Best Contemporary Artists

I found over 20 lists of the best contemporary visual artists and combined them into one meta-list.  Here are the results: every artist on three or more of the lists, including a selection of the the artist’s most highly regarded artworks.  Unlike the list of Best Visual Artists of All Time, which consists almost exclusively of painters and sculptors, the Contemporary list also includes photographers, video and film artists, multimedia and performance artists.

Note 1.  Different listers define “contemporary” differently. A contemporary artist is someone who makes (or has made) contemporary art. Some define contemporary art as any art created from the 1960s to the present. Others say it is art created from the 1970s forward. Other listers claim that a contemporary artist is any artist who was alive at the time the list was made.  Because of these varying definitions, the meta-list includes artists who are alive and deceased.

Note 2. Some of the artists on the Best Contemporary Artists list are also in other Make Lists, Not War meta-lists. Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney and Jean-Michel Basquiat are also on the Best Visual Artists of All Time. Also on the Best Photographers meta-list are: Diane Arbus, Bruce Nauman, Sally Mann, Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, and Andreas Gursky.

On 20 lists

1. Jeff Koons (US, 1955- )

Sculptor, painter, multimedia artist 

Jeff Koons with Michael Jackson and Bubbles (1988).

Selected Works
Rabbit
(1986)
Ushering In Banality (from Banality series) (1988)
Michael Jackson and Bubbles (from Banality series) (1988)
Pink Panther (from Banality series) (1988)
Made in Heaven (series of sculptures and photographs) (1990–1991)
Puppy (1992)
Balloon Dog (Magenta) (from Celebration series) (1995-1998)
Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold) (from Celebration series) (1995-1998)
Play-Doh (1994-2014)
Ballerinas (1994-2014)

On 15 lists

2. Damien Hirst (UK, 1965- )

Painter, sculptor, filmmaker, musician, multimedia artist

Damien Hirst iposes with his artwork, ‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living’ (1991) in 2012.

Selected Works
A Thousand Years (1990)
In and Out of Love (Butterfly Paintings and Ashtrays) (installation) (1991)
The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991)
Pharmacy (1992)
Mother and Child Divided (1993)
Away from the Flock (1994)
Lullaby, the Season Spring (2002)
Hymn (1999-2005)
For the Love of God (2007)
Beautiful Inside my Head Forever (244 works) (2008)
Verity (2003-2012)
Mickey (2012)
Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable (2017)

On 14 lists

3. Anselm Kiefer (Germany, 1945- )

Painter, sculptor, photographer, mixed media artist

A 2011 photo of Anselm Kiefer standing in front of two of the paintings from his series ‘The Secret Life of Plants for Robert Fludd’ (2001-2002).

Selected Works
Besetzungen (Occupations) (1969)
Winter Landscape (1970)
Resurrexit
(1973)
Margarethe
(1981)
Interior (1981)
Your Golden Hair, Margarethe (1981)
Nuremberg (1982)
To the Unknown Painter (1983)
Nigredo (1984)
Jerusalem (1986)
Osiris and Isis (1985–1987)
Sets, Am Anfang (In the Beginning) (opera) (2009)
La berceuse (for Van Gogh) (2010)
Morgenthau Plan (2012)
Walhalla (2016)
Uraeus (2017-2018)

4. Cindy Sherman (US, 1954- )

Photographer, filmmaker

Cindy Sherman with her 1975 photograph Lucille Ball in 2012.

Selected Works
Untitled Film Stills (series) (1977-1980)
Untitled Film Still #21 (1978)
Untitled #66 (from the Rear Screen Projection series) (1980)
Untitled #92 (from the Centerfolds series) (1981)
Untitled #96 (from the Centerfolds series) (1981)
Untitled #137 (from the Fashion series) (1984)
Untitled #153 (from the Fairy Tales and Disasters series) (1985)
Untitled #193 (from the History Portraits series) (1989)
Untitled #425 (from the Clowns series) (2004)
Untitled #466 (from the Society Portraits series) (2008)
Untitled #474 (from the Society Portraits series) (2008)
Instagram Series (2017)
Tapestry Series (2019-2020)

5. Takashi Murakami (Japan, 1962- )

Sculptor, painter, filmmaker, designer

Takashi Murakami with a small version of his sculpture ‘Tongari Kun – Mr. Pointy & the Four Guards’ (2005) in 2010.

Selected Works
727 (1996)
Miss Ko2 (1997)
Hiropon (1997)
My Lonesome Cowboy (1998)
The Castle of Tin Tin (1998)
Jellyfish Eyes (series) (2001)
Tan Tan Bo Puking – a.k.a. Gero Tan (2002)
Louis Vuitton Handbags (2002)
Flower Matango (series) (2001-2006)
Second Mission Project Ko2 (installation) (2007)
Oval Buddha (2007)
Isle of the Dead (2014)
The Lion of the Kingdom that Transcends Death (2018)
We Came to the Field of Flowers through the Anywhere Door (2018)

On 12 lists

6. Richard Prince (US, 1949- )

Conceptual artist, photographer, painter, sculptor, mixed media artist

Richard Prince with one of the works from his Cowboy series.

Selected Works
Untitled (three women looking in the same direction) (1980)
Spiritual America (1983)
Untitled (from Fashion) (1982-1984)
Gangs (series) (1984- )
Creative Evolution 2 (1985-1986)
Jokes (series) (1986-2006)
Untitled (from Cowboy) (1989)
Hoods (series) (1989- )
Girlfriends (series) (1992-1999)
Untitled (Girlfriend) (1993)
Checks (series) (1999-2005)
Nurses (series) (2002-2006)
Untitled (Dude Ranch Nurse) (from Nurses) (2002)
Untitled (Debutante Nurse) (from Nurses) (2004)
Pure Thoughts (refitted 1970 Dodge Challenger) (2007)
Oz (from Hoods) (2007)
New Portraits (Instagram series) (2014-2018)
Untitled (colorful paintings with multiple figures) (2017-2019)

7. Anish Kapoor (India/UK, 1954- )

Sculptor, architect

Anish Kapoor with a model of ArcelorMittal Orbit’ (2012).

Selected Works
1000 Names (1979-1980)
Sky Mirror (multiple versions) (2001)
Marsyas (2002)
Cloud Gate (2006)
Memory (2008)
Dirty Corner (2011)
ArcelorMittal Orbit (London Olympic Park) (2012)
Descension (2014)

8. Ai Weiwei (China, 1957- )

Sculptor, photographer, mixed media artist, performance artist

Ai Weiwei in the triptych ‘Dropping a Han Dynasty Vase’ (1995).

Selected Works
New York Photographs (1983-1993)
Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995)
Forever (series of bicycle sculptures) (2003)
Fairy Tale (installation) (2007)
Coca-Cola Vase (2007)
Template (2007)
Beijing National Stadium (with Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Stefan Marbach, Li Xinggang, CADG) (2008)
Moon Chests (2008)
Table with Two Legs on the Wall (2008)
Map of China (2008)
Cube Light (2008)
Snake Ceiling (2009)
Colored Vases (series) (2007-2010)
Sunflower Seeds (installation) (2010)
S.A.C.R.E.D. (2013)
Hansel & Gretel (2017)

On 10 lists

9. Gerhard Richter (Germany, 1932- )

Painter, photographer, illustrator, stained glass artist

Gerhard Richter with 4900 Colors: Version II. Photo by Graeme Robertson.

Selected Works
Lebensfreude (Joy of life) (1956)
Atlas (1962-Present)
Domplatz, Mailand (Cathedral Square, Milan) (1968)
Grau (Grey) (1970)
Forty-eight Portraits (1971–1972)
Kerze (Candle) (1982)
Clouds (1982)
October 18, 1977 (series of 15 paintings) (1988)
Betty (1988)
November (1989)
Lesende (Reader) (1994)
September (2005)
Stained Glass Window, Cologne Cathedral (2007)
Birkenau (2014)
Abstract Painting (946-3) (2016)

10. Peter Doig (UK: Scotland, 1959- )

Painter, printmaker

Peter Doig with a painting from the ‘100 Years Ago’ series (2001).

Selected Works
White Canoe (1990)
The Architect’s Home in the Ravine (1991)
Concrete Cabin (series) (1991-1996)
Blotter (1993)
100 years ago (series) (2001)
Pelican (Stag) (2003)
Red Boat (Imaginary Boys) (2004)
Figures in Red Boat (2005-2007)
Man Dressed as Bat (2007)
Ping Pong (2006-2008)
Cricket Painting (Paragrand) (2006-2012)
Two Trees (2017)
Bather (2020)

11. Jean-Michel Basquiat (US, 1960-1988)

Painter, printmaker, graffiti artist

Jean-Michel Basquiat with Icarus Esso. Photo by Sylvia Plachy.

Selected Works
SAMO Graffiti (1980) (w. Al Diaz)
Untitled (Skull) (1981)
Irony of Negro Policeman (1981)
Cabeza (1982)
Charles the First
 (1982)
Untitled (History of the Black People) (1983)
Hollywood Africans (1983)
Gold Griot (1984)
Riding with Death
 (1988)

On 9 lists

12. Yayoi Kusama (Japan/US, 1929- )

Painter, sculptor, performance artist, filmmaker, mixed media artist

Yayoi Kasuma wearing clothing and sitting in a room, the designs of which are derived from her painting ‘Yellow Trees’ (1994).

