From a choice of more than 2,300 works, here are the paintings you visited online the most
1. 'The Arnolfini Portrait' by Jan van Eyck
The most popular painting page, with the highest number of views, is Jan van Eyck’s 'Arnolfini Portrait'.
In 2020 we saw a lot of people get creative with bathroom towels, stuffed toys and duvets to recreate this famous painting at home, including TV's favourite pairing Ant and Dec, which may be one reason why this painting takes the crown.
2. 'The Ambassadors' by Hans Holbein the Younger
This painting is much more than just a portrait of the French diplomat Jean de Dinteville (left) and his close friend, Georges de Selve, Bishop of Lavaur; the table they're leaning against is piled with objects: books, musical instruments, globes and fancy star charts, is this 16th-century 'tablescaping'?
Maybe one reason for this painting's popularity in 2020 was as inspiration for 'mantlescaping' – the art of decorating your mantlepiece...
Any house-proud person in 2020 would gladly have this wonderful paraphernalia on display in the background of those important video calls
3. 'Sunflowers' by Vincent van Gogh
Van Gogh made his dazzling sunflower paintings to decorate the house he had rented in Arles in readiness for a visit from his friend and fellow artist, Paul Gauguin.
A symbol of happiness for Van Gogh, he hung several of his sunflower works in what would be Gauguin's bedroom.
This reminds us of the brightly coloured rainbows people painted and displayed in their windows to celebrate the country's keyworkers. An act of creativity, kindness and expression.
4. 'The Fighting Temeraire' by Joseph Mallord William Turner
Set against a blazing sunset, the last voyage of the Temeraire – a warship which had played a distinguished role in the Battle of Trafalgar – takes on a greater symbolic meaning, as the age of sail gives way to the age of steam.
The plucky ‘Temeraire’ came to the rescue of Nelson's flagship HMS 'Victory' during the battle, and despite shown here being towed to be scrapped, she retains an air of dignity and pride.
The steam-powered tug is the future; the result of advances and new invention. Turner painted a transitional moment, one of sadness but also of hope. Maybe it was this thought that resonated with people viewing this painting online last year.
5. 'The Virgin of the Rocks' by Leonardo da Vinci
This painting shows the Virgin Mary with Saint John the Baptist, Christ’s cousin, and an angel in adoration of the infant Christ, who raises his hand to bless them.
The Virgin holds her arm tenderly around her nephew while the angel gently supports Christ from behind.
This painting reminds us of how important it is to come together, be close to, and look after those we love. While in 2020 this may not have been possible, this painting reminds us of what we have to look forward to.
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Top 20 paintings
(Showing 9 of 20 works)
This must be one of the most famous and intriguing paintings in the world. A richly dressed man and woman stand in a private room. They are probably Giovanni di Nicolao di Arnolfini, an Italian merchant working in Bruges, and his wife.Although the room is totally plausible – as if Jan van Eyck ha...
Jean de Dinteville, the man on the left, is shown on his second diplomatic mission to England on behalf of Francis I, King of France. To the right is his close friend, Georges de Selve, Bishop of Lavaur. This portrait was painted at a time of religious upheaval in Europe. Although the pope had re...
This is one of five versions of Sunflowers on display in museums and galleries across the world. Van Gogh made the paintings to decorate his house in Arles in readiness for a visit from his friend and fellow artist, Paul Gauguin.‘The sunflower is mine’, Van Gogh once declared, and it is clear tha...
Turner’s painting shows the final journey of the Temeraire, as the ship is towed from Sheerness in Kent along the river Thames to Rotherhithe in south-east London, where it was to be scrapped. The veteran warship had played a distinguished role in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, but by 1838 was...
Leonardo’s mysterious painting shows the Virgin Mary with Saint John the Baptist, Christ’s cousin, and an angel. All kneel to adore the infant Christ, who in turn raises his hand to bless them. They are crowded in a grotto overhung with rocks and dense with vegetation.The painting was part of a l...
