{"id":341247,"date":"2020-04-24T13:02:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-24T17:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.1stdibs.com\/blogs\/the-study\/?p=341247"},"modified":"2025-01-13T12:48:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T17:48:34","slug":"most-popular-artists-1stdibs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.1stdibs.com\/blogs\/the-study\/most-popular-artists-1stdibs\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Are the Most Popular Artists on 1stDibs?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Portrait<\/a>
Salvador Dal\u00ed<\/em>, 1963<\/a>, by Elliott Erwitt<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The most popular artists on 1stDibs are also some of the most influential figures in modern art<\/a>. Period. Their instantly recognizable works can be found in the most prominent museums and institutions in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This primer on their sources of inspiration and creative journeys reveals how they each changed the course of art history. Here, we present these creative heavyweights in order of their birth years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pablo Picasso<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"Picasso<\/a>
Picasso in His Studio, Cannes<\/em>, 1956, by Arnold Newman<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

One of the most prolific and revolutionary artists<\/a> the world has ever seen, Pablo Picasso<\/a> (1881\u20131973) had a tremendous impact<\/a> on the development of 20th-century modern art. Although he is best known for his association with the Cubist<\/a> movement, which he founded with Georges Braque<\/a>, Picasso\u2019s influence extends to Surrealism<\/a>, neoclassicism<\/a> and expressionism<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery act of creation is, first of all, an act of destruction,\u201d the Spanish artist proclaimed. In his Cubist paintings<\/a>, he emphasizes the two-dimensionality of the canvas, breaking with conventions regarding perspective, foreshortening and proportion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picasso was inspired by Iberian and African tribal art<\/a>. One of his most famous pre-Cubist works is Les Demoiselles d’Avignon<\/em> (1907), a painting considered immoral and shocking at the time for its depiction of nude women whose faces resemble Iberian tribal masks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He made many portraits in this style, most often of the women in his life, their expressively colored faces composed of geometric shards of surface planes. In Woman in a Hat (Olga)<\/em>, 1935, he painted his first wife as an assemblage of abstract forms, leaving the viewer to decipher the subject through the contrasting colors and shapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picasso was a tireless artist, creating more than 20,000 paintings, drawings, prints, ceramics and sculptures. Tracing his life\u2019s work reveals the progression of modern art, on which he had an unparalleled influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joan Mir<\/strong>\u00f3<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Joan<\/a>
Joan Mir\u00f3 in His Studio<\/em>, 1955, by Mark Shaw, printed 2018<\/a>. \u00a9 Mark Shaw \/ mptvimages.com \/ Courtesy Liz O’Brien<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With his wide-ranging oeuvre, comprising strikingly original paintings, prints, ceramics, sculptures, metal engravings and murals, Catalan modernist Joan Mir\u00f3<\/a> (1893\u20131983) was a critical force in moving 20th-century art<\/a> toward complete abstraction<\/a>. Although often considered an early Surrealist<\/a> because of his nonobjective imagery and evocation of the subconscious, he defies neat categorization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mir\u00f3\u2019s identity is largely rooted in the city of his birth: Barcelona. To this day, a number of his public artworks can be found there, including the 72-foot-tall statue Dona i Ocell<\/em> (Woman and Bird), 1983. Female and avian forms, along with bright colors and the theme of Catalan pride, are recurring elements in his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The radical visual world Mir\u00f3 created with his expressive lines, signature symbols and biomorphic shapes influenced such American Abstract Expressionists<\/a> as Jackson Pollock<\/a> and Color Field<\/a> painters like Mark Rothko<\/a> and Barnett Newman<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mir\u00f2 continued to work and experiment until his death at the age of 90 in 1983. Five years before that, he was quoted<\/a> saying, \u201cI painted these paintings in a frenzy, with real violence so that people will know that I am alive, that I\u2019m breathing, that I still have a few more places to go. I’m heading in new directions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Salvador Dal\u00ed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Salvador<\/a>
Salvador Dal\u00ed, Port Ligat, Costa Brava<\/em>, 1970, by Slim Aarons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Instantly recognizable by his waxed, upturned mustache, the flamboyant Salvador Dal\u00ed<\/a> (1904\u201389) is one of modern art\u2019s most distinctive figures. He is also one of the icons of the 20-century avant-garde Surrealist movement<\/a>, whose dreamlike images, drawn from the depths of the unconscious, he deployed in paintings, sculptures, prints and fashion, as well as in film collaborations with Luis Bu\u00f1uel and Alfred Hitchcock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dal\u00ed was born in Figueres, Catalonia, and even as a youngster, displayed the sensitivity, sharp perception and vivid imagination that would later define his artworks. In these, he conjured childhood memories and employed religious symbols and Freudian imagery like staircases, keys and dripping candles to create unexpected, often shocking pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His use of hyperrealism in conveying Surrealist symbols and concepts that subvert accepted notions of reality is epitomized in what is perhaps his most recognizable painting, The Persistence of Memory<\/em> (1931), in which he depicts the fluidity of time through melting clocks, their forms inspired by Camembert cheese melting in the sun. Dal\u00ed\u2019s artistic genius, eccentric personality and eternal quest for fame made him a global celebrity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach morning when I awake, I experience again a supreme pleasure,\u201d he once said. \u201cThat of being Salvador Dal\u00ed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Slim Aarons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Civilized<\/a>
Civilized Snooze, Self Portrait in Athens<\/em>, 1955, by Slim Aarons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Photographing the rich and famous in luxury locales like Monaco, Saint-Tropez and Palm Beach may seem a frivolous pasttime, but American photographer Slim Aarons<\/a> (1916\u20132006) elevated his subjects through candid compositions skillfully exploiting the interplay of light and color. Aarons loved \u201cbeautiful people in beautiful places, doing beautiful things,\u201d he once said, and he made a successful career out of capturing these moments of visual splendor<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aarons arrived at his m\u00e9tier by an unlikely route: Having enlisted at 18, he served as an army combat photographer during World War II, earning a Purple Heart. After the war, he moved to California and began shooting socialites and movie stars for publications like Holiday<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> Life<\/em> and Town & Country<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from his sharp visual sensibility, Aarons\u2019s greatest asset was his ability to win the trust of his elite subjects, who gave him an extaordinary level of access to their parties and homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His best-known photo, Poolside Gossip<\/em> (1970), depicts two women \u2014 Nelda Linsk, the wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk, and Helen Kaptur, who was married for many years to the mid-century<\/a> architect Hugh Kaptur \u2014 lounging by the Linskes\u2019 pool. Bathed in hazy golden sunlight, they are set against the backdrop of the modernist Kaufmann house, designed by Richard Neutra<\/a> and owned at the time by the Linskes, with the desert mountains of Palm Springs in the far distance. The scene is idyllic, intimate and informal, embodying the casual glamour of the high society Aarons so dearly loved to shoot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Andy Warhol<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Andy<\/a>
Andy Warhol with Debbie Harry and His Amiga Computer<\/em>, 1985, by Allan Tannenbaum<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some of the 20th century\u2019s most enduring images<\/a> were created by leading Pop art<\/a> figure Andy Warhol<\/a> (1928\u201387). His screenprints of luminaries like Marilyn Monroe and Muhammed Ali and consumer culture objects like Campbell soup cans and Brillo pads are instantly recognizable<\/a> and continue to influence contemporary artists<\/a> and designers today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warhol moved in 1949 from his native Pittsburgh to New York City, where he found work as a commercial illustrator<\/a>. This experience, combined with his lifelong obsession with celebrities and popular culture, helped shape Warhol\u2019s style and subject matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of his most significant contributions was his use of silkscreen printing<\/a>, a mass-production technique<\/a>. Warhol overlaid brightly colored inks to produce varying images<\/a>, which he repeated in large grids in such works as his famed Marilyn Diptych<\/em> (1962). The process, which removed any traces of the artist\u2019s hand from the finished piece, greatly appealed to Warhol. \u201cThe reason I\u2019m painting this way is that I want to be a machine,\u201d he said in an interview published in ARTnews<\/em>. \u201cAnd I feel that whatever I do and do machine-like is what I want to do.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Known as well for his Manhattan studio, The Factory, plus friendships with stars and artists<\/a> including Jean-Michel Basquiat<\/a>, not to mention aphorisms like \u201cIn the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,\u201d Warhol was an artist and cultural figure like no other<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hunt Slonem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"A
Hanging behind a Parian marble bust, the Hunt Slonem painting Citizen Bhagavan Butterflies<\/em>, from Slonem’s book Gatekeeper: World of Folly<\/a><\/em> (Assouline). \u00a9 Marco Ricca.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe in repetition like a holy mantra or rosary,\u201d neo-Expressionist<\/a> painter Hunt Slonem<\/a> (b. 1951) told Introspective<\/em><\/a>, referring to his artistic method. \u201cI am slightly influenced by Pop art<\/a>, like the repetition of soup cans, postage stamps and celebrities. It\u2019s something I have been doing my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slonem, who often depicts birds, rendered in thick, gestural brushstrokes and arranged in a loose grid, developed his fascination with tropical avian life during a childhood spent in Hawaii and Nicaragua. Today, his 30,000-square-foot studio in Brooklyn contains an aviary, along with a personal garden, a collection of antiques and walls and walls of artworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides birds, Slonem also paints bunnies<\/a> \u2014 so many that they\u2019ve become a signature. Limned in expressive, urgent strokes on flat, vibrantly colored backgrounds, these creatures fascinate through their subtle variations. \u201cI have painted hundreds of rabbits, but each one is different,\u201d the artist has explained. \u201cEach has its own personality, and it just comes through me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The multitalented Slonem also sculpts, makes prints<\/a>, creates installations and restores historic spaces. His work has achieved cult status among collectors and is represented in the permanent collections of such esteemed institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art<\/a>. The only still-living artist on our list, he has even made an appearance on Real Housewives of New York<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keith Haring<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Keith<\/a>
Keith Haring<\/em>, 1988, by William Coupon<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Keith Haring<\/a> (1958\u201390) began experimenting with his bold, graphic lines and cartoon-inspired figures on the walls of New York City subway stations in the early 1980s. He called them his \u201claboratory,\u201d places to develop a radical new aesthetic based on an ideology of creating truly democratic public art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haring\u2019s paintings<\/a>, prints<\/a> and murals address the universal themes of death, love and sex, as well as contemporary issues he experienced personally, like the crack-cocaine<\/a> and AIDS epidemics. They derive much of their impact from the powerful contrast between these serious subjects and the joyful, vibrant pictographic language he uses to express them, full of dancing figures, babies, barking dogs, hearts and rhythmic lines, as well as references to pop culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make his art even more accessible, in 1986, Haring opened the Pop Shop<\/a> in Soho. In a foreshadowing of today\u2019s intermingling of art and fashion, the shop sold merchandise and novelty items featuring imagery by Haring and contemporaries like Kenny Scharf<\/a> and Basquiat<\/a>. While his works sometimes included text, for the most part, he chose to communicate through drawing. \u201cDrawing is still basically the same as it has been since prehistoric times,\u201d Haring once declared. \u201cIt lives through magic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Collect Keith Haring<\/div>\n\t\t\t
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