Selected Works
Infinity Nets (series of paintings) (1959-1965; 1990-Present)
Aggregation: One Thousand Boats Show (installation) (1963)
Infinity Mirrored Room – Phalli’s Field (installation) (1965)
Narcissus Garden (series of installations) (1966-Present)
Horse Play (performance/happening) (1967)
Grand Orgy to Awaken the Dead (performance/happening) (1969)
Mirror Room (Pumpkin) (installation) (1991)
Pumpkin (sculpture, Naoshima) (1994)
Infinity Mirrored Room – Love Forever (installation) (1996)
Dots Obsession (series of installations) (1996-Present)
Fireflies on the Water (painting) (2002)
The Visionary Flowers (sculptures) (2002)
An Encounter with a Flowering Season (painting) (2009)
Late Night Chat is Filled with Dreams (painting) (2009)
Louis Vuitton products (collaboration with Marc Jacobs) (2011)
Infinity Mirrored Room – Filled with the Brilliance of Life (installation) (2011)
Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away (installation) (2016)

13. Andreas Gursky (Germany, 1955- )

Photographer

Andreas Gursky stands in front of his photograph. Getty Photo.

Selected Works
Ratingen (1987)
Paris, Montparnasse (1993)
99 Cent (1999)
Rhein II (1999)
99 Cent II Diptychon (2001)
Madonna I (2001)
Nha Trang, Vietnam (2004)
Bahrain I (2005)
Amazon (2016)

14. Tracey Emin (UK, 1963- )

Painter, printmaker, sculptor, photographer, mixed media, filmmaker

Tracey Emin with one of the works in her 2014 exhibition ‘The Last Great Adventure is You.’

Selected Works
Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 (installation) (1995)
Ripped Up (drawing) (1995)
Sad Shower in New York (drawing) (1995)
Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made (series of paintings) (1996)
Tracey Emin C.V. Cunt Vernacular (video) (1997)
My Bed (installation) (1998)
Berlin The Last Week in April 1998 (series of watercolors) (1998)
I’ve Got It All (photograph) (2000)
Sometimes I Feel Beautiful (photograph) (2000)
The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don’t Leave Me Here II (photograph) (2000)
Knowing My Enemy (installation) (2002)
Death Mask (sculpture) (2002)
Details of Depression (series of photographs) (2003)
Trust Yourself (2014)
My Heart Is with You Always (2015)
Dark Face (2015)
Detail of Love (2020)

On 8 lists

15. Louise Bourgeois (France/US, 1911-2010)

Painter, sculptor, draughtswoman, installation artist, mixed media artist

A 1996 photograph of Louise Bourgeois with her sculpture ‘Spider IV.’ (Photo by Peter Bellamy; courtesy of Zeitgeist Films.)

Selected Works
Femme Maison
 (Housewife) (series of paintings and drawings) (1946-1947)
Spider (drawing) (1947)
Persistent Antagonism (1947–1949)
The Blind Leading the Blind (1947–1949)
Sleeping Figure (c. 1950)
Quarantania I (1947–1953)
Fillette (1968)
Janus Fleuri (Janus in Bloom) (1968)
The Destruction of the Father (1974)
Nature Study (1984)
Articulated Lair (1986)
Mamelles (latex, 1991; marble 2000)
Arch of Hysteria (1993)
The Nest (1994)
Spider (series) (1996)
Maman (1999)
Rejection (2001)
Spiral Woman (series of drawings and sculptures) (1952-2006)

16. Ed Ruscha (US, 1937- )

Painter, photographer, printmaker

Ed Ruscha with Trademark with Eight Spotlights.

Selected Works
Large Trademark with Eight Spotlights (1962)
Oof (1962-1963)
Twentysix Gasoline Stations (series of 26 photographs) (1963)
Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas (1963)
Burning Gas Station (1965-1966)
Standard Station (1966)
Every Building on the Sunset Strip (photographs) (1966)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Fire (1965-1968)
Premium (film) (1971)
Now Then, As I Was About To Say (1973)
I Dont Want No Retro Spective (1979)
The End (1991)
Tulsa Slut (2002)

17. Isa Genzken (Germany, 1948- )

Painter, sculptor, photographer, mixed media artist

Isa Genzken at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2013.

Selected Works
Red-Yellow-Black Double Ellipsoid “Twin” (1982)
Painting (sculpture) (1989)
MLR (More Light Research) (series) (1992)
Rose (1993-1997)
I Love New York, Crazy City (scrapbook) (1995–1996)
Sibling (2004)
Mother and Child (2004)
New Buildings for Berlin (series) (2004)
Holiday (2004)
Bouquet (2004)
The American Room (installation) (2004)
Children Filming I (2005)
Untitled (wrapped wheelchair) (2006)
Oil XI (installation) (2007)
Disco Soon (from Ground Zero) (2008)
Hospital (from Ground Zero) (2008)
Actors (installation) (2013)

18. Martin Kippenberger (Germany, 1953-1997)

Painter, sculptor, photographer, multimedia artist

Martin Kippenberger dressed as a Turkish cleaning lady for this photograph in 1988 as part of his exhibition, “Helmut Newton for the Poor.”

Selected Works
Dear Painter, Paint for Me (series of 12 paintings) (1981)
Dialogue with the Youth of Today (1981)
Friendly Communist Woman (1983)
Try as I Might, I Cannot Find a Swastika (1984)
The Martin Bormann Gas Station (Salvador de Bahia, Brazil) (1986)
The Peter Sculptures (installation) (1987)
Model Interconti (table with Gerhard Richter painting) (from The Peter Sculptures) (1987)
Untitled (self-portrait in red underwear, painting) (1988)
Untitled (self-portrait in white underwear, with blue head) (1988)
Untitled (Martin, into the Corner, You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself) (1989)
Feet First (from Fred the Frog series) (1990)
Street Lamp for Drunks (1988)
The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s ‘Amerika’ (installation) (1994)
The Raft of the Medusa (installation) (1996)
Jacqueline: The Paintings Pablo Couldn’t Paint Anymore (series of eight paintings) (1996)

19. Keith Haring (US, 1958-1990)

Painter, draughtsman, filmmaker, sculptor

Selected Works
Radiant Baby (1978-1990)
Barking Dog (1978-1990)
Painting Myself Into a Corner (video) (1979)
Untitled (b&w, dog on pedestal with cheering crowd) (1980)
Flyer for Des Refusés at Westbeth Painters Space, New York City, February 10, 1981 (1981)
Untitled (notebook page, red doodle) (1981)
Untitled (b&w, many branched tree/dragon, with figure holding up a figure) (1982)
Mural, Houston and Bowery streets (1982)
Free South Africa (1985)
Crack Is Wack (mural, New York) (1986)
Berlin Wall Mural (1986)
Silence = Death (1988)
Once Upon A Time (Mural, LGBT Community Center, New York) (1989)
Tuttomundo (mural, Pisa, Italy) (1990)

20. Yoshitomo Nara (Japan, 1959- )

Painter, sculptor

Yoshitomo Nara with ‘Life Is Only One’ (2011).

Selected Works
The Girl with the Knife in Her Hand (1991)
Pyromaniac Day/Pyromaniac Dead of Night (diptych) (1999)
Light My Fire (sculpture) (2001)
Princess of Snooze (2001)
Life is Only One (2007)
Cosmic Eyes (2007)
Doggy Radio (sculpture) (2011)
Mushroom House (2014)
Tell Me (2014)
Stay Good (2014)
Wounded (2014)
Midnight Surprise (2017)
Midnight Fever (2017)
Midnight Truth (2017)

21. Maurizio Cattelan (Italy, 1960)

Sculptor, painter, mixed media, performance artist

Mauricio Cattelan with his sculpture ‘Le Nona Ora’ (1999). Photo by Pierpaolo Ferrari.

Selected Works
Untitled (man in Picasso costume with enlarged Picasso head) (1998-1999)
La Nona Ora (The Ninth Hour) (1999)
A Perfect Day (art gallery owner duct-taped to wall) (replica) (1999)
Not Afraid of Love (2000)
HIM (2001)
Untitled (sculpture of three boys hanging, with nooses around their necks) (2004)
Stephanie (“Trophy Wife”)
(2003)
Untitled (taxidermied horse with post inscribed “INRI”) (2009)
Toilet Paper (magazine) (2010-Present)
All (installation of 128 of artist’s 132 prior works) (2011)
America (2016)
Comedian (2019)

22. Kara Walker (US, 1969- )

Painter, sculptor, printmaker, filmmaker, mixed media artist

Kara Walker with her piece ‘Authenticating the Artifact’ (2007). AP Photo.

Selected Works
Gone: An Historical Romance of a Civil War as It Occurred b’tween the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart (installation) (1994)
The Battle of Atlanta: Being the Narrative of a Negress in the Flames of Desire—A Reconstruction (installation)  (1995)
The End of Uncle Tom and the Grand Allegorical Tableau of Eva in Heaven (installation) (1995)
Slavery! Slavery! (installation) (1997)
Do You Like Crème in Your Coffee and Chocolate in your Milk? (series of 80 watercolors) (1997)
Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated) (series of 15 prints) (2005)
8 Possible Beginnings, or, The Creation of African-America (film) (2005)
A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant (installation) (2014)
Resurrection Story with Patrons (2017)
Fons Americanus (installation) (2019)

23. Banksy (UK, 1974?- )

Graffiti artist, painter, sculptor, mixed media artist

The artist Banksy has chosen to remain anonymous.

