The First Known Artworks of 10 World Famous Artists

Everyone starts small, yet early efforts frequently hint to enormous potential. Here are the earliest known artworks by some of the world’s most famous painters, ranging from drawings to portraits and more.

There was a period when the great masters of art history grabbed up a pen or brush to try to record what they saw, and this frequently gave a glimpse into their famous careers to come. From Claude Monet to Pablo Picasso, these are some of the artists’ early works.

These are not necessarily the artist’s very first works, but they are the earliest ones that have survived.

10. Leonardo da Vinci, Landscape for Santa Maria Della Neve, 1473

The oldest extant work by Leonardo da Vinci is from approximately 550 years ago. The pencil and ink picture depicts the Arno River valley in exquisite detail, as well as the Montelupo Castle in Tuscany, not far from Leonardo’s titular birthplace Vinci.

This drawing was produced on 5 August 1473, when Leonardo was 21 years old and had been a pupil of Florentine sculptor and painter Andrea del Verrocchio for four years, according to the date on the page. He worked on portions or individual figures in his master’s paintings at his workshop at the time. The drawing, on the other hand, is da Vinci’s first self-created work that has survived to this day.

However, in 2018, the public was shown a majolica tile that dated from 1471 and is claimed to be an even older work by Leonardo da Vinci.

9. Claude Monet, Vue prize à Rouelles, 1858

Claude Monet drew caricatures of his instructors and classmates at school while he was a child in Le Havre.

Painter Jacques-François Ochard, his art teacher at the time, recognised his skill and organised commissions for his caricatures. Oscar-Claude Monet was Monet’s entire name, therefore he signed them with O. Monet.

8. Albrecht Dürer, Self-Portrait, 1484

When it comes to Albrecht Dürer’s first (of many) self-portraits, one may definitely talk of youthful talent. It’s a 1484 silver pen drawing on white prepared paper by Albrecht, who was thirteen at the time.

Also read: Is This Albrecht Dürer’s Last Fresco?

Albrecht Dürer was an apprentice goldsmith at his father’s studio in Nuremberg at the time. He was supposed to follow in his father’s footsteps, but it’s possible that this remarkable self-portrait, as well as the Madonna with Two Angels completed the following year, prompted Albrecht Dürer Senior to remove his son from his own workshop and place him in the studio of painter and woodcut master Michael Wolgemut.

7. Vincent van Gogh, 87 Hackford Road, 1873/74

Vincent van Gogh is regarded as one of the ‘late bloomers’ in the field of painting. He didn’t decide to become a painter until 1880, when he was already 27 years old. Following ten years of very creative and inventive artistic output, the tormented artist committed suicide in 1890.

If 1880 was the formal start of Vincent van Gogh’s artistic career, a sketch discovered in a property on Hackford Road in London shows that he had dabbled in the area before then.

6. Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders, 1610

Artemisia Gentileschi’s oldest known work depicts two elderly men oppressing lovely Susanna, a scenario from the Old Testament book of Daniel that was popular among Baroque painters. An X-ray scan confirmed the date on the image to be 1610 after a lengthy time of ambiguity.

Artemisia Gentileschi was 17 years old at the time, and she was a student at her father’s workshop in Rome, where he was a painter named Orazio Gentileschi. Agostino Tassi, a painter, raped Artemisia in his workshop in 1611, where she had been brought by her father to develop her skills. Artemisia produced paintings like Judith and Holofernes after the sexual attack, showing powerful female figures.

5. Pablo Picasso, Picador, 1889/90

Pablo Picasso grew raised in Málaga, Andalusia, with two younger sisters, where he began drawing and painting at the age of three. His father, José Ruiz Blasco, a painter and art instructor, introduced him to a corrida, or bullfight, when he was eight years old. The experience left such an impression on the youngster that he went home and painted a tiny oil painting of a Picador, a sort of bullfighter.

Throughout his career, Picasso was preoccupied with the theme of bullfighting. His 26 aquatints, painted in 1956 as illustrations for a new version of the 1796 matador manual La Tauromaquia, are particularly well-known.

4. Paul Klee, Lady with a Parasol, 1883-85

Paul Klee’s drawing of an attractive lady with a parasol was created while he was between the ages of four and six years old. During those years, young Klee drew many sketches of his surroundings, and a future as a painter appeared to be on the horizon.

His parents, on the other hand, had other ideas for him. His father Hans Wilhelm was a music instructor, and his mother Ida was a vocalist, and they both wanted their son to pursue a musical career. Klee began taking violin lessons at the age of 10 and went on to master the string instrument, which he continued to play throughout his life. Nonetheless, he was more drawn to painting, and after graduating from high school, he travelled to Munich to study art.

3. Edward Hopper, Little Boy Looking at the Sea, 1891

In this picture of a young kid by the sea, drawn by ten-year-old Edward Hopper in 1891, melancholy, loneliness, and even a desire for other countries appear to be represented.

Edward Hopper was born and raised in Nyack, New York. He could see the Hudson River from his room window, which was at the end of the street. He was particularly fascinated with the boats there, and he went on to become an avid sailor. Despite the fact that he is most recognised for his urban paintings today, Hopper stayed faithful to the marine subject throughout his life. His vacation home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, provided the ideal setting for artistic inspiration.

2. Georgia O’Keeffe, Untitled, 1901/02

Throughout his lengthy relationship and marriage to Georgia O’Keeffe, photographer Alfred Stieglitz was enamoured with the painter’s lovely hands, which he frequently posed in his photographs. A hand is the topic of O’Keefe’s oldest surviving sketch, which is interesting.

The sketch was created at Sacred Heart Academy in Madison, Wisconsin, where Georgia O’Keeffe was a 14-year-old student at the time. Drawing classes were also part of the Catholic school’s curriculum, with the first objective being to draw a doll’s hand. The future artist received such harsh criticism for her first try that she laboured diligently on the second rendition.

1. Salvador Dalí, Landscape near Figueres, 1910

Salvador Dal, the future maestro of surrealism, was born in Figueres, Catalonia. From a young age, he knew he wanted to achieve greatness: “At the age of six, I wanted to be a chef. When I was seven years old, I wanted to be Napoleon “In his book, he revealed.

Dal, in addition to his culinary goals, began painting at the age of six, as demonstrated by his first oil painting, which depicted a scene near his village. He was influenced by the Impressionists and Cézanne’s work at the period.

Information Citations

En.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/.

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