Who the greatest

[johan neeskens]

I'm not talking about boxing, I'm talking about high art, painters to be exact.

I was just told by a friendly Belgian poster that he thinks Rembrandt is overrated as he 'didn't add anyting to the art' (pah!), but I reckon that he's the greatest Dutch painter ever. He put forward Breughel de Oude as the finest painter ever which is a fair point.

Who in your view is the greatest of all time, of all continents?

[Matt in the Hat]

Da Vinci by a mile. The man was the king in multiple diciplines; He was a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, and writer. Someone beat that.

[johan neeskens]

Da Vinci by a mile. The man was the king in multiple diciplines; He was a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, and writer. Someone beat that.

Let's keep this discussion restricted to greatness in painting only!

[Matt in the Hat]

Let's keep this discussion restricted to greatness in painting only!
Well his paintings certainly didn't suck and his anatomical studies are amazing. Are we limited to brush artists? If not, I'm sticking with Leonardo.

[malby]

Either Rolf Harris or Tony Hart. It's too close to call.

[johan neeskens]

Well his paintings certainly didn't suck and his anatomical studies are amazing. Are we limited to brush artists? If not, I'm sticking with Leonardo.

We should probably set a couple of criteria to judge the painters fairly. How about:

1. How prominent was the painter of your choice in his own lifetime, compared to other painters of their time;
2. How is the painter of your choice rated now in the art world (you could probably judge this on the number of exhibitions dedicated to them)
3. For how much did the painter’s most expensive work sell;
4. What is the painter’s innovating ability, in other words did he add anything new to art, in terms of subject matter, technique or other;
5. Last but not least, why does the painter have an impact on you, i.e. the emotional factor.

[johan neeskens]

Either Rolf Harris or Tony Hart. It's too close to call.

Hehehe. "Can Mal see what it is yet?"

[quentinc]

I think Bruegel is great.

But I submit Goya:

http://www.wga.hu/art/g/goya/7/714goya.jpg

http://www.artofeurope.com/goya/goy11.jpg

[Midorit]

Francis Bacon

http://www.coskunfineart.com/lg/seatedfigure.jpg

http://andamio.freeservers.com/dida/num-uno/imagenes/bacon6ag.jpg

Probably not "the greatest" but the painter whose work moves me the most.

[StiltonFC]

I know it's probably not a sophisticated choice, but I'm very partial to Vermeer. Having been to Den Haag to Mauritshuis to see View of Delft and the Girl with the Pearl Earring and to the Rijksmuseum to see Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, The Milkmaid, and The Loveletter, I can only say that his work is very powerful in person.

I also like Caravaggio, especially Supper at Emmaus.

[GringoTex]

I know it's probably not a sophisticated choice, but I'm very partial to Vermeer.


Vermeer and Velazquez are my personal favorites.

http://www22.big.or.jp/~j-i/SJC/Topic/Art/Vermeer/pict/vermeer07.jpg

[StiltonFC]

from a purely technical viewpoint, this is my favorite. that's real milk.

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vermeer/kitchen-maid/kitchen-maid.jpg

[johan neeskens]

So Johannes Vermeer is the greatest?

[StiltonFC]

So Johannes Vermeer is the greatest?
objectively or subjectively...???

you from Delft, BTW? :)

[Alex_K]

Bob Ross

[StiltonFC]

Bob Ross
your quote attribution is incorrect: i don't have the album Spectres anymore, but Godzilla didn't speak English.:)

Daishkyu hinan shite kudasai!

as far as Bob Ross is concerned, his is probably the best hair/beard combination of any modern artist. he's clearly the best televangelartist!

[Alex_K]

your quote attribution is incorrect: i don't have the album Spectres anymore, but Godzilla didn't speak English.:)

It's actually just supposed to be the chorus (so "Godzilla" is part of that and not a quote attribution) - I thought it would fit my avatar nicely (which shows a Tyrannosaurus rather than Godzilla, but I chose to ignore this ;)).

as far as Bob Ross is concerned, his is probably the best hair/beard combination of any modern artist. he's clearly the best televangelartist!

They show his show in the middle of the night undubbed on German TV. As someone who suffers from sleeplessness from time to time, I consider this a gift :D.

[StiltonFC]

It's actually just supposed to be the chorus (so "Godzilla" is part of that and not a quote attribution) - I thought it would fit my avatar nicely (which shows a Tyrannosaurus rather than Godzilla, but I chose to ignore this ;)).



They show his show in the middle of the night undubbed on German TV. As someone who suffers from sleeplessness from time to time, I consider this a gift :D.
but do you paint.

you could change your sig and put a comma instead of a dash between "men" and "Godzilla". a lot of work to get jokers like me off your back, nicht Wahr?

[Alex_K]

Painting? Not yet :D.

And hey, I actually thought that it would look like a quote myself, so I consider this to be a valid complaint :D.

[johan neeskens]

objectively or subjectively...???

you from Delft, BTW? :)

No, I'm not from Delft. It's just that Vermeer got the most votes in this thread so that scientifically proves that he's the greatest.