Selected Works
Balloon Girl (2002)
Flower Thrower (2003)
Girl Frisking Soldier (2007)
London Phone Box (with axe) (2006)
Sweep It Under the Carpet (2006)
Painted Elephant (2006)
One Nation Under CCTV (2008)
I Don’t Believe in Global Warming (2009)
Cardinal Sin (2011)
Spy Booth (2014)
Dismaland (installation) (2015)
Seasons Greetings (2018)
Love Is in the Bin (2019)

On 7 lists

24. Lucian Freud (Germany/UK, 1922-2011)

Painter

Lucian Freud painting ‘Night Portrait, Face Down’ (1999-2000).

Selected Work
Girl with a Kitten (1947)
Interior at Paddington (1951)
Girl with a White Dog (1951-1952)
Reflection with Two Children (1965)
Naked Man with Rat (1977-1978)
Naked Man, Back View (1991-1992)
Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (1995)
After Cezanne (1999-2000)
Queen Elizabeth II (2000-2001)

25. Sol LeWitt (US, 1928-2007)

Conceptual artist, painter, sculptor, mixed media artist

Sol Lewitt creating a Structure.

Selected Works
Wall Structure, Blue (1962)
Standing Open Structure, Black (1964)
Muybridge II (1964)
Serial Project #1 (ABCD) (1966)
Buried Cube Containing an Object of Importance but Little Value (1968)
Wall Drawing #65 (1971)
Variations of Incomplete Open Cubes (installation) (1974)
Wall Drawing #260 (1975)
Lines in Four Directions in Flowers (designed 1981; executed 2012)
Black Form – Dedicated to the Missing Jews (1987)
Five Pointed Star with Color Bands (1992)
Wall Drawing #766 (1994)
Four-Sided Pyramid (installed 1999)

26. David Hockney (UK: England, 1937- )

Painter, illustrator, printmaker, photographer, set and costume designer

A 2012 photo of David Hockney at the Royal Academy with one of his paintings. Photo courtesy The Guardian.

Selected Works
We Two Boys Together Clinging (1961)
Beverly Hills Housewife (1966-1967)
A Bigger Splash (1967)
Six Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (illustrations) (1969)
Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy (1970–1971)
The Rake’s Progress (sets and costumes) (1975)
The Blue Guitar (set of etchings) (1976-1977)
The Magic Flute (sets and costumes) (1978)
Pearblossom Highway, 11-18th April 1986 #2 (1986)
A Bigger Grand Canyon (1998)
Bigger Trees Near Warter (2007)
Garden (2015)

27. Bruce Nauman (US, 1941- )

Painter, sculptor, photographer, performance artist, filmmaker

Bruce Nauman in a still photograph from the video Art Make-Up No. 1, White (1967). Copyright 2006 Bruce Nauman/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York

Selected Works
Self Portrait as a Fountain (1966)
Art Make-Up (series of four videos) (1967)
The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths (Window or Wall Sign) (1967)
Wall-Floor Positions (1969)
Run From Fear – Fun From Rear (1972)
Human/Need/Desire (1983)
One Hundred Live and Die (1984)
Good Boy Bad Boy (1985)
Clown Torture (1987)
Learned Helplessness in Rats (Rock and Roll Drummer) (1988)
Mapping the Studio I (Fat Chance John Cage) (2001)

28. Antony Gormley (UK, 1950- )

Sculptor

Anthony Gormley with the installation ‘Firmament.’

Selected Works
Three Ways: Mould Hole and Passage (1981)
Field for the British Isles (from Field) (1993)
Amazonian Field (from Field) (1991)
Asian Field (China) (from Field) (2003)
Another Place (1997)
Angel of the North (1998)
Quantum Cloud (1999)
Planets (2002)
Filter (2002)
Domain Field (2003)
Clearing (2004-2019)
Blind Light (2007)
Event Horizon (London, 2007; New York, 2010)
One & Other (Trafalgar Square, London) (July 6–Oct. 14, 2009)
Arrest (2019)

29. William Kentridge (South Africa, 1955- )

Painter, draughtsman, filmmaker, designer

William Kentridge with his ‘Self-Portrait’ (1997).

Selected Works
9 Drawings for Projection (series of videos) (1989-2011)
Johannesburg, 2nd Greatest City After Paris (video) (from 9 Drawings for Projection) (1989)
Felix in Exile (video) (from 9 Drawings for Projection) (1994)
Ubu Tells the Truth (video) (1996-1997)
Drawing for Stereoscope (figure standing in blue water) (1998-1999)
Sets and Costumes, The Magic Flute (2007)
Sets and Costumes, The Nose (2010)
The Refusal of Time (video) (2012)
More Sweetly Play the Dance (2015)
The Head and the Load (performance) (2018)

30. Francis Alÿs (Belgium/Mexico, 1959- )

Painter, performance artist, filmmaker

Francis Alÿs carrying a pistol in Mexico City in his performance piece, ‘Reenactments’ (2001).

Selected Works
The Collector (1991)
The Fabiola Project (early 1990s-Present)
Le Temps du Sommeil (series) (1996-Present)
Paradox of Praxis I (Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing) (1997)
Cuentos Patrioticos (1997)
The Rehearsal I (1999-2001)
Reenactments (2001)
When Faith Moves Mountains (2002)
The Green Line (Sometimes doing something poetic can become political
and sometimes doing something political can become poetic)
(2004)
Tornado (2000-2010)
Lada Kopeika (2014)
The Silence of Ani (2015)

31. Marlene Dumas (South Africa/Netherlands, 1953- )

Painter, draughtswoman

Marlene Dumas with ‘Self-Portrait at Noon’ (2008) and other paintings.

Selected Works
Evil is Banal (1984)
The Image as Burden (1993)
The Painter (1994)
The Kiss (2003)
Moshekwa (2006)
Helena’s Dream (2008)
Dead Marilyn (2008)
The Wall (2009)
Amy-Blue (2011)
Great Men (series) (2014)

32. Nan Goldin (US, 1953- )

Photographer, filmmaker

Nan Goldin’s ‘Self-Portrait on the Train, Germany, 1992.

Selected Works
The Hug, NYC (from The Ballad of Sexual Dependency) (1980)
Nan and Brian in Bed, NYC (from The Ballad of Sexual Dependency) (1983)
Nan, One Month After Being Battered (from The Ballad of Sexual Dependency) (1984)
Misty and Jimmy Paulette in a Taxi, NYC (from The Other Side) (1991)
Io in camouflage, NYC (from Eden and After) (1994)
Sisters, Saints and Sibyls (multimedia) (2004)
Ava Twirling, NYC (from Eden and After) (2007)
Sirens (2019)

33. Thomas Schütte (Germany, 1954- )

Sculptor, draughtsman, mixed media artist

Thomas Schutte with ‘Model for a Hotel’ (2007) in Trafalgar Square. Photo by CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images.

Selected Works
Mann im Matsch (Man in Mud) (series) (1982-2009)
Criminali (series) (1992)
United Enemies (A Play in Ten Scenes) (1993-1994)
Innocenti (series) (1994)
Luise (series of drawings) (1996)
Grosser Geist (Big Spirits) (series) (1997)
Mirror Drawings (series) (1998)
Frauen (Women) (series) (1998–2006)
Wichte (Imps) (series) (2006)
Model for a Hotel (2007)
Vater Staat (Father State) (2010)
Man in the Wind (2018)

On 6 lists

34. Francis Bacon (Ireland/UK, 1909-1992)

Painter

Francis Bacon in front of ‘Triptych’ (1976).

Selected Works
Crucifixion (1933)
Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (1944)
Painting (1946)
Head VI (1949)
Study for Portrait (1949)
Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1953)
Man with Dog (1953)
Three Studies of Lucian Freud (1969)
Triptych, May–June 1973 (1973)
Triptych (1976)
Study for a Self Portrait –Triptych (1985-1986)
Second Version, Triptych 1944 (1988-1989)

35. Joseph Beuys (Germany, 1921-1986)

Performance artist, sculptor, painter, photographer, printmaker

Joseph Beuys performing ‘How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare’ (1965).

Selected Works
Lightning with Stag in its Glare (installation) (1958-1985)
Fat Chair (1964-1985)
How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare (performance) (1965)
Homogenous Infiltration for Piano (performance) (1966)
Eurasia Siberian Symphony 1963 (1966)
Sled (1969)
The Pack (1969)
Felt Suit (1970)
La Rivoluzione Siamo Noi ((We Are the Revolution) (photoprint) (1972)
I Like America and America Likes Me (performance) (1974)
7,000 Oaks – City Forestation Instead of City Administration (1982-1987)

36. Robert Rauschenberg (US, 1925-2008)

Painter, sculptor, printmaker, photographer, mixed media artist

Robert Rauschenberg in his studio, in an undated photo.

