Unmissable masterpieces: Exploring Guggenheim Museum's most famous paintings

Édouard Manet

“Before the Mirror (Devant la glace)” is an oil study by Édouard Manet that portrays a lady of the evening admiring her reflection, evoking the timeless theme of Venus before the mirror. The woman is depicted as an artist standing before her work, which, being a mirror, reflects herself. This painting captures a courtesan about to disrobe before a mirror, reflecting a spontaneous imagining of a moment in passing.

Paul Gauguin

This painting by Gauguin, who famously abandoned Europe for Tahiti, derives in part from a classical source: The sculptural frieze on the Parthenon. The painting is situated in a small forest in Tahiti used to grow vanilla. The vanilla vines climb up the trees. The majority of the painting is made up by the landscape.

Kazimir Malevich

‘Morning in the Village after Snowstorm’ is a masterpiece by Kazimir Malevich, painted in 1913. This Cubo-Futurist work, while not as radical as his later Suprematist compositions, is considered one of his most sublime. It depicts scenes from Malevich’s Russian childhood, with women carrying buckets of water and a figure pulling a sled in the snow capturing the serenity of a village morning following a snowstorm.

Various Artists

This exhibition presents works across all media, including paintings, photographs, drawings, prints, sculptures, videos and installations. Through revealing and concealing the body, “Going Dark” probes a critical point of conflict in representation; the desire to be seen and the need to be hidden.

Georges Braque

This artwork is one of Braque’s most famous paintings and is a part of Guggenheim’s collection. The painting is representative of Braque’s fauvist style. In June of 1906, Braque and a painter friend traveled to Antwerp. The port city’s similarity to his hometown, Le Havre, inspired Braque to create this masterpiece. The artwork reflects the influence of Paul Cezanne’s technique of simultaneous painting and drawing.

Vincent van Gogh

Created during a period of his recovery from a mental health episode in 1889, this painting vividly depicts the Alpilles mountains, employing bold brushstrokes and heavy impasto, characteristic of Van Gogh’s late work. This artwork, mentioned in his letters to his brother Theo, reflects his longing for a rural environment amidst the rapid industrialization of the era.

Henri Rousseau

This work of art captures a moment of four men playing rugby in a field. The men are depicted as awkward and disproportionate, almost cartoonish figures, implying the lightheartedness associated with the game of football. The trees in the landscape all look the same, while the clouds in the sky have a mysterious solidity. It seems like the work of a gifted child.

Vasily Kandinsky

‘Black Lines’ is a pioneering abstract painting by Vasily Kandinsky, created in 1913. Kandinsky knew where he was headed before beginning this canvas of abstract art, but he was worried about public reactions. His paintings had a connection that led to a representation of sequence before giving out altogether this one as the final art. This artwork is a testament to Kandinsky’s innovative approach to abstraction and his profound influence on modern art.