Not too many surprises on blogger Mat Gleason’s list, but definitely entertaining. Renoir, Dali, Chagall (that last has always been a pet peeve of mine; I can’t STAND Chagall): Check. Leonardo? No way. Magritte? You’re crazy, Gleason. Modigliani? He’s not rated very highly, so he’s not overrated.

Jen Graves (The Stranger’s former arts critic) mostly writes about things you approach with your eyeballs. But she’s also a history nerd interested in anything that needs more talking about, from male...

17 replies on “Ten Most Overrated Artists in History”

  1. Is “overrated” the same as “overexposed”?

    Picasso, I Am in No Mood for You
    Posted by Jen Graves on Tue, Oct 5, 2010
    At the moment, the idea of spending two hours with the overexposed art of a man’s man is not my idea of paradise…

  2. As a fairly ignorant art enthusiast, I’m surprised how much I agree with this list. The Mona Lisa seems like it’s popular because of a gimmick. Salvidor Dali’s paintings seem weird for the sake of being weird and so lose their clarity. Although the lobster-phone made me laugh out loud in the museum. Renoir has always left me cold while I felt enraptured by Monet and Van Gogh. I had to look up Chagall and I hate his work, it’s too whimsical and obvious.

    @7 I think good art and bad art isn’t entirely subjective. But there’s better educated people that can take up that argument for me, so I’ll let them.

  3. I see what he is trying to do there, but still Rubens? DaVinci? Maybe if he took them out and say put in ummm Hockney and Damien Hirst, then sure why not.

  4. Haters Gonna Hate

    It would be easier to judge his list if he listed who he thinks is underrated, just to see if this is hipster posturing.

    Though I agree about Chagall.

  5. This was amusing.
    Where’s Munch, though?

    I like Chagal. Respect disagreement, of course. But I think dismissing him as just a poor painter is a very “dad” move and nominates one as an idiot. “This painting is lousy, I could do that!”

    Sure, dad.

  6. and then people get so scared of being perceived as having no taste, of making a “dad” move, that they’re gonna fake liking it. Palin’s kid could paint this.

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