Selected Works
The White Paintings (series) (1951-1953)
Erased de Kooning Drawing (1953)
Automobile Tire Print (1953)
Bed (1955)
Factum I and Factum II (1957)
Canyon (1959)
Monogram (1959)
Retroactive I (1963)
Sets & Costumes, Merce Cunningham Dance Co. (1955-1964)
34 Drawings for Dante’s Inferno (1965)
Hoarfrosts (series) (1974-1976)

37. Georg Baselitz (Germany, 1938- )

Painter, sculptor, mixed media artist

Georg Baselitz in front of his painting ‘Wir besuchen den Rhine’ (1996).

Selected Works
The Big Night Down The Drain (1962-1963)
Heroes (series) (1965-1966)
The Great Friends (from Heroes) (1965)
The Rebel (1965-1966)
The Wood on its Head (1969-1970)
The Corn Gleaner (1978)
Model for a Sculpture (1980)
Dinner in Dresden (1983)
45 (1989)
Women of Dresden (series) (1989-1990)
Karla (from Women of Dresden) (1990)
Mark Rothko (from Devotion) (2018)
Piet M. (from Devotion) (2018)
N.E. (from Devotion) (2018)

38. Richard Serra (US, 1939- )

Sculptor, painter, draughtsman

Richard Serra with one of the sculptures from ‘The Matter of Time’ (2005).

Selected Works
Cutting Device: Base Plate Measure (1969)
One Ton Prop (House of Cards) (1969)
Equal (Corner Prop Piece) (1970)
Circuit II (1972)
Tilted Arc (1981)
Fulcrum (1985-1987)
Snake (1994-1997)
Torqued Ellipse IV (1998)
The Matter of Time (2005)
Sequence (2006)
Inside Out (2013)
Equal (2015)
Echo (2019)

39. Chuck Close (US, 1940- )

Painter, printmaker, tapestry maker, photographer, mixed media artist

Chuck Close with his Big Self Portrait (1967-1968).

Selected Works
Big Self Portrait (1967-1968)
Phil (1969)
Keith/Mezzotint (1972)
Fanny/Fingerpainting (1985)
Alex/Reduction Print (1993)
Self-Portrait (2000)
Self-Portrait/Scribble/Etching Portfolio (set of 25 prints) (2000)
Emma/Woodcut (2002)
Self-Portrait (2007)
Self-Portrait (Yellow Raincoat) (Jacquard tapestry) (2013)

40. Sigmar Polke (Germany, 1941-2010)

Painter, photographer, mixed media artist

Sigmar Poke with his painting ‘The Illusionist’ (2007).

Selected Works
Raster Drawing (Portrait of Lee Harvey Oswald) (1963)
Girlfriends (1965-1966)
Moderne Kunst (Modern Art) (1968)
Apparatus Whereby One Potato Can Orbit Another (1969)
Higher Beings Commanded: Paint the Upper-Right Corner Black! (1969)
Untitled (photo of leaning man and paper) (1975)
Supermarkets (1976)
Untitled (Quetta, Pakistan) (manipulated photo) (1974-1978)
Negative Value II (1982)
Watchtower (series) (1984-1988)
Mrs. Autumn and Her Two Daughters (1991)
The Three Lies of Painting (1994)
Untitled (Rorschach) (1999)

41. James Turrell (US, 1943- )

Conceptual artist, mixed media artist

James Turrell at Roden Crater, near Flagstaff, Arizona.

Selected Works
Afrum I (White) (1966-1967)
Ronin (1968)
Juke, Green (1968)
Mendota Stoppages (1969-1974)
Stuck Red/Stuck Blue (1970)
Acton (from the Space Division Constructions series) (1976)
Roden Crater (Arizona, work in progress) (1977-Present)
Meeting (skyspace, New York) (1986)
The Light Inside (installation, Houston) (1999)
One Accord (skyspace, Houston) (2000)
Bridget’s Bardo (installation, Wolfsburg, Germany) (2008-2009)
Bindu Shards (from Perceptual Cell series) (2010)
Twilight Epiphany (skyspace, Houston) (2012)
Aten Reign (installation, New York) (2013)
Akhob (skyspace, Las Vegas) (2013)
Encounter (skyspace, Culiacan, Mexico) (2015)
Luther’s Light (temporary installation) (2015)
Sky Plain (skyspace, Porto Heli, Greece) (2017)

42. Hiroshi Sugimoto (Japan, 1948- )

Photographer, architect

Hiroshi Sugimoto with a photograph from his Lightning Fields series.

Selected Works
Polar Bear (from Diorama series) (1976)
U.A. Walker, New York (from Theaters series) (1978)
Akron Civic, Ohio (from Theaters series) (1980)
Ohio Theater, Ohio (from Theaters series) (1980)
Time Exposed #345: Ionian Sea, Santa Cesarea 1990 (from Seascapes series) (1991)
Hi Way 39 Drive-In, Orange (from Theaters series) (1993)
Earliest Human Relatives (from Diorama series) (1994)
Lake Superior, Cascade River (from Seascapes series) (1995)
Architecture (series) (1997-2002)
Bay of Sagami, Atami (from Seascapes series) (1997)
Anne Boleyn (from Portraits series) (1999)
Lake Superior, Eagle River (from Seascapes series) (2003)
Conceptual Forms (Hypotrochoid) (2004)
Lightning Fields 225
(from Lightning Fields series) (2009)
The Glass House (2013)
Villa Mazza Corrati “Le Notti Bianche” (from Opera House series) (2015)

43. Christopher Wool (US, 1955- )

Painter, photographer, screenprinter, set designer

A photo of Christopher Wool that accompanied a 2013 article in Huck magazine.

Selected Works
Apocalypse Now (1988)
Untitled (Fool) (1990)
Untitled (Run Dog Eat Dog Run) (1990)
East Broadway Breakdown (series of photos) (2004)
She Smiles for the Camera I (2005)
Untitled (from Can Your Monkey do the Dog) (2007)
Untitled (Impatient/Impotent) (2008)
Sets for Moving Parts (2012)
Illuminations (2014)
Untitled (bronze wire sculpture) (2014)

44. Zhang Xiaogang (China, 1958- )

Painter, sculptor

Zhang Xiaogang with one of his Family Portrait series paintings. Photo: GettyAFP.

Selected Works
Tiananmen Square (yellow) (1993)
Three Comrades (three women) (1994)
My Dream: Little General (2005)
Comrade (diptych; woman, man with glasses) (2005)
Big Family: Girl (glasses, carrying book) (from Bloodlines series) (2006)
Big Family: Boy (hands behind back, striped shirt) (from Bloodlines series) (2006)
Big Family (mother, father, baby with red head, red pants) (from Bloodlines series) (2008)
Green Wall – Two Single Beds (2008)
Businessman, Student, Soldier, Farmer, Worker (copper figures) (2008)
Sleeping Boy on the Crate (sculpture) (2008)
My Mother (2012)
My Father (2012)
Young Woman (sculpture) (2013)
Girl No. 3 (with long braids) (sculpture) (2015)

45. Olafur Eliasson (Denmark/Iceland, 1967- )

Sculptor, photographer, mixed media artist

Olafur Eliasson , with one of the ‘New York Waterfalls’ in the background.

Selected Works
Beauty (1993)
Room For One Color (1997-1998)
Reversed Waterfall (1998)
360 Degrees Room For All Colors (2002)
The Weather Project (2003)
Eye See You (Louis Vuitton lamp) (2006)
The New York City Waterfalls (2008)
Your Rainbow Panorama (2011)
Little Sun (2012)
Ice Watch (2014)
Contact (2014)
Cirkelbroen (2015)
Glacial Rock Flower Garden (2016)
Fog Assembly (2016)

46. Cecily Brown (UK: England/US, 1969- )

Painter, installation artist, draughtswoman, photographer

Cecily Brown in her studio, New York, 2001. Photo by Dave Howells.

Selected Works
High Society (1998)
The Girl Who Had Everything (1998)
Suddenly Last Summer (1999)
Hard, Fast and Beautiful (2000)
Figures in a Landscape I (2001)
Teenage Wildlife (2003-2004)
The Sleep Around and the Lost and Found (2014)

47. Jenny Saville (UK: England, 1970- )

Painter

Jenny Saville in her studio in 2016. Photo by Pal Hansen for the Observer.

Selected Works
Branded (1992)
Plan (1993)
Ruben’s Flap (1999)
Fulcrum (1999)
Matrix (1999)
Closed Contact (series) (1995-1996)
Passage (2004-2005)
Torso II (2004-2005)
Red Stare Head IV (2006)
Odalisque (2012-2014)
Ebb and Flow (2015)
Vis and Ramin I (2018)
Fate I (2018)

On 5 lists

48. Ellsworth Kelly (US, 1923-2015)

Painter, printmaker, sculptor

Ellsworth Kelly, at age 90, speaks about ‘Sculpture for a Large Wall’ (1957).

