100 Great Paintings
Created byEdwin Mullins
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Original release
NetworkBBC Two
Release1980 (1980)

100 Great Paintings is a British television series broadcast in 1980 on BBC Two, devised by Edwin Mullins.[1] He chose 20 thematic groups, such as war, the Adoration, the language of colour, the hunt, and bathing, picking five paintings from each.[2] The selection ranges from 12th-century China through the 1950s, with an emphasis on European paintings. He deliberately avoided especially famous paintings, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa or John Constable's The Haywain.[3] The series is available on VHS and DVD.[4]

On the basis of the series, Mullins published the book Great Paintings: Fifty Masterpieces, Explored, Explained and Appreciated (1981), which contained about half of the theme groups. A German translation of Mullins' book appeared as 100 Meisterwerke in 1983. In 1985, a second volume came out, only in Germany, which discussed the remaining 50 paintings.

From 1980 through 1994, the West German broadcaster WDR produced a television series called 1000 Meisterwerke (originally named 100 Meisterwerke aus den großen Museen der Welt; "100 Masterworks from the Great Museums of the World"), which was broadcast by ARD, ORF and BR. In each of the 10-minute broadcasts, a single painting was presented and analyzed by an art historian. The Sunday evening broadcasts had five million viewers.[5]

Selection of works presented

The following is a complete list of the 100 Great Paintings.[6]

