In art, the portrait has always been the best way to encapsulate a person’s personality while at the same thing memorializing the memory of their lives forever. Even after the invention of the photograph, the portrait remains a big part of the art and media industry.
What exactly qualities as a portrait, you might ask? A portrait in art is anything that displays a depiction of the human form, specifically the face. A portrait can be anything from a painting to a sculpture. It can depict an individual or a group and portray either just the head and shoulder or the entire body.
Over the years, artists have mastered the art form and taken it to whole new levels. Whether it be in the form of abstract marvels or hyper-realistic masterpieces, the following portraits are undeniably some of the greatest and most famous portrait paintings in all of art history.
Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer I by Gustav Klimt
When searching for an example of the lavish and decadent nature often found in portrait paintings, there is no better artist than Austrian Art Nouveau painter Gustav Klimt. Klimt specialized in portrayals of the human form, and his art portraits are considered some of the most famous and original ever created.
Klimt was renowned for using gold in his paintings, his mosaic decoration, and his erotic and naturalistic approach. All this and more are present in his stunning portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer I, a model Klimt used for several of his most famous paintings.
Also known as the Woman in Gold or the Lady in Gold, the painting is a vibrant celebration of feminine beauty and liberalism. Along with the painting The Kiss, the Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer is regarded as Klimt finest and most recognized piece of artwork.
Girl with A Pearl Earring c. 1665 by Jan Vermeer Van Delft
The Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of the most well-known and famous portrait paintings ever painted. Although it was not originally meant to be a portrait, it gathered fame as one and can be said even to rival the Mona Lisa when it comes to its notoriety, acclaim, and composition.
Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer was known for his realism and attention to detail. However, he only painted a handful of paintings in his lifetime and was an artist who favored quality over quantity. Nevertheless, his renditions are so realistic that it has been argued that he is the closest an artist has ever come to photo-realism in art.
The painting of the young woman is so lifelike that it is hard to believe that Vermeer didn’t use a model, which is believed to be the case. The rare and expensive color palette of white lead, jade, and ultramarine stand to make this painting one of the most nuanced portraits ever conceived.
American Gothic by Grant Wood
American Gothic is one of those artworks that are so famous and iconic yet, at the same time, are so obscure and relatively inconsequential. The portrait painting of the stern-faced farming family is a tribute to the principles of hard work and foundations of freedom that America was built upon.
In the famous portrait painting, Grant was looking to depict real American life at the time and settled on a real-life farmhouse in rural Iowa to be the model for his inspiration. However, after starting the painting, Grant’s focus shifted to the type of people who might live in the house, and thus the iconic portrait was born.
The painting portrays a father standing by his daughter with a pitchfork, looking downtrodden yet determined. This was Grant’s perspective of how the people of the home should look. He used his sister and their dentist as the models, and little did Grant know that the painting would become one of the best-known portraits in art history.
Self Portrait by Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo Da Vinci painted many portraits during his career, not to mention the most famous portrait of all, the Mona Lisa. In addition, he dedicated dozens of beautiful paintings to portraits of biblical characters and the stories behind them.
Perhaps lesser-known, yet just as iconic as any of his paintings, are the self-portraits he created in his spare time. This was a great way to keep his skills sharp and even allowed us to see what the master painter looked like.
Da Vinci was intrigued with the human anatomy and its workings. He studied every detail of its dimensions, inside and out. He devoted several years of his life to the mechanics and seemingly perfect proportions of the human anatomy. Finally, he concluded that the human body is the ideal thing in the world and is the greatest thing an artist can ever attempt to paint.
Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich
You can’t have a list of fantastic portrait paintings and not mention Caspar David Friedrich’s masterpiece of the Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. The painting brilliantly captures all magic of the human imagination. However, it blends this with a tremendous sense of adventure and truly embodies the wonder of being alive.
It is the quintessential masterpiece of the Romanticism period, and for a good reason. It represents everything that the Romantic movement stands for. It symbolizes humankind’s ability to meet the challenges of life head-on and overcome any obstacle that may arise or stands in our way.
In Friedrich’s painting, a lone figure stands on top of a rocky mountain and gazes out at the foggy and unknown terrain ahead that seems to go on and on. It holds deep meaning on many levels; most of all, it represents overcoming fear and self-confidence when facing the unknown danger that lies ahead.
Conclusion
Each portrait listed here is ranked among the best. They influenced the genre and managed to stand on their merit and stake a claim as some of the essential portrait paintings in the entire history of art.