Selected Works
Window, Museum of Modern Art, Paris (1949)
Colors for a Large Wall (1951)
The Meschers (1951)
Spectrum Colors Arranged by Chance (series of eight collages) (1951–1953)
Red Yellow Blue White and Black (1953)
Sculpture for a Large Wall (1957)
Concorde Relief I (1958)
White Disk III (1961)
Red Blue Green (1963)
Lemon Branch (drawing) (1964)
Suite of Twenty-Seven Color Lithographs (1964–1966)
Nine Squares (1976)
Colored Paper Image III (Blue Black Curves) (1976)
Colored Paper Image XII (Blue Curve with Brown and Gray) (1976)
18 Colors (Cincinnati) (1979-1982)
Three Panels: Orange, Dark Gray, Green (1986)

49. Andy Warhol (US, 1928-1987)

Painter, sculptor, printmaker, photographer, filmmaker

Andy Warhol’s Self-Portrait with Skull (1977).

Selected Works
Campbell’s Soup Cans (series of 32) (1962)
Marilyn Diptych (1962)
100 Soup Cans (1962)
Marilyn Monroe (Gold) (1962)
100 Coca-Cola Bottles (1962)
Liz No. 2 (1962)
Double Elvis (Ferus Type) (1963)
Brillo Boxes (1964)
Marilyn (series of 10) (1967)
Mao (1973)

50. Cy Twombly (US/Italy, 1928-2011)

Painter, printmaker, sculptor, photographer, mixed media artist

Cy Twombly stands in front of his ‘Untitled (Say Goodbye Catullus, to the Shores of Asia Minor)’ (1994).

Selected Works
Tiznit
(1953)
Untitled (Funerary Box for a Lime Green Python) (sculpture) (1954)
Panorama (1955)
The Italians (1961)
Ferragosto V (1961)
Leda and the Swan (1962)
Nine Discourses on Commodus (series of nine panels) (1963)
The ‘Blackboard’ Paintings (series) (1967-1971)
Nini’s Paintings (series of five) (1971)
Fifty Days at Iliam (series of ten panels) (1978)
Cycnus (sculpture) (1978)
Wilder Shores of Love, Bassano in Teverina (1985)
Tulips, Rome (photograph) (1985)
Painting Detail and ‘By the Ionian Sea’ Sculpture (photograph) (1992)
Untitled (Say Goodbye Catullus, to the Shores of Asia Minor) (1994)
The Four Seasons (first version, 1993-1994 (New York); second version, 1993-1995 (London))
Spring (from The Four Seasons, second version) (1993-1995)
Cabbages, Gaeta (photograph) (1998)
Foundry, Rome (photograph) (2000)
Bacchus (series of eight paintings) (2005)
Painting Detail (Roses) (photograph) (2009)
Ceiling, Salle des Bronzes, Louvre, Paris (2010)

51. Jasper Johns (US, 1930- )

Painter, sculptor, mixed media artist

Jasper Johns with ‘Flag’ (1954-1955).

Selected Works
Flag (1954–1955)
White Flag (1955)
Target with Four Faces (1955)
Three Flags (1958)
Flashlight III (1958)
Numbers in Color (1958–1959)
False Start (1959)
The Critic Smiles (1959)
Painted Bronze (Ale Cans) (1960)
Painted Bronze (Savarin) (1960)
The Critic Sees (1961)
0 through 9 (multiple versions) (1960-1961)
Map (1961)
Periscope (Hart Crane) (1962-1963)
According to What (1964)
Savarin (print) (1977)
Perilous Night (1982)
Fragment of a Letter (2009-2010)
Regrets (2013)

52. Tony Cragg (UK, 1949- )

Sculptor, painter, draughtsman, mixed media artist

Tony Cragg with 'I'm Alive' (2005). Photograph: Matt Faber/PA Tony Cragg with ‘I’m Alive’ (2005). Photograph: Matt Faber/PA

Selected Works
Stack (1975)
Britain Seen from the North (1981)
Axehead (1982)
Six Bottles, Large, State 1 (1988)
Early Forms (St. Gallen) (1997)
it is, it isn’t (2010)
Mixed Feelings (2011)
Lost in Thought (2011)
Hardliner (2013)
Parts of Life (2014)
Tommy (2014)
Stroke (2014)
Willow II (2015)

53. Marina Abramović (Yugoslavia (Serbia)/Netherlands/France/Germany, 1946- )

Performance artist, conceptual artist, filmmaker

Marina Abramović in The Artist Is Present. Photo © 2010 Scott Rudd/ http://www.scottruddphotography.com; scott.rudd@gmail.com

Selected Works
Rhythm 5 (1974)
Rhythm 0 (1974)
Relation in Time (1977)
Imponderabilia (1977)
Rest Energy (1980)
The Lovers (1988)
Balkan Baroque (1997)
The House with the Ocean View (2002)
The Artist is Present (2010)
Recreation: Dragon Head (2010)

54. Jenny Holzer (US, 1950- )

Interdisciplinary artist, conceptual artist

A 2013 photo of Jenny Holzer with her Living series (1980-1982).Photo by David Levene for the Guardian.

Selected Works
Truisms (series) (1977-1979)
Inflammatory Essays (series) (1979-1982)
Living (series) (1981)
Survival (series) (1983-1985)
Laments (series) (1989)
Guggenheim Museum Installation (1989)
Lustmord (series) (1993-1996)
I Was in Baghdad Ochre Fade (2007)
Redaction Paintings (2008)

55. Mike Kelley (US, 1954-2012)

Mixed media artist, filmmaker

Mike Kelley in ‘Ahh…Youth’ (1991).

Selected Works
More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid and The Wages of Sin (1987)
Deodorized Central Mass with Satellites (1991–1999)
John Glenn Memorial Detroit River Reclamation Project (Including the Local Culture Pictorial Guide, 1968-1972, Wayne Westland Eagle) 2001
Day is Done (Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction ## 2-32) (2004-2005)
Kandor 10A (Grotto) (2010)
Kandor 10B (Exploded Fortress of Solitude) (2011)
Mobile Homestead (2010)

56. Kiki Smith (US, 1954- )

Sculptor, painter, draughtswoman, photographer, mixed media artist

Kiki Smith with Sirens. Kiki Smith with ‘Sirens’ (2007).

Selected Works
Mary Magdalene (1994)
Lilith (1994)
My Blue Lake (print) (1994-1995)
Rapture (2001)
Lying with the Wolf (drawing) (2001)
Born (2002)
Born (painting) (2002)
Homespun Tales (installation) (2005)
Alice II (feet uncrossed) (2005)
Sirens (2007)
Tapestries (series) (2012-2016)
Girl (2014)

57. Thomas Ruff (Germany 1958- )

Photographer

Thomas Ruff stands in front of one of the images from his Photogram series.

Selected Works
Portrait (Stoya) (from the Portraits series) (1986)
Portrait (A. Kachold) (from the Portraits series) (1987)
Substrat 33 I (from the Substratum series) (2007)
jpeg ib02 (from the JPEGs series) (2007)
Cassini 01 (from the Cassini series) (2008)
Cassini 02 (from the Cassini series) (2008)
Cassini 16 (from the Cassini series) (2009)
Cassini 23 (from the Cassini series) (2009)
Zycles 3080 (from the Zycles series) (2009)
Ma.r.s. 05 III (from the Ma.r.s. series) (2010)
phg.10 I (from the Photograms series) (2012)
Ma.r.s. 09 II (from the Ma.r.s. series) (2013)
3D Ma.r.s. 10 (from the Ma.r.s. series) (2013)
phg.05 III (from the Photograms series) (2013)
r.phg.06 I (from the Photograms series) (2013)
em.phg.01 (from the Photograms series) (2013)
negatives (series) (2015-2016)
press (series) (2015-2017)
tableau chinois (series) (2018-2019)

58. Vik Muniz (Brazil, 1961- )

Painter, draughtsman, sculptor, photographer

A 2003 Vic Muniz self-portrait made with pictures from magazines.

Selected Works
Valentine, The Fastest
(from The Sugar Children) (1996)
Action Photo, After Hans Namuth (from Pictures of Chocolate) (1997)
Medusa Marinara (1997)
Double Mona Lisa (Peanut Butter + Jelly) (from After Warhol series) (1999)
Self-Portrait (from Pictures of Magazines) (2003)
Saturn Devouring One of His Sons (from Pictures of Garbage) (2005)
Woman Ironing (Isis) (from Pictures of Garbage) (2008)
Marat (from Pictures of Garbage) (2008)
Large Paper Crane (2011)
Scrap Metal: Seahorse (2012)
Album: New Car (2014)
Sandcastle #10 (from Sandcastles series) (2014)
Jerusalem (from Postcards from Nowhere series) (2015)
Glyptoteket (Reclining Tahitian Women) after Gauguin (2018)

59. Mark Bradford (US, 1961- )

Painter, collagist, sculptor, multi-media artist

A 2019 photo of Mark Bradford with his work Sapphire Blue (2019). The photo appeared in 200% magazine.

Selected Works
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy (2001)
Los Moscos (2004)
Scorched Earth (2006)
Helter Skelter I (2007)
Ghost Money (2007)
A Truly Rich Man is One Whose Children Run into his arms when his hands are empty (2008)
Yellow Bird (2012)
Venice Biennale US Pavilion (2017)
Pickett’s Charge (2017)

60. Zeng Fanzhi (China, 1964- )

Painter

Zeng Fanzhi.

