In this article, I am gonna share with you the 12 world’s most famous paintings and where they are located.
I have just finished planning a trip to Vienna, Austria where I will be going to see “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt. And that made me think that many travelers or artists do may not know where some of the world’s most famous paintings are being exhibited, so let me help you locate your favorite artworks and why not get an entry ticket (in case you plan a trip anytime soon) to go see it.
The 12 most famous paintings and where they are located
- The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci – The Louvre Museum in Paris, France.
- The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh – The MoMa (The Museum of Modern Art) New York, USA.
- The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci – Santa Maria delle Grazie church in Milan, Italy.
- The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo Buonarroti – Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City – Rome, Italy.
- The Scream by Edvard Munch – The National Museum in Oslo, Norway.
- Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer – The Mauritshuis museum in the Hague, Netherlands.
- The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli – The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.
- Water Lilies by Claude Monet – The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA.
- The Kiss by Gustav Klimt – Upper Belvedere Palace in Vienna, Austria.
- The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí – The MoMa (The Museum of Modern Art) New York, USA.
- The Night Watch by Rembrandt – Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- Guernica by Pablo Picasso – Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain.
Where are the 12 most famous paintings located?
The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
The Mona Lisa is the world’s most famous painting and it is exhibited in the Louvre Museum‘s permanent collection. The Louvre is located in Paris and is one of the hardest museums to visit. But, you can get a skip-the-line ticket through this link.
The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh
Weirdly enough, the starry night is not located in the Van Gogh museum, it is in fact located in the MoMa (The Museum of Modern Art) New York. You may wonder, how did The Starry Night get to New York out of all places? Well, Vincent sold only a handful of artworks during his lifetime. When Vincent passed away, his brother Theo inherited all the remaining ones. Yet when Theo died shortly after, they all fell into the hands of Theo’s wife Jo and their only son. In order to establish Vincent’s recognition in the art world, Jo strategically sold artworks to influential art collectors or well-known museums. One day, Jo sold The Starry Night to Georgette van Stolk in Rotterdam. Then in 1941, MoMA acquired it from her. It was the first Van Gogh to enter a New York museum collection. (Source of this info is Van Gogh Museum)
The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci
The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo Buonarroti
The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli
