Here's another quick installment:
24) Madame X by John Singer Sargent. This painting caused mass hysteria in supposedly avant garde Paris. Twenty years after Manet's Le Dejeuner, one wouldn't think a painting of a fully clothed woman would be such a scandal. Then again, this is pre-Rules-of-the-Game, aristocratic France we are alking about. And even though the land had become accepting of nude peasants and prostitutes; the idea of a woman of good standing showing a little too much of that gorgeous alabaster skin, was as shocking to them as a Madonna covered in elephant dung was to us. The painting originally showed one of the straps of her dress falling off her shoulder, but Sargent (unfortunately) caved into public pressure and painted the strap in its rightful spot. No matter, the damage was already done and he was run out of Paris where he spent the rest of his career pumping out hundreds of paintings that never came close to equaling the brilliance of the work from his younger days. When he finally parted with this picture as an old man, he said with what i am sure was a mixture of pride and regret, "I suppose it is the best thing i have ever done." Pride in the fact that it is a true masterpiece on par with any other, regret that it came so early in his career.
Metropolitan Museum
25) The Annunciation by Fra Angelico. This is the second annunciation on my list but in my opinion it is the most beautiful in the world. The only reason it isn't ranked higher on my list is because the Campin I have listed above is many times more famous and much more important to art history. Heck, this isn't even
Fra Angelico's most famous annunciation. For that one has to travel to the Convento di San Marco in Italy. But this version is so much more beautiful in my opinion. This exquisite little dyptich is about as beautiful an image as I have ever seen in my life.
Detroit Institute of the Arts