  1. Josef Albers: Homage to the Square: Against Deep Blue (1955)[7]
  2. Albrecht Altdorfer: The Battle of Alexander at Issus (1528–29)[8]
  3. Giuseppe Arcimboldo: Fire (1566)
  4. Hendrick Avercamp: Winter Scene on a Canal (c. 1630)[9]
  5. Francis Bacon: Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (1944)[10]
  6. Hans Baldung Grien: Death and the Maiden (1517)[11]
  7. Giacomo Balla: Abstract Speed + Sound (1913–14)[12]
  8. Georg Baselitz: Allegory of Art
  9. Georg Baselitz: The Great Friends (1965)[13]
  10. Max Beckmann: Actors - Triptych (1941–42)[7]
  11. Giovanni Bellini: Prayer of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane (c. 1465)[14]
  12. Frits Van den Berghe: Sunday (1924)
  13. Umberto Boccioni: The Farewells (1911)[15]
  14. Arnold Böcklin: Spring Awakening (1880)[16]
  15. Pierre Bonnard: Backlit Nude (1908)[17]
  16. Hieronymus Bosch: The Garden of Earthly Delights (c. 1500)[14]
  17. Sandro Botticelli: The Birth of Venus (1478–1487)[18]
  18. François Boucher: The Blonde Odalisque (1751)[19]
  19. Georges Braque: The Female Musician (1917–1918)[20]
  20. Pieter Brueghel the Elder: Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (c. 1550)[21]
  21. Pieter Brueghel the Elder: The Triumph of Death
  22. Pieter Brueghel the Elder: The Hunters in the Snow (Return of the Hunters) (1565)[22]
  23. Gustave Caillebotte: Parisian Street, Rainy Day (1877)[23]
  24. Antonio Canaletto: Return of the Bucintoro to the Molo on Ascension Day (1734)[24]
  25. Caravaggio: Supper at Emmaus (1596–1598)[17]
  26. Caravaggio: The Lute Player (c. 1596)
  27. Vittore Carpaccio: Miracle of the Relic of the Cross at the Ponte di Rialto (1494)[25]
  28. Annibale Carracci: River Landscape (c. 1595)[20]
  29. Mary Cassatt: The Child's Bath (c. 1891)[23]
  30. Paul Cézanne: Mont Sainte-Victoire (1897)[26]
  31. Paul Cézanne: Bathers (c. 1900)[27]
  32. Marc Chagall: I and the Village (1911)[21]
  33. Jean Siméon Chardin: The Young Schoolmistress (before 1740)[28]
  34. China: Clear Weather in the Valley (12th century)[9]
  35. John Constable: Salisbury Cathedral (1823)[21]
  36. Lovis Corinth: Self-portrait in Front of the Easel (1914)[5][29]
  37. Correggio: Leda and the Swan (c. 1530)[30]
  38. Gustave Courbet: Breakfast at the Hunt (1858)[22]
  39. Lucas Cranach the Elder: Adam and Eve in Paradise (1531)[31][32]
  40. Salvador Dalí: The Burning Giraffe (1936)[11]
  41. Honoré Daumier: Ecce Homo (c. 1849–1852)[25]
  42. Jacques-Louis David: The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons (1789)[10]
  43. Edgar Degas: Woman in a Tub (1886)[27]
  44. Eugène Delacroix: The Massacre at Chios (1824)[8]
  45. Robert Delaunay: Eiffel Tower, Champs de Mars (1911)[23]
  46. Sonia Delaunay-Terk: Electric Prisms (1914)[33]
  47. Niklaus Manuel Deutsch: Pyramus and Thisbe (after 1523)[11]
  48. Otto Dix: Flanders (1934–1936)[34][35]
  49. Jean Dubuffet: Prosperous country (1944)[33]
  50. Duccio: Christ Healing a Blind Man (1308–1310)[36]
  51. Marcel Duchamp: Sad Young Man in a Train (1911)[12]
  52. Albrecht Dürer: Picture of a Young Venetian Woman (1505)
  53. Albrecht Dürer: Self-portrait (1498)[37]
  54. Anthony van Dyck: Samson and Delilah (c. 1628–1630)[38]
  55. Thomas Eakins: Max Schmitt in a Single Scull (1871)[9]
  56. James Ensor: Self-portrait with Masks (1899)[37]
  57. Max Ernst: The Attirement of the Bride (1939)[30]
  58. Jan van Eyck: The Madonna of the Chancellor Rolin (1434)[18]
  59. Lyonel Feininger: Bird Cloud (1926)[7]
  60. Lucio Fontana: Concetto Spaziale (1957)[13]
  61. Piero della Francesca: Resurrection of Christ (c. 1460)[18]
  62. Piero della Francesca: The Birth of Christ (around 1480)[20]
  63. Helen Frankenthaler: Mountains and Sea (1952)[39]
  64. Caspar David Friedrich: The Sea of Ice (1822–1824)[40][41]
  65. Henry Fuseli: Titania Caressing Bottom with a Donkey's Head (1793)[16]
  66. Thomas Gainsborough: Mr and Mrs Andrews (1748–1749)[30]
  67. Paul Gauguin: Mahana no atua (Day of the God) (1894)[42]
  68. Théodore Géricault: The Raft of the Medusa (1819)[43]
  69. Alberto Giacometti: Portrait of Jean Genet (1955)[33]
  70. Giorgione: Sleeping Venus (1508)[19]
  71. Giorgione or Titian: Pastoral Concert (c. 1510)[20]
  72. Giotto: The Mourning of Christ (c. 1304–1306)[10]
  73. Hugo van der Goes: Adoration of the Kings (around 1470)[31][32]
  74. Vincent van Gogh: Self-portrait (1889)[37]
  75. Vincent van Gogh: Café Terrace at Night (1888)[44]