A steam engine comes towards us as it crosses the Maidenhead Railway Bridge in the rain. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the bridge was completed in 1838. We are looking east towards London as the train heads to the west. The exaggeratedly abrupt foreshortening of the viaduct, which our eye...
Venus, the goddess of love, reclines languidly on her bed, the curve of her body echoed in the sweep of sumptuous satin fabric. The pearly tones of her smooth skin contrast with the rich colours and lively brushstrokes of the curtain and sheets.Venus‘ face is reflected in the mirror held up by he...
A tiger crouches low in thick jungle foliage, its back arched and teeth bared. It is not entirely clear what is happening: is the tiger cowering from the flash of lightning, or is it stalking prey?Surprised! was the first of around 20 ‘jungle’ paintings that Rousseau produced, which are among his...
One of the most famous paintings in the National Gallery, Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne illustrates a story told by the classical authors Ovid and Catullus. The Cretan princess Ariadne has been abandoned on the Greek island of Naxos by Theseus, whose ship sails away in the distance. Bacchus, god o...
The view is of the millpond at Flatford on the River Stour. Flatford Mill was a watermill for grinding corn, operated by the Constable family for nearly a hundred years. It still survives and is about a mile from Constable’s birthplace at East Bergholt, Suffolk. The house on the left also survive...
Venus, the goddess of love, looks over at her lover Mars. She is alert and dignified, while he – the god of war – is utterly lost in sleep. He doesn‘t even notice the chubby satyr (half child, half goat) blowing a conch shell in his ear.This picture was probably ordered to celebrate a marriage, a...
In 1893 Monet bought a plot of land next to his house in Giverny. He had already planted a colourful flower garden, but now he wanted to create a water garden ‘both for the pleasure of the eye and for the purpose of having subjects to paint'. He enlarged the existing pond, filling it with exotic...
This large picture was Seurat’s first major composition, painted when he had not yet turned 25. He intended it to be a grand statement with which he would make his mark at the official Salon in the spring of 1884, but it was rejected.Several men and boys relax on the banks of the Seine at Asnière...
On the third day after the Crucifixion two of Jesus’s disciples were walking to Emmaus when they met the resurrected Christ. They failed to recognise him, but that evening at supper he ‘... took bread, and blessed it, and brake and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and...
This is the first in Hogarth’s series of six paintings titled Marriage A-la-Mode. They were painted to be engraved and then sold after the engravings were finished.The Earl of Squander is negotiating the marriage of his son to the daughter of a rich Alderman of the City of London. The Alderman’s...
The young woman at the keyboard holds our eye with a direct gaze. The empty chair suggests she is expecting someone and the large painting of a naked Cupid, the god of erotic love, on the wall behind her may be a signal that she is waiting for her lover. Scenes of music making were a popular genr...
An audience has gathered around a lecturer to watch an experiment. It is night, and the room is lit by a single candle that burns behind a large rounded glass containing a diseased human skull. A white cockatoo has been placed in a glass container from which the air is being pumped to create a va...
It’s hard to follow what’s going on in this large and busy painting, partly because it’s much darker now than when it was painted. This is one of three battle scenes by Uccello showing the Florentine victory at San Romano in 1432.The Florentine commander, Niccolò da Tolentino, rides a white charg...
Van Gogh painted several versions of A Wheatfield, with Cypresses during the summer of 1889, while he was a patient in the psychiatric hospital of Saint-Paul de Mausole, in the village of St-Rémy in the south of France. A first version, which he described as a study, was painted on site in late J...
As ruler of the expanding Islamic Ottoman Empire, Sultan Mehmet II was one of the most powerful men in the world when this portrait was painted. Fascinated by portraiture and European culture, he sent a request for a painter to the Venetian authorities in 1479. Gentile Bellini, having recently co...
On display elsewhere
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