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World Best Paintings
Between the millions of paintings that are created and shown in galleries and museums all around the
world, a very small amount transcend time and make history. This select group of paintings is
recognizable by people from all over the world and of all ages and will probably continue to echo and
leave impressions in the minds of people in the centuries to come. Below is a list of some of the most
famous paintings in the world.
The Mona Lisa
The portrait shows the subject sitting upright and sideways in a chair, with her face and chest turned
slightly towards the viewer: a posture derived from the 'pyramid' image used to depict a sitting Madonna.
Her left arm sits comfortably on the armrest of the chair and is clasped by the hand of her right arm which
crosses her front. The slightly protective position of her arms, as well as the armrest, creates a sense of
distance between sitter and spectator. The background landscape behind the sitter was created using aerial
perspective, with its smoky blues and no clearly defined vanishing point. It gives the composition
significant depth, although its details reveal a clear imbalance between the (higher) rocky horizon to the
right, compared to the (lower) flatlands stretching away on the left. This imbalance adds to the slightly
surreal atmosphere of the picture. The Mona Lisa exemplifies Leonardo's contribution to the art of oil
painting, namely his mastery of sfumato. This painterly technique involves the smooth, almost
imperceptible, transition from one colour to another, by means of ultra-subtle tonal gradations. The general
impression created by the Mona Lisa portrait is one of great serenity, enriched by a definite air of mystery.
The serenity comes from the muted colour scheme, the soothing sfumato tonality, and the harmony created
by the sitter's pyramid-shaped pose and understated drapery. The mystery stems from a number of factors:
first, her enigmatic half-smile; second, her gaze, which is directed to the right of the viewer; her hands
which have a slightly unreal, lifeless quality - almost as if they belonged to a different body.
Created by one of the greatest Old Masters in the history of art, the Mona Lisa is a wonderful example
of High Renaissance aesthetics of the early cinquecento, and has become an unmistakable icon of Western
culture.
Translate into English:
- На портрете изображена женщина, сидящая на стуле.
- создавать чувство пространства между..
- пейзаж на заднем плане
- четко обозначенный
- придавать композиции выразительную/значительную глубину
- демонстрировать
- практически незаметный переход от одного цвета к другому
- общее впечатление создаваемое портретом – спокойствие.
- приглушенная цветовая палитра
- техника живописи
- гармония, дисбаланс
- загадочность вызвана несколькими причинами
- непререкаемая икона
Skim through the text to complete the sentences:
1. The portrait shows…..
2. Her left arm sits comfortably
3. ……………….was created using……………
4. It gives the composition……
5. This imbalance adds to……
6. It exemplifies …… contribution to….
7. This painterly technique involves…….
8. The general impression created by…..
9. The mystery stems from….
10. …………is a wonderful example of………… and has become………

2. The Scream is the most important and well known work of art by Edward Munch, and has been the
subject of many discussion groups, and continues to this day, to be a point of argument and conjecture.
What Munch done is to create a very strong emotional painting and use only a basic set of naturally
occurring coloration options. Set near a bridge, and what could have been any number of bridges in
Norway or Western Europe, the painting shows a man in terror or at least distress, covering his ears, as two
individuals are seen walking away. The Scream, offers a plethora of emotions, from fear and panic, to
excitement, and even rage. Edward Munch, and The Scream, is two of the most indelible and penetrating
works of art in all of the world’s portrait painting endeavors. All in all any version of The Scream, by
Edward Munch, is a priceless entity and one that will be argued about, till the end of time. As with most
artists, much of Munch’s subject matter came directly from his life experience. Often called the first of the
expressionists, Munch left an indelible mark on the history of art.
Translate into English:
-предмет споров и загадок
- использовать основной набор натуральних цветов
- на картине показан человек в состоянии ужаса;
- пробуждать множество эмоций от страха и паники до гнева
- то о чем будут спорить до скончания века
- в общем, в итоге
- оставить неизгладимый след в истории искусства
Skim through the text to complete the sentences:
1)…….is the most important and well known work of art by…….
2)…….continues to this day, to be a point of……..
3) The painting shows…..
4) He uses……
5) The subject matter came……
6)……. Munch left……….