  76. Arshile Gorky: One Year the Milkweed (1944)[39]
  77. Francisco de Goya: The Colossus (attribution uncertain)
  78. Francisco de Goya: The Naked Maja (c. 1800)[19]
  79. Francisco de Goya: Carnival Scene (1793)[24]
  80. Benozzo Gozzoli: The Procession of the Magi (c. 1460)[24]
  81. Gotthard Graubner: Black Skin (1969)[13]
  82. El Greco: The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1586)[10]
  83. El Greco: View of Toledo (1600–1610)[44]
  84. Juan Gris: The Breakfast Table (1915)[33]
  85. George Grosz: Untitled (1920)[45][46]
  86. Matthias Grünewald: Crucifixion from the Isenheim Altarpiece (1515)[10]
  87. Erich Heckel: Convalescing Woman (1912–1913)[7]
  88. Hannah Höch: Cut with the Kitchen Knife (1919–1920)[34][35]
  89. Ferdinand Hodler: Youth Admired by the Woman (1903)[16]
  90. Hans Holbein the Younger: Portrait of the Artist's Family (Holbein) (1528)[11]
  91. Winslow Homer: The Fox Hunt (1893)[22]
  92. Edward Hopper: Nighthawks (1942)[23]
  93. William Holman Hunt: The Hireling Shepherd (1851)[21]
  94. Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres: The Turkish Bath (1862)[27]
  95. Johannes Itten: The Encounter (1916)[16]
  96. Geertgen tot Sint Jans: John the Baptist in the Wilderness (c. 1485–1490)[31][32]
  97. Alexej von Jawlensky: Meditation (1918)[47][48]
  98. Jasper Johns: Flag (1954–1955)[15]
  99. Wassily Kandinsky: Improvisation 6 (1910)[42]
  100. Kangra School: Radha and Krishna in the Garden (c. 1780)[30]
  101. Wilhelm von Kaulbach: Titus Destroying Jerusalem (1846)[5][29]
  102. Fernand Khnopff: Caress of the Sphinx (1896)
  103. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Five Women on the Street (1913)[49][50]
  104. Konrad Klapheck: The War (1965)[45][46]
  105. Paul Klee: Bird Garden (1924)[14]
  106. Franz Kline: C & O (1958)[39]
  107. Wilhelm von Kobell: The Siege of Kosel (1808)[5][29]
  108. Oskar Kokoschka: The Bride of the Wind (1914)[26]
  109. Jan Kupecky: Portrait of the Miniaturist Karl Bruni (1709)
  110. Fernand Léger: The Wedding (1911)[24]
  111. Wilhelm Leibl: Three Women in Church (1878–1882)[40][41]
  112. Franz von Lenbach: Franz von Lenbach with Wife and Daughters (1903)[47][48]
  113. Roy Lichtenstein: Girl with Hair Band (1965)[39]
  114. Max Liebermann: Women Mending Nets (1887–1889)[40][41]
  115. Richard Lindner: The Meeting (1953)[15]
  116. Stefan Lochner: Madonna of the Rose Bower (c. 1448)[49][50]
  117. Lorenzo Lotto: The Sleeping Child Jesus with the Madonna, St. Joseph and St. Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1533)[38]
  118. Morris Louis: Beta-Kappa (1961)[39]
  119. August Macke: Woman with Umbrella in Front of a Hat Shop (1914)[44]
  120. René Magritte: The Empire of Light (1954)[17]
  121. Kazimir Malevich: An Englishman in Moscow (1914)
  122. Édouard Manet: Olympia (1863)[19]
  123. Andrea Mantegna: The Crucifixion (1457–1460)[43]
  124. Franz Marc: The Tiger (1912)[47][48]
  125. Hans von Marées: Golden Age (1879–1885)[5][29]
  126. Reginald Marsh: Twenty Cent Movie (1936)
  127. Masaccio: The Tribute Money (c. 1425)[25]
  128. Jan Matsys: Flora (1559)[40]
  129. Henri Matisse: Bather at the River (1916–1917)[27]
  130. Henri Matisse: Blue Nude (1907)[19]
  131. William McTaggart: The Storm (1890)[51]
  132. Hans Memling: St. John's Altarpiece (before 1494)[38]
  133. Adolph von Menzel: The Flute Concert (1850–1852)[34][35]
  134. Jean Metzinger: The Racing Cyclist (1914)[12]
  135. John Everett Millais: Ophelia (1851–1852)[52]
  136. Joan Miró: Dutch Interior I (1928)[15]
  137. László Moholy-Nagy: LIS (1922)[16]
  138. Claude Monet: Woman in a Garden (1867)[14]
  139. Piet Mondrian: Apple Tree in Bloom (1912)[14]
  140. Edvard Munch: Ashes (1894–95)
  141. Edvard Munch: Four Girls on the Bridge (1905)[49][50]
  142. Gabriele Münter: Village Street in Winter (1911)[47][48]
  143. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo: Rest on the Flight into Egypt (c.1665)
  144. Louis or Antoine Le Nain: Peasant Family in an Interior (1640–1645)[43]
  145. Paul Nash: Dream Landscape (1936–1938)[52]
  146. Ernst Wilhelm Nay: Grauzug (1960)[13]
  147. Mikhail Nesterov: The Great Consecration (1897–98)
  148. Emil Nolde: St. Mary of Egypt (1912)[41]
  149. Georgia O'Keeffe: White Calico Flower (1931)
  150. Richard Oelze: Daily Stress (1934)[45][46]
  151. Victor Pasmore: Inland Coastal Landscape (1950)[52]
  152. Joachim Patinir: The Baptism of Christ (c. 1515)[38]
  153. Constant Permeke: The Engaged Couple