Selected Works
Hospital Triptych No. 1 (1991)
Meat (1992)
Mask Series No. 6 (1996)
The Last Supper (2001)
We n:2 (2002)
Tiananmen (2004)
This Land Is So Rich in Beauty 2 (2006)
Self-Portrait 09-8-1 (2009)
Lucien Freud (2011)
Blue (2015)
Van Gogh III (2017)

On 4 lists

61. Alexander Calder (US, 1898-1976)

Sculptor

An undated photo of Alexander Calder with one of his mobiles.

Selected Works
Cirque Calder (Calder’s Circus) (1926-1931)
A Universe (1934)
Devil Fish (1937)
Mercury Fountain (1937)
Lobster Trap and Fish Tail (1939)
La Spirale (1958)
Teodelapio (1962)
Man (1967)
La Grande Vitesse (1969)
Cheval Rouge (Red Horse) (1974)
Flamingo (1974)

62. Roy Lichtenstein (US, 1923-1977)

Painter, illustrator

A 1993 photo of Roy Lichtenstein with ‘Whaam!’ (1963).

Selected Works
Look Mickey (1961)
Takka Takka (1962)
Drowning Girl (1963)
Whaam! (1963)
In the Car (1963)
Hopeless (1963)
Ohhh…Alright… (1964)
Lamp (1978)
Pow Wow (1979)
Dr. Waldmann (1980)
Brushstrokes in Flight (1984)
Mural with Blue Brushstroke (1984-1985)
Landscapes in the Chinese Style (series) (1996)

63. John Baldessari (US, 1931- )

Painter, sculptor, printmaker, filmmaker, photographer, mixed media and performance artist

John Baldessari’s ‘Portrait (Self) #1 as control + 11 Alterations by Retouching and Airbrushing” (1974).

Selected Works
What is Painting (photo-text painting) (1966-1968)
Pure Beauty (photo-text painting) (1966-1968)
Quality Material (photo-text painting) (1966–1968)
Painting for Kubler (photo-text painting) (1967–68)
The Cremation Project (mixed media) (1970)
I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art (video) (1971)
I Am Making Art (video) (1971)
Baldessari Sings LeWitt (video) (1972)
The Artist Hitting Various Objects with a Golf Club (series of 30 photographs) (1972-1973)
Throwing Three Balls in the Air to Get a Straight Line (Best of 36 Attempts) (series of 12 photographs) (1973)
The Fallen Easel (mixed media) (1988)
Noses & Ears, Etc. (series; mixed media) (2006-2007)
Beethoven’s Trumpet (with Ear) (series; mixed media) (2007)

64. Christo and Jeanne-Claude
(Christo Vladimirov Javacheff: Bulgaria/France, 1935-2020)
(Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon: Morocco/France, 1935–2009)

Installation artists, environmental artists

Jeanne-Claude and Christo with their 2005 installation The Gates in New York’s Central Park. Photo by
Wolfgang Volz. © The Estate of Christo V. Javacheff

Selected Works
Wall of Oil Barrels – The Iron Curtain
 (1962)
Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia (1968–1969)
Valley Curtain (1970-1972)
Running Fence (1972-1976)
Surrounded Islands (1980–1983)
The Pont Neuf Wrapped (1975–1985)
Wrapped Reichstag (1971–1995)
The Gates (1971-2005)
The Floating Piers (2014-2016)

65. Sean Scully (Ireland/US, 1945- )

Painter, printmaker, sculptor and photographer

Sean Scully with Wall of Light Desert Night (1999).

Selected Works
Shadow (1970)
Backs and Fronts (1981)
Pale Fire (1988)
Catherine (1991)
Wall of Light Red Red (2001)
Raval Rojo (2004)
Landline Yellow Line (2015)
Landline Blue (2015)
Installation, Church of St. Cecilia de Montserrat (2015)
Crate of Air (2018)
Opulent Ascension (2019)

66. Sally Mann (US, 1951- )

Photographer

Sally Mann with two photos from her ‘Flesh and the Spirit’ series.

Selected Works
Damaged Child (1984) (from Immediate Family)
Blowing Bubbles (1987) (from Immediate Family)
The Last Time Emmett Modeled Nude (1987) (from Immediate Family)
Virginia at Four (1989) (from Immediate Family)
Emmet, Jessie and Virginia (1989) (from Immediate Family)
Jessie in the Wind (1989) (from Immediate Family)
Candy Cigarette (1990) (from Immediate Family)
The Perfect Tomato (1990) (from Immediate Family)
At Warm Springs (1991) (from Immediate Family)
Black Eye (1991) (from Immediate Family)
Untitled (#1, “Scarred Tree”) (1998) (from Deep South)
Untitled (#30, “Swamp Bones”) (1998) (from Deep South)
Untitled (Self-Portrait) (2006–2012)
Oak Hill Baptist (2008-2016)
Beulah Baptist (2008–2016)

67. Albert Oehlen (Germany, 1954- )

Painter, collagist, computer-aided design artist, composer

Albert Oehlen in 2015 with an untitled work. Photo by Katherine McMahon for ARTnews.

Selected Works
Self-Portrait as a Dutch Woman (1983)
Untitled (blue circle) (1989)
Untitled (box with six sections) (1992)
Corpensis Posterior (1997)
Captain Jack (1997)
Saints and Fighters (1997)
Born to Be Late (2001)
More Fire and Ice (2001)
Party Dreams (2001)
Bad (Bath) (2003)
Untitled (blue 8) (2009-2011)
Elevator Paintings (series of 16) (2016)

68. Rudolf Stingel (Italy/US, 1956- )

Painter, collagist, sculptor, installation artist, conceptual artist

One of Rudolf Stingel’s Untitled (After Sam) self-portraits from 2005-2006.

Selected Works
Instructions (1989)
Untitled (orange carpet) (1991)
Untitled (les/bimbo) (2002)
Untitled (Venice Biennale installation) (2003)
Plan B (2004)
Untitled (Paula Cooper) (2005)
Untitled (after Sam) (series of self-portraits) (2005-2006)
Untitled (Alps) (2010)

69. George Condo (US, 1957- )

Painter, draughtsman, sculptor, printmaker

George Condo at his studio in New York in 2018. Photo by Bill Gentle for Vanity Fair.

Selected Works
The Cloudmaker (1984)
The Cracked Cardinal (2001)
The Secretary (2002)
Dreams and Nightmares of the Queen (2006)
The Butler (2007)
Orgy Composition (2008)
The Fallen Butler (2009)
Noble Woman (2009)
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (album cover) (2010)
Frankenstorm (2012)
Figures in Motion (2013)
Double Heads on Red (2014)

70. John Currin (US, 1962- )

Painter

John Currin with Flora (2010).

Selected Works
Bea Arthur Naked (1991)
The Wizard (1994)
The Dream of the Doctor (1997)
The Bra Shop (1997)
Dogwood (1997)
Honeymoon Nude (1998)
Nice n’ Easy (1999)
Thanksgiving (2003)
Anna (2004)
Hot Pants (2010)

71. Liu Wei (China, 1965- )

Conceptual artist, installation artist, filmmaker, painter, sculptor, draughtsman

Liu Wei in his Beijing studio. Photo for Doors agency.

Selected Works
Hard to Restrain (1998-1999)
It Looks Like a Landscape (2004)
Indigestion II (2004)
Love It, Bite It (2006)
Purple Air #4 (2011)
Shapeshifting (2014)
Love It Bite It #3 (2014)
Density (2014)
Transparent Land (2016)
Microworld (2018)

72. Mark Grotjahn (US, 1968- )

Painter, draughtsman, sculptor

A 2020 photo of Mark Grotjahn from Gagosian Gallery.

Selected Works
Untitled (Colored Butterfly White Background 10 Wings) (2004)
Untitled (Blue Face Grotjahn) (2005)
Untitled (Face For Greece 843) (2009)
Untitled (Into And Behind The Green Eyes Of The Tiger Monkey Face 43.18) (2011)
Untitled (S III Released to France Face 43.14) (2011)
Untitled (Circus No. 1 Face 44.18) (2012)
Untitled (Circus No. 3 Face 44.20) (2013)
Untitled (Circus No. 6 Face 44.22) (2013)
Untitled (Pink Cosco I Mask M40.A) (2015)

On 3 lists

73. Diane Arbus (US; 1923-1971)

Photographer

“Double Self Portrait with Doon”, a 1945 diptych by Diane Abbott (later Diane Arbus).

Selected Works
Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, New York City (1962)
Teenage Couple on Hudson Street, N.Y.C. (1963)
A Retired Man and His wife at home in a Nudist Camp, N.J. (1963)
Triplets in Their Bedroom, N.J. (1963)
A Young Man in Curlers at Home on West 20th Street, N.Y.C. (1966)
Identical Twins, Roselle, N.J. (1967)
Mother Holding Her Child, New Jersey (1967)
Boy with a Straw Hat, Buttons and Flag, Waiting to March in a Pro-War Parade (1967)
A Family on Their Lawn One Sunday in Westchester, N.Y. (1968)
A Naked Man Being a Woman, N.Y.C. (1968)
A Very Young Baby, N.Y.C. (1968)
A Jewish Giant at Home with His Parents in the Bronx, N.Y. (1970)
Mexican dwarf in his hotel room in N.Y.C. (1970)
Untitled (1) (ladies with hats laughing) (1970-1971)

74. Donald Judd (US, 1928-1994)

Sculptor, furniture maker, architect

A 1982 photo of Donald Judd at work in Marfa, Texas by Jamie Dearing. © JUDD FOUNDATION/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK.