3. In April of 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, German and Italian airplanes supporting the
Spanish fascist leader bombed the town of Guernica, Spain, killing approximately 1,600 innocent people.
This tragic act of war was the first international mass bombing of civilians; in response, the Spanish
republican government commissioned famous artist Pablo Picasso to paint a mural depicting the event that
would be displayed at the Paris International Exposition that year. The image powerfully demonstrates
war’s harmful effect on people, especially the suffering of innocent civilians.
Guernica is a busy and complex mural. At first glance, it shows the suffering of the abstracted forms of
humans and animals after the bombing. On the left, a bull stands over a woman grieving the death of her
child. Moving to the right, there is next a horse; his expression is that of pain and fear, appearing to have
been speared. Beneath him lies a dismembered soldier, whose arm clutches a broken sword out of which a
flower grows. Above the horse, a light bulb shines in the shape of an eye. Next there are two women
protruding from an open door, the topmost woman holding a lit candle near the top of the canvas. On the
far right, a woman cries in agony as she in engulfed by fire. The facial expressions of the figures vary, but
all express pain, agony, sadness, disbelief, or the like. The muted color of the painting, done in black,
white, and gray, echoes these emotions; Picasso also employed these colors to mimic the newspapers and
black-and-white photographs through which the news of the attack was spread.
With a lack of emphasis on color, the main visual elements that Picasso utilizes in Guernica are line and
shape. The center of the mural, specifically the horse and the light area between it and the two women, has
a high concentration of lines compared to the rest of the image, forming overlapping shapes which are
defined by different values. This continues outward toward the sides of the canvas, though the amount of
overlapping gradually diminishes. The image is asymmetrical, weighted on the left side by the focal points
of the horse and the bull. This draws the viewer’s eye initially to the left side of the mural and leads it
across to the right, like reading a book.
Translate into English:
Насыщенная и сложная настенная живопись
Вторить эмоциям
Использовать приглушенные цвета
Не акцентируя цвет
Основные визуальные элементы, используемые в картине
Skim through the text to complete the sentences:
1. The image powerfully demonstrates…
2. Guernica is…………mural.
3. At first glance, it shows…
4. On the left……
5. Moving to the right,….
6. On the far right,…..
7. The muted color of the painting…
8. Picasso also employed….
9. The center of the mural…

4. He showed Poppy Field to the public at the first Impressionist exhibition held in the photographer
Nadar's disused studio in 1874. Now one of the world's most famous paintings, it conjures up the vibrant
atmosphere of a stroll through the fields on a summer's day. Monet diluted the contours and constructed a
colourful rhythm with blobs of paint starting from a sprinkling of poppies; the disproportionately large
patches in the foreground indicate the primacy he put on visual impression. A step towards abstraction had
been taken. In the landscape, a mother and child pair in the foreground and another in the background are
merely a pretext for drawing the diagonal line that structures the painting. Two separate colour zones are
established, one dominated by red, the other by a bluish green. The young woman with the sunshade and
the child in the foreground are probably the artist's wife, Camille, and their son Jean. In all of his poppy-
field compositions, Monet explored the interplay between the vivid colors of the field and brilliant
daylight. In these and countless other compositions, Monet celebrated the flowering of the French
countryside.
Translate into English:
- вызывать в воображении живую атмосферу
-размывать контуры
- красочный ритм
-пятна краски
-отдавать предпочтение визуальным ощущениям
- сделать шаг навстречу
-создать две цветовые зоны
- взаимодействие ярких красок и искрящегося дневного света
-прославлять
Skim through the text to complete the sentences:
1. It conjures up….
2. Monet diluted the contours…
3. In the landscape….
4. Two separate colour zones…
5. Monet explored…
6. In these and countless other compositions…..

5. Vincent van Gogh's Sunflower paintings. Upon looking at these paintings one begins to notice aspects
that seem to flow from one piece to another. The colors are vibrant and express emotions typically
associated with the life of sunflowers: bright yellows of the full bloom to arid browns of wilting and death;
all of the stages woven through these polar opposites are presented. Perhaps this very technique is what
draws one into the painting; the fulfillment of seeing all angles of the spectrum of life and in turn reaching
a deeper understanding of how all living things are tied together. Regardless, Van Gogh's paintings of
sunflowers have altered mankind's perspective of art and life. These paintings captivate the mind and leave
you astounded in their simplistic beauty. The flowing wilted steams and the burst of lovely yellow draws
ones attention around the painting, without disrupting the balance of the piece. These paintings are often
duplicated but never reach the pure power of Van Gogh's.
Translate into English:
Вибрирующие, живые цвета
Изменить взгляд на будущее искусства и жизни
Пленить разум
Поражать упрощенной красотой
Достичь подлинной мощи полотен Ван Гога
Skim through the text to complete the sentences:
1. Upon looking at these paintings one begins to notice…
2. The colours …… and express….
3. This very technique is what…
4. These paintings captivate…..
DISCUSSION
֍ What makes these paintings the most famous paintings in the world. ?
☼ What makes a painting an unsurpassed masterpiece?
►Is the power of great art in its mysterious ability to move us?