  154. Francis Picabia: Very Rare Picture of Earth (1915)[12]
  155. Pablo Picasso: Guernica (1937)[8]
  156. Pablo Picasso: La Vie (1903–1904)[36]
  157. Jackson Pollock: Autumn Rhythm (1950)[42]
  158. Nicolas Poussin: The Adoration of the Golden Calf (1635)[42]
  159. Nicolas Poussin: Sleeping Venus and Cupid (1630)[30]
  160. Henry Raeburn: Rev. Robert Walker Skating (1784)[51]
  161. Raphael: Madonna of the Meadow (1506)[28]
  162. Arnulf Rainer: Self-portrait Overpainted (1962–1963)[13]
  163. Rembrandt: The Jewish Bride (1666)[36]
  164. Rembrandt: Self-portrait as Paul (1661)[37]
  165. Auguste Renoir: Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880)[9]
  166. Ilya Repin: Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of Turkey (1880–1891)
  167. Sebastiano Ricci: Bathsheba at her Bath (c. 1720)[27]
  168. Hyacinthe Rigaud: Portrait of Louis XIV. (1701)[18]
  169. Hubert Robert: Design for the Arrangement of the Great Gallery of the Louvre des Louvre (1796)[43]
  170. Giulio Romano: Virgin and Child and the Young John (c. 1518)[51]
  171. Mark Rothko: Red, Brown and Black (1958)[17]
  172. Carl Rottmann: From the Greek Cycle (1838–1850)[5][29]
  173. Henri Rousseau: The Sleeping Gypsy (1897)[20]
  174. Peter Paul Rubens: Château de Steen with Hunter (c. 1635–1637)[21]
  175. Peter Paul Rubens: Mercury and Argus (1638)[25]
  176. Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruisdael: The Large Forest (c. 1655–1660)[38]
  177. Philipp Otto Runge: The Hülsenbeck Children (1805–1806)[40][41]
  178. Pieter Saenredam: Interior of Grote Kerk in Haarlem (1648)[51]
  179. Egon Schiele: Mother with Two Children (1915–1917)[28]
  180. Karl Friedrich Schinkel: Medieval City on a River (1815)[34][35]
  181. Oskar Schlemmer: Group on the Railings I (1931)[45][46]
  182. Kurt Schwitters: Merzbild 25A, Constellation (1920)[45][46]
  183. Georges Seurat: Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884–1886)[9]
  184. Luca Signorelli: Portrait of an Older Man (c. 1500)[31][32]
  185. Tawaraya Sōtatsu: Waves of Matsushima (c. 1630)[26]
  186. Stanley Spencer: The Resurrection, Cookham (1924–1927)[52]
  187. Carl Spitzweg: The Poor Poet (1839)[34][35]
  188. George Stubbs: The Grosvenor Hunt (1762)[22]
  189. Franz von Stuck: Salome (1906)[47][48]
  190. Yves Tanguy: About Four o'clock in the Summer, the Hope (1929)[33]
  191. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo: Virtue and Nobility putting Ignorance to Flight (c. 1745)[18]
  192. Jacopo Tintoretto: Bacchus, with Ariadne Crowned by Venus (1576–77)[36]
  193. Titian: Bacchanals (1523–1526)
  194. Titian: Diana and Callisto (1556–1559)[22]
  195. Georges de La Tour: The Dream of St. Joseph (c. 1628–1645)[36]
  196. Georges de La Tour: The Fortune Teller (c. 1620–1621)[25]
  197. William Turner: The Burning of the Houses of Parliament (1834–1835)[26]
  198. William Turner: Venice - La Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute (1843)[44]
  199. Paolo Uccello: The Battle of San Romano (c. 1456)[8]
  200. Emilio Vedova: Picture of Time – Barrier (1951)[12]
  201. Diego Velázquez: Las Meninas (1656)
  202. Diego Velázquez: Prince Balthasar Carlos (1635)[28]
  203. Diego Velázquez: The Surrender of Breda (1634)[8]
  204. Jan Vermeer: The Artist in his Atelier (c. 1670)[42]
  205. Jan Vermeer: View of Delft (c. 1660)[44]
  206. Paolo Veronese: The Wedding at Cana (1562–1563)[43]
  207. Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun: Self-Portrait with Daughter (1789)[37]
  208. Leonardo da Vinci: The Virgin and Child with St. Anne (c. 1510)[28]
  209. Wolf Vostell: Miss America (1968)[49][50]
  210. Andy Warhol: Texan, Portrait of Robert Rauschenberg (1963)[49][50]
  211. Antoine Watteau: Pilgrimage to Cythera (1717)[24]
  212. Rogier van der Weyden: Saint Johns Altarpiece (after 1450)[31][32]
  213. James McNeill Whistler: Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1877)[26]
  214. David Wilkie: William Bethune with Wife and Daughter (1804)[51]
  215. Fritz Winter: Composition in Blue (1953)[7]
  216. Konrad Witz: The Knights Abisai, Sibbechai and Benaja Bring King David Water (c. 1435)[11]
  217. Grant Wood: American Gothic (1930)[23]
  218. Joseph Wright of Derby: An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1767–1768)[52]
  219. Andrew Wyeth: Christina's World (1948)[15]
  220. Francisco de Zurbarán: Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose (1633)[17]