Selected Works
Untitled (stack) green lacquer on galvanized iron, 12 units) (1967) MOMA
Untitled (clear anodized aluminum and blue Plexiglas; four units) (1969) MOMA
Untitled (stack) (10 units, copper colored steel) (1969) Guggenheim
Untitled (brass and blue Plexiglas) (1973) Guggenheim
Untitled (stack) (steel, aluminum and blue plexiglass, 10 units) (1980) Tate
Untitled (100 milled aluminum boxes) (1982-1986) Marfa, Texas
Untitled (5 x 5 enameled multicolored boxes) (1991) MOMA

75. Dan Flavin (US, 1933–1996)

Painter, draughtsman, sculptor, mixed media artist, installation artist

An undated photo of Dan Flavin with one of his fluorescent light works.

Selected Works
Icon V (Coran’s Broadway Flesh) (1962)
The Diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusi) (1963)
The Nominal Three (to William of Ockham) (1963)
A Primary Picture (1964)
“Monument” I for V. Tatlin (1964)
Untitled (to Henri Matisse) (1964)
Greens crossing greens (to Piet Mondrian who lacked green) (1966)
Untitled (to the innovator of Wheeling Peachblow) (1968)
Untitled (to you, Heiner, with admiration and affection) (1973)
Untitled (to Jan and Ron Greenberg) (1973)
Untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim) (3) (1977)
Untitled (to my dear bitch, Airily) (1981)
Untitled (to Tracy, to celebrate the love of a lifetime) (1992)
Untitled (Santa Maria Annunciata, Milan) (1996)

76. Eva Hesse (Germany/US, 1936–1970)

Sculptor, draughtswoman

Eva Hesse in her studio in 1969. Photo by Hermann Landshoff.

Selected Works
Spectres (1960)
Untitled (abstract w/ three round figures) (1960)
Tomorrow’s Apples (5 in white) (1965)
Untitled (dark vertical line left of center) (1965)
Untitled (figure drawn in figure) (1965)
Ringaround Arosie (1965)
Hang Up (1966)
Metronomic Irregularity II (1966)
Untitled (dark square in light rectangle) (1967)
Addendum (1967)
Repetition Nineteen III (1968)
Accession II (1968-1969)
Right After (1969)

77. Frank Stella (US, 1936- )

Painter, sculptor, printmaker

An undated photo of Frank Stella, from the Douglas Flanders & Associates website.

Selected Works
The Marriage of Reason and Squalor (1959)
The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II (1959)
Die Fahne Hoch! (1959)
Jasper’s Dilemma (painting 1962, print 1972)
Marrakech (1964)
Harran II (1967)
Firuzabad (1970)
Michapol I (1971)
Grajau I (1975)
Shoubeegi (1978)
Memantra (2005)

78. Robert Smithson (US, 1938–1973)

Environmental artist, sculptor, photographer, filmmaker

Robert Smithson with one of his Nonsite works.

Selected Works
Asphalt Rundown (1969)
Spiral Jetty (1970)
Partially Buried Woodshed (1970)
Broken Circle (1971)
Spiral Hill (1971)
Amarillo Ramp (1973)

79. Gilbert and George
(Gilbert Prousch: Italy/UK, 1943- )
(George Passmore: UK: England, 1942- )

Performance artists, mixed media artists

Gilbert and George in 1973 performing The Singing Sculpture in Australia.

Selected Works
George the Cunt and Gilbert the Shit (1969)
The Singing Sculpture (1969-1970)
Gordon’s Makes us Drunk (1972)
Queer (1977)
Shitty Naked Human World (1994)
Jack Freak Pictures (2008)
Playboy (2011)
Beard Toast (2016)
Priority Seat (2020)

80.  Jörg Immendorff (Germany, 1945–2007)

Painter, sculptor, stage designer

Jörg Immendorff in his studio.

Selected Works
Café Deutschland I (1977-1978)
All’s Well That Ends Well (1983)
Cafè Deutschland (1984)
Lift.Tremble.Back (1984)
Hans Albers (1985)
Café Deutschland. Contemplating The Question – Where Do I Stand (1987)
Marcel’s Salvation (1988)
Solo (1988)
Society of Deficiency (1990)
Gyntiana – The Birth of Onionman (1992)
The Rake’s Progress (1993)
Gate of the Sun (1994)
Elbquelle (1999)
Affentor I (2007?)

81. Chris Burden (US, 1946- )

Performance artist, sculptor, installation artist

Chris Burden in Trans-Fixed (1974).

Selected Works
Shoot (1971)
Five Day Locker Piece (1971)
Through the Night Softly (1973)
Trans Fixed (1974)
Samson (1985)
The Other Vietnam Memorial (1991)
Ghost Ship (2005)
Urban Light (2008)
Metropolis II (2010-2011)

82. Luo Zhongli (China, 1948- )

Painter

Luo Zhongli.

Selected Works
Father (1980)
Spring Silkworms (1980)
Praying (1987)

83. Barbara Kruger (US, 1949- )

Conceptual artist, collagist, photographer, installation artist, videographer, clothing designer

Barbara Kruger in her New York studio in 2012. Photo by Chester Higgins Jr.-The New York Times-Redux.

Selected Works
Untitled (You Invest in the Divinity of the Masterpiece) (1982)
Untitled (When I Hear the Word Culture I Take Out My Checkbook) (1985)
Untitled (I shop therefore I am) (1987)
Untitled (We Don’t Need Another Hero) (1987)
Untitled (Your body is a battleground) (1989)
Belief+Doubt=Sanity (2012)
Untitled (It’s New It’s You) (2014)

84. Julian Schnabel (US, 1951- )

Painter, sculptor, mixed media artist, filmmaker

Julian Schnabel in 2018 with his work Exile (1980). Photo by Nadja Sayej for Whitehot Magazine.

Selected Works
Portrait of Andy Warhol (1982)
Resurrection: Albert Finney Meets Malcolm Lowry (1984)
Spain (1986)
Australia (1986)
Jane Birkin #2 (1990)
Large Girl with No Eyes (2001)
Painting for Malik Joyeux and Bernardo Bertolucci (V) (2006)
The Unknown Painter and the Muse He will Never Meet (2010)
Grotto (2013)

85. Günther Förg (Germany, 1952-2013)

Painter, graphic designer, sculptor, photographer

Günther Förg.

Selected Works
Stairwell, Munich (photo) (1984)
Barcelona Pavilion (photo) (1986)
Untitled (two rows of eight multi-colored rectangles, darkest at lower right) (1989)
Untitled/Wall painting Wiener Secession, Vienna (1990)
WWM (Working with Maurice) (Full Portfolio of Seven Works) (1990)
Tor (1994)
Untitled (grid with reds and browns, reaches bottom in middle) (1994)
Untitled (gray; black gesso and pencil on black primed light cardboard) (1996)
Untitled/Wall painting ABN Amro, Amsterdam (1999)
Untitled (sculpture) (2000) Freiburg im Breisgau
Standomi 15 (2001)
Untitled/Wall painting for the exhibition “Painting on the Move” (2002) Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel
Untitled (patches of color, boxy lines over pink at right edge) (2005)
L’Horrible (2007)
Untitled (acrylic and chalk; blue at lower left signed at upper right) (2007)
Untitled (horizontal, yellow at lower left, patches of color) (2008)

86. David Salle (US, 1952- )

Painter, printmaker, photographer, filmmaker, sculptor, stage designer

David Salle with After Michelangelo, The Flood (2005–2006) in 2018. Photo by Lori Hawkins.

Selected Works
Tennyson (1983)
Fooling with your Hair (1985)
The Bigger Credenza (1985)
Mingus in Mexico (1990)
After Michelangelo (series of three) (2005–2006)
Silver I (2014)
Odes and Aires (2014)
Silver 10 (2015)
Silver 12 (2015)
Yellow Fellow (2015)
HomeGuard (2015)
Autumn Rhythm (2018)

87. Carrie Mae Weems (US, 1953- )

Photographer, mixed media artist, installation artist

Carrie Mae Weems (left) in Man Reading Newspaper (from Kitchen Table series) (1990).

Selected Works
Mirror Mirror (1987-1988)
Untitled (woman and daughter with makeup) (from Kitchen Table series) (1990)
Untitled (woman brushing hair) (from Kitchen Table series (1990)
Untitled (man smoking) (from Kitchen Table series (1990)
Untitled (man reading newspaper) (from Kitchen Table series) (1990)
You Became a Scientific Profile (1995-1996)
An Anthropological Debate (1995-1996)
Not Manet’s Type (1997)
The Louvre (2006)
The Assassination of Medgar, Malcolm and Martin (2008)
Color Real and Imagined (2014)
All the Boys (Blocked 1) (2016)

88. Robert Gober (US, 1954- )

Sculptor, painter

A 2014 photo of Robert Gober. Photo by Tim Knox, Geoffrey Clements/Corbis.

