Whether you’re into paintings, sculptures or photographs, there are plenty of galleries devoted to each type of art across the world. These are just seven works of art to explore whilst travelling;
1. Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (La Gioconda in Italian) at The Louvre Museum in Paris, France is arguably the most famous painting in the world and is located in one of the most famous art cities in the world. Tourists mob Mona Lisa daily, but seeing the painting in this amazing museum is definitely worth the trip.
2. Over to Italy, the Pieta statue by Michelangelo Buonarroti is displayed in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. This marble statue is renowned for its beauty, detail, and emotion. Vatican City and Italy as a whole, house many other amazing works of art, but Pieta is uniquely striking.
3. Las Meninas by the Spanish artist Diego Velazquez is in Madrid, Spain. This large, fascinating, and complex painting has been studied and admired for its key place in Western art history. Contemplate it for yourself in lively Madrid at the Museo del Prado.
4. Another large and influential painting that cannot be missed is Rembrandt van Rijn’s Night Watch. Housed with many other beautiful Dutch works in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Night Watch is alive with light and motion that make this painting among the most famous in the world.
5. In the Americas, Diego Rivera is famous for his stunning murals. At the National Palace in Mexico City, his three-part depiction of Mexican history gives the viewer a great example of this master’s work. This politically charged mural, as with so many of Rivera’s others, is thought provoking and memorable.
6. At the beautiful Hakone Museum of Art in Hakone, Japan visitors can see the original woodblock work The Breaking Wave Off Kanagawa (or The Great Wave) by Katsushika Hokusai. Hokusai is probably Japan’s best-known artist and this iconic image will leave the visitor breathless.
7. Finally, include the amazing origins of painting in your travels and see the cave paintings of Lascaux in the southwest of France, near the village of Montignac. From the Upper Paleolithic era, (dating them at around 17,000 years old) these many paintings depict large animals of the area. The beauty and precision of these painting is striking when one considers what little technology and culture there was at the time!
