The list below is composed of fifty artists that you should know about in order to be able to discuss art with a certain degree of competence. It is in no way meant to be comprehensive, but rather a starting point for those interested in furthering their knowledge of art history.

Tastes differ and it is impossible to satisfy all. For this reason, personal favorites have been left out. The focus of this list is on Western art with Eastern art included as far as it intersects with the former. The idea was to provide a brief introduction to fifty painters representing the five hundred years between 1400 and 1900 CE, roughly corresponding with the Italian Renaissance and beyond, the High Middle Ages (1100–1300), Early Christian Art through the Byzantine Empire(300–1450), and Pre-Columbian, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations.

Of course, in selecting these fifty artists from among all of Western history’s great artists one will inevitably make enemies. This is unfortunate but unavoidable. An effort was made though to avoid controversial figures like El Greco who are not universally accepted as great masters.*

If you are an art lover, I’m sure you would love to learn about the lives of famous artists. So in this article, I’ll try to cover as many as possible of them and as briefly as possible. If you’re interested in some specific artist, just comment and I’ll see if I can do a post on him/her.

I’ll focus more on Western art since most of my readers would be more familiar with it. But there will be some Eastern artists that I’ll feature in this article as well.

We are talking about masters who have made a huge impact on the history of art through their contributions to the world of painting, sculpture, architecture and other forms of visual arts. They are artists who have left indelible marks on their times and have influenced many generations of artists to come.

There are many great artists that have contributed immensely to our culture and civilization but they did not make it in this list because they were either born too early or too late or because their fame is limited to a particular country or region.

There have been many great artists in the world. The following list is not intended to be a “Top 50” list or in any other way a complete listing. It is merely a list of some of the most notable artists who have contributed to the development of art history.

We are not including artists such as Michelangelo and Picasso who are considered to be among the greatest ever, but we would argue that their fame is a result of their popularity and marketing, rather than their art.

The following 50 artists are listed in no particular order…

In the new field of television art, Andy Warhol became a household name thanks to his experimental films, most notably Sleep (1963), a seemingly endless loop of the sleeping face of his friend John Giorno. But Warhol was also a master of many other artistic media, including drawing, painting, sculpture and printmaking.

The artist’s works were often controversial, but he soon became an icon of American pop culture and the most commercially successful American artist of all time. His works have one common theme: the surface image or idea is more important than any under-laying meaning or message.

At some point, all artists are called to answer the question: “What does this mean?” and to explain their works. The question is especially acute during periods when art is in upheaval.

Artists can answer the question of how they see their work in many ways–with explanations that remain private, shareable only with intimates, or with public explanations such as letters to patrons or critical essays. The artist’s reasons for creating a work of art are often personal and not intended for public consumption, but when an artist chooses not to explain his or her work, the lack of an explanation can itself be a statement.

The choices made by artists about how to view their own work and its meaning have varied from age to age, from region to region, and from individual to individual. In the seventeenth century, for example, English writers–following the advice of Horace in his Ars Poetica–were much more likely than French writers to offer interpretations of their works.

The artist is known for his unique use of light and shadow, which has inspired many artists since him. He is particularly famous for his genre paintings of peasants and rustic characters. Lippi’s work was enormously popular in Italy. His depictions of the Madonna and Child became the definitive images of motherhood and childhood in the Italian Renaissance, and many copies made by other artists were to be found all over Italy.

Three of his paintings are housed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. His life was relatively short, but he was highly influential on later painters like Leonardo da Vinci, who was impressed by Lippi’s use of light, as well as his interest in precise detail.

**Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450 – 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish draughtsman and painter from Brabant. His work is known for its use of fantastic imagery to illustrate moral and religious concepts and narratives. He was one of the first truly independent artists, as he was not commissioned or employed by any church or religious order. He lived during a period where there was much religious upheaval and sectarian conflict, but amidst this maintained an air of peace, tranquility and tolerance in his artworks.

Towards the end of his life he became reclusive and produced no paintings, but continued making drawings which were heavily influenced by his earlier work. The meaning of his work has been the subject of much discussion throughout the years, with even more speculation taking place considering that he never spoke nor wrote about it himself.

Towards the end of his life he became reclusive and produced no paintings, but continued making drawings which were heavily influenced by his earlier work. The meaning of his work has been the subject of much discussion throughout the years, with even more speculation taking place considering that he never spoke nor wrote about it himself.

Bosch’s paintings can be read from many different levels: literal (the easiest