Selected Works
Slides of a Changing Painting (1982-1983)
Untitled (sink) (1985)
Cat Litter (1989)
Untitled Leg (1989-1990) MOMA
Untitled (Installation w/ three pairs of legs, beech forest wallpaper, candles) (1991)
Untitled (Installation three rooms, sinks, forest mural, newspaper bundles, rat bait (1992)
Untitled (pile of legs, brick wall, bent bars) (1994–1995)
Leg with Anchor (2008)

89. Zhou Chunya (China, 1955- )

Painter

Zhou Chunya with one of his Peach Blossoms paintings.

Selected Works
Sheep Shearing (1981)
Spring is Coming (1984)
Taihu Stone (2000)
Green Dog (sitting, looking left) (2001)
Blooming Love No. 1 (2005)
Untitled Artwork (branch with pink flowers) (2006)
Peach Blossom Tree (2006)
Blossom Series (2006)
Peach Blossoms Series – Glamorous Lake (2006)
Green Dog (sitting, facing front) (2006)
Green Dog and the Red Body (2007)
Three Boxers (2007)
Green Dog (2007)
Green Dog (male) (sculpture) (2008)
Yuyuan Garden Landscape 02 (2012)
Red Bridge in Slender West Lake (2018)

90. Kerry James Marshall (US, 1955- )

Painter

Selected Works
A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self (1980)
Slow Dance (1992-1993)
The Lost Boys (1993)
Bangl (1994)
Many Mansions (1994)
Past Times (1997)
Souvenir I (1997)
7am Sunday Morning (2003)
Vignette (2003)
Untitled (Painter) (2009)
Untitled (Studio) (2014)
Vignette 19 (2014)
Self-portrait (T Magazine) (2016)

91. Andy Goldsworthy (UK: England, 1956- )

Sculptor, photographer, environmental artist, installation artist

Andy Goldsworthy performing Rain Shadow in St. Abbs, Scotland in 1984.

Selected Works
Feathers plucked from dead heron, cut with sharp stone, stripped down one side (1982)
Rowan Leaves with Holes (1987)
Sticks Stacked (1993)
Storm King Wall (1997-1998)
Knotweed Stalks (1998)
Circle of sticks around stones in water (Undated)
Rain Shadow, Times Square (2010)

92. Luc Tuymans (Belgium, 1958- )

Painter, draughtsman, textile maker, mosaicist

Luc Tuymans in 2015. Photo by Waqas Farid.

Selected Works
Self-Portrait (1977)
Gas Chamber (1986)
Der diagnostische Blick IV (1992)
Lumumba (2000)
Still Life (2002)
The Secretary of State (2005)
Glasses (2007)
The Shore (2014)

93. Mark Wallinger (UK: England, 1959- )

Conceptual artist, installation artist, sculptor

Mark Wallinger in 2016. Photo by Jasper Fry for PORT Magazine.

Selected Works
Royal Ascot (1994)
A Real Work of Art (racehorse) (1994)
Ecce Homo (1999)
Prometheus (1999)
Threshold to the Kingdom (2000)
Ghost (2001)
Sleeper (2004)
State Britain (2007)
id Painting 29 (2015)

94. Grayson Perry (UK: England, 1960)

Ceramicist, sculptor, tapestry maker, architect

A 2020 photo of Grayson Perry with his work The American Dream (2020). Photo by Karwai Tang-Getty Images.

Selected Works
My Gods (1994)
We’ve Found the Body of your Child (2000)
The Vanity of Small Differences (2012)
A Map of Days (2013)
Memory Jar (2013)
A House for Essex (“Julie’s House”) (2012–2015)
Death of a Working Hero (2016)
Matching Pair (2017)
Puff Piece (2017)
Reclining Artist (2017)
Battle of Britain (2017)

95. Sarah Lucas (1962- )

Photographer, sculptor, conceptual artist, installation artist

Sarah Lucas – Self Portrait with Fried Eggs (1996) is at the Tate.

Selected Works
Eating a Banana (1990)
Sod You Gits (1991)
Two Fried Eggs and a Kebab (1992)
Au Naturel (1994)
Self-Portrait with Fried Eggs (1996)
Bunny Gets Snookered #8 (1997)
Human Toilet Revisited (1998)
Nature Abhors a Vacuum (1998)
The Old In Out (1998)
Sex Baby Bed Base (2000)
Chicken Knickers (2014)
Me (Bar Stool) (2015)

96. Liu Xiaodong (China, 1963- )

Painter, film designer

Liu Xiadong with a work from his Migrations exhibition in 2016.

Selected Works
Smoking in Water (1991)
Sky Burial (2007)
Qinghai-Tibet Railway (2007)
Jincheng Airport (2010)
Outside Baichuan (2010)
Self-Portrait (2010)
Into Taihu (2010)
Li Wu Works the Night Shift and Can’t Sleep by Day (2010)
Mountains and River (2019)
Tom, his Family, and his Friends (2020)
East Village (2020)

97. Matthew Barney (US, 1967- )

Filmmaker, videographer, photographer, sculptor

A 2021 photo of Matthew Barney with works from his Redoubt project. Photo from TimeOut Magazine.

Selected Works
Drawing Restraint 2 (1988)
Field Dressing (Orifill) (1989)
Drawing Restraint 7 (1993)
The Cremaster Cycle (1994-2002)
Drawing Restraint 9 (2005)
Blood of Two (2009)
River of Fundament (2007-2014)
Redoubt (2017-2019)
Cosmic Hunt: MultiCam Virgin (2019)

98. Wolfgang Tillmans (Germany/UK, 1968- )

Photographer, mixed media artist, collagist, videographer

Wolfgang Tillmans in 2017. Photo from Tate Photography.

Selected Works
Lutz & Alex sitting in the trees (1992)
JAL (1997)
Still life, Grays Inn Road I (1999)
The Cock (kiss) (2002)
Einzelgänger VIII (2003)
Anders pulling splinter from his foot (2004)
Paper drop (window) (2006)
Wald (Briol I) (2008)
Tukan (2010)
Astro Crusto, A (2012)
Shit buildings going up left, right, and centre (2014)
Lights of St. Petersburg (2014)
Open Heart Bypass (2015)
How likely is it that only I am right in this matter? (c) (2018)

99. Chris Ofili (UK/Trinidad & Tobago, 1968- )

Painter, collagist, mixed media artist

Chris Ofili. Photo by Jim Petersen.

Selected Works
The Holy Virgin Mary (1996)
Double Captain Shit and the Legend of the Black Stars (1997)
No Woman No Cry (1998)
The Adoration of Captain Shit and the Legend of the Black Stars (1998)
The Upper Room (2002)
Afro Lunar Lovers (2003)
Iscariot Blues (2006)
Thirty Pieces of Silver (2006)
Christmas Eve (flight) (2005-2007)
The Raising of Lazarus (2007)
Ovid Bather (2010-2012)
Ovid Actaeon (2011-2012)
To Take and to Give (2012)

100. Adrian Ghenie (Romania/Germany, 1977- )

Painter

Adrian Ghenie with Stigmata 2 (2010). Photo by Playtech Entertainment (Romania). 

Selected Works
Nickelodeon (2008)
The Blue Rain (2009)
The Fake Rothko (2010)
Dr. Mengele 2 (2011)
Untitled (Study for DADA Room) (2011)
Persian Miniature (2013)
Sunflowers in 1937 (2014)
Charles Darwin at the age of 75 (2014)
Self Portrait as Vincent Van Gogh (2014)
Lidless Eye (2015)
Self Portrait in 1945 (2015)
Rest During the Flight Into Egypt (2016)
The Impressionists (2020)
Mr Turner (2020)

101. Kehinde Wiley (US, 1977- )

Painter, sculptor

Kehinde Wiley with Morpheus (2008).

Selected Works
Conspicuous Fraud Series #1 (Eminence) (2001)
Napoleon Leading the Army Over the Alps (2005)
Willem van Heythuysen (2005)
The Dead Christ in the Tomb (2007)
Femme Piquée par un Serpent (2008)
Houdon Paul Lewis (2011)
Two Heroic Sisters of the Grassland (2011)
Shantavia Beale II (2012)
The Two Sisters (2012)
Saint Remi (stained glass) (2014)
The Sisters Zenaode and Charlotte Bonaparte (2014)
Portrait of Barack Obama (2017)
Rumors of War (2019)

102. Njideka Akunyili Crosby (Nigeria/US, 1983- )

Painter, collagist, photographer, mixed media artist

A 2016 photo of Njideka Akunyili Crosby with her painting Garden, Thriving (2016). Photo by Graeme Robertson for The Guardian.

Selected Works
I Refuse to Be Invisible (2010)
Nwantinti (2012)
5 Umezebi Street, New Haven, Enugu (2012)
Mama, Mummy and Mamma (Predecessors #2) (2014)
“The Beautyful Ones” Series #1c (2014)
I Still Face You (2015)
Mother and Child (2016)
When the Going Is Smooth and Good (2017)
Obodo (Country/City/Town/Ancestral Village) (2018)

For a list of the best works of contemporary art, go here.

2 thoughts on “Best Contemporary Artists

  1. Pingback: Postcolonial Thoughts: Frida Kahlo’s Interrogation of Self, Part2 | Creative Thresholds

  2. Pingback: Getting Closer to Now: The Revised Contemporary Artists Meta-List | Make Lists, Not War

Leave a Reply