross was the Mozart or art; Bringing art to the masses.
And I hate him for that! :D Now every market place is full of awful landscapes "the masses" have made.

http://www.bobross.com/howto3.cfm?type=Landscape&Page=Autumn&ExpandHowTo=True
This, for example, is so bad it makes me cry.

I like some of the classics, but still-lifes tend to bore me.
However, Picasso, was a genius.
A mad, sad, genius...

But my very favorite is Salvadore Dali.

Sal was a rock star celebrity.
Alice Cooper tells a story of him, when Sal brought Alice a sculpture of a human head, with a brain exposed, and a chocolate eclair in the brain.
A trail of ants, leading from the eclair, read "Your Brain".

Sal shows Alice the sculpture saying "Alice, look at what I have made for you...its your brain!"

Alice: "Wow....thank you, can I keep it?"

Sal: "Of course not, its worth millions!"

http://www.bobross.com/howto3.cfm?type=Landscape&Page=Autumn&ExpandHowTo=True
This, for example, is so bad it makes me cry.

Aw, but I just logged in only to vote for Bob Ross! :p
How can you not love Bob Ross? Watching his show is pure Zen. That white man's 'fro. That soothing voice. Those happy little bushes. Ahhhh, bliss.

Now, as for the paintings, that's a different story. On one hand, I've never been able to get over how he could seemingly randomly scratch some scraggly lines of paint onto a canvas and - voilà: a happy little bush! Like, if I'd do that, all it'd be were scraggly lines of paint. On the other hand, let's face it, the finished pictures were ugly. Without fail they looked bad and trashy.

I have yet to figure out why, when all those happy little bushes, trees, waves and houses looked so realistic individually, the result of combining them would always be such an airbrushed kitsch fest.

Still - gotta love Bob Ross. :)

I don't know which one to vote for, they all have their strong points, and i don't think you can really compare work done by picasso to those done by da vince... One of my favourites has to be Georgia O'keeffe...

I totally forgot, what about Gustav Klimt? Some of his work is amasing too

I like some of the classics, but still-lifes tend to bore me.
However, Picasso, was a genius.
A mad, sad, genius...

But my very favorite is Salvadore Dali.

Sal was a rock star celebrity.
Alice Cooper tells a story of him, when Sal brought Alice a sculpture of a human head, with a brain exposed, and a chocolate eclair in the brain.
A trail of ants, leading from the eclair, read "Your Brain".

Sal shows Alice the sculpture saying "Alice, look at what I have made for you...its your brain!"

Alice: "Wow....thank you, can I keep it?"

Sal: "Of course not, its worth millions!"


To be honest, i think in the phase of his life where he knew Alice Cooper, Salvador was completely perverting the aesthetic and point of surrealism in pursuit of the quick buck.

His early stuff was peerless though - my favourite Dali story was the one about his father disowning him, and sending him a letter demanding back "all i ever gave you". Dali masturbated into a jiffy bag and sent it back to daddy with the note "this is all you ever gave me"

I am personally fond of H.R. Giegers work.

M.C. Escher

Claude Monet is my favourite painter.

Titian, Raphael, Michaelangelo.

Monet, without a doubt.

M.C. Escher, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and Mel Blanc.

I tried visiting museums and getting into the artists listed in the poll, but endless walls of yet another "landscape," "vase of flowers," or "portrait of <whoever>" got pretty old pretty fast.

<---- puerile and cretinous swine

I dont like art, I'm an ugly American.

I quite like Gigers work.... there was another artist that someone posted last time... vaguely similar style, but the name eludes me.


But I'm gonna vote Bob Ross.

Norman Rockwell

I always had a liking for Monet and Manet.

HR Giger ... without a doubt.

http://www.coker.edu/art/stdnt3_gd/370_sp03/pat2_1_03/giger_2.jpg

With airbrush in hand, that man could paint a portrait of God to perfection.

Maybe I'm just partial to surrealism, but I think Dali, Geiger, and Escher would round out the top three. Anyone can paint reality. Not everyone can take something that doesn't exist and make it look convincingly like it should exist.

Claude Monet.. i love impressionism. he should be on the list!!

Dali. Anyone that has seen Un Chien Andalou would understand why.