Literature

References

  1. ^ http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/11652 Archived 25 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine 13 January 2007
  2. ^ 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 3, Foreword
  3. ^ 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 1, Introduction of the Publisher
  4. ^ http://www.films.com/id/2067/100_Great_Paintings.htm Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine 13 January 2007
  5. ^ a b c d e f 100 Meisterwerke, Video, Part 7 Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Neue Pinakothek Munich
  6. ^ "Top 100 Great Paintings". www.toperfect.com. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  7. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 4, Chapter 9: Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge
  8. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 1, Chapter 6: Krieg (War)
  9. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 1, Chapter 10: Leben im Freien (Outdoor Life)
  10. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 2, Chapter 5: Gram (Grief)
  11. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 3, Chapter 7: Kunstmuseum Basel
  12. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 4, Chapter 6: Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
  13. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 4, Chapter 5: Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna
  14. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 2, Chapter 7: Gärten (Gardens)
  15. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 4, Chapter 7: Museum of Modern Art, New York
  16. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 3, Chapter 8: Kunsthaus, Zurich
  17. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 1, Chapter 1: Zauber des Lichts (The Magic of Light)
  18. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 1, Chapter 3: Anbetung (Adoration)
  19. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 2, Chapter 3: Ruhender Akt (Reclining Nude)
  20. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 2, Chapter 6: Musik (Music)
  21. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 2, Chapter 8: Landschaft (Landscape)
  22. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 1, Chapter 5: Jagd (The Hunt)
  23. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 4, Chapter 10: Art Institute of Chicago
  24. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 2, Chapter 9: Prozessionen (Processions)
  25. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 2, Chapter 10: Erzählungen (Stories)
  26. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 1, Chapter 4: Die Elemente (The Elements)
  27. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 1, Chapter 9: Baden (Bathing)
  28. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 2, Chapter 2: Kinder (Children)
  29. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 3, Chapter 2: Neue Pinakothek, Munich
  30. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 2, Chapter 4: Liebe (Love)
  31. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Video, Part 5 Staatliche Museen, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie Berlin-Dahlem
  32. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 4, Chapter 1: Gemäldegalerie Berlin (West) SMPK
  33. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 3, Chapter 9: Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
  34. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Video, Part 2 Staatliche Museen, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Nationalgalerie Berlin
  35. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 3, Chapter 1: Nationalgalerie, Berlin (West)
  36. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 1, Chapter 8: Berührung (Contact)
  37. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 2, Chapter 1: Selbstporträts (Self-portraits)
  38. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 4, Chapter 4: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
  39. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 4, Chapter 8: National Gallery of Art, Washington
  40. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Video, Part 6 Hamburger Kunsthalle
  41. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 3, Chapter 5: Kunsthalle, Hamburg
  42. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 1, Chapter 2: Die Sprache der Farbe (The Language of Color)
  43. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 4, Chapter 2: Musée National du Louvre, Paris
  44. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 1, Chapter 7: Städte (Cities)
  45. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 3, Chapter 4: Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf
  46. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Video, Part 1 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen Düsseldorf
  47. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Video, Part 3 Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus München
  48. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 3, Chapter 3: Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, München
  49. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Video, Part 4 Wallraf-Richartz-Museum and Museum Ludwig Cologne
  50. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 3, Chapter 6: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum und Museum Ludwig, Cologne
  51. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 4, Chapter 3: National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
  52. ^ a b c d e 100 Meisterwerke, Vol. 3, Chapter 10: Tate Gallery, London