I've always liked Claude Monet's works, but I think it's impossible to rate an artist the "greatest ever".

At the moment, I've become smitten with Giuseppe Arcimboldo:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/Fiddlebottoms/The_Jurist.jpg
The Jurist, I like it because it isn't so obvious at first. You have to look at it for a few seconds before it clicks and all the details have added up, and it is that punch-line that makes the whole painting worth while.

At the moment, I've become smitten with Giuseppe Arcimboldo:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a36/Fiddlebottoms/The_Jurist.jpg
The Jurist, I like it because it isn't so obvious at first. You have to look at it for a few seconds before it clicks and all the details have added up, and it is that punch-line that makes the whole painting worth while.
Witty. Me like. :)

I don't buy into this "greatest ever" thing. There is no such thing as progress in the arts. There are bad artists and good artists, and within that some are worse and some are better than others, but since all great artists may be equally great, there really can't be a greatest one. I mean, greatest according to whom and/or what?

That said, I have a short list of spiritual art mentors whose works inspire me and whose careers are examples for me to follow:

Da Vinci
Rembrandt
Man Ray
Marcel Duchamp
Joseph Cornell

Are they great? Yeah, sure, whatever. Is any one of them the greatest? Who cares? They are important to me.

Vincent Van Gogh.. Same name as me.

Are you guys crazy? In the western tradition, the list should read something a little more like this:

Donatello (say what you want about da vinci, but d-tello was rockin' it first. without the proto-renassiance there would be no da vinci!)
Caravaggio
Manet (not monet. manet could beat him in an barfight anyday. manet was a postmodernist before modernism)
Klimt
Warhol
Du Champ

Are you guys crazy? In the western tradition, the list should read something a little more like this:

Donatello (say what you want about da vinci, but d-tello was rockin' it first. without the proto-renassiance there would be no da vinci!)
Caravaggio
Manet (not monet. manet could beat him in an barfight anyday. manet was a postmodernist before modernism)
Klimt
Warhol
Du Champ
Good list, but what about Pollock? I mean, if you're going to go with Warhol (which I totally agree with), I say you have to also include Pollock under the heading of "Great American Artists" -- if that list includes Warhol.

Are you guys crazy? In the western tradition, the list should read something a little more like this:

Donatello (say what you want about da vinci, but d-tello was rockin' it first. without the proto-renassiance there would be no da vinci!)
Caravaggio
Manet (not monet. manet could beat him in an barfight anyday. manet was a postmodernist before modernism)
Klimt
Warhol
Du Champ
I love Da Vinci's work, but I'm more interested in the man. Donatello is quite nice, of course, but it's impossible to pick a greatest from those periods. There were too many greats. I mean, is Donatello BETTER than Da Vinci? Is the Mona Lisa BETTER than Michaelangelo's David? I say that's an impossible distinction.

Speaking of masters, I just realized I forgot Botticelli.

Brandon Bird:www.brandonbird.com
http://www.brandonbird.com/new_abe_shadow.jpg
http://www.brandonbird.com/lazysunday.jpg

Okay, besides Bob Ross, I love Botticelli, Kees van Dongen, and the drawings of Picasso (not so much his paintings).

rembrandt

If you only mean painting, I'd say El Greco, for sure.



(Art is alllll art. The blue man group is art just as the works of beethoven are art and random crappy anime sketches by 10 year olds are art. But I know what you wannnttteeedddd to say... so oh well :\)

(Wow, I'm startled that no one mentioned El Greco)

(Oh, and by the way, Monet, in French, is MANET. Is there another Manet I don't know about?)

If you only mean painting, I'd say El Greco, for sure.



(Art is alllll art. The blue man group is art just as the works of beethoven are art and random crappy anime sketches by 10 year olds are art. But I know what you wannnttteeedddd to say... so oh well :\)

(Wow, I'm startled that no one mentioned El Greco)

(Oh, and by the way, Monet, in French, is MANET. Is there another Manet I don't know about?)
Um, yes. Two different guys.

Edouard Manet: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/manet.html

Claude Monet: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/monet.html

Van Gogh for painting, but Da Vinci was the better draftsman. He may be the best draftsman of the last several hundred years.