# The Greatest Artists Of All Time



## Beethoven14 (Feb 14, 2019)

1. Beethoven
2. Shakespeare
3. Coltrane
4. Tarkovsky
5. Michelangelo
6. Bach
7. Mozart
8. Cervantes
9. Ozu
10. Fellini
11. Homer
12. Schubert
13. Kurosawa
14. Dante
15. Malick
16. Raphael


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Long time no see, Herr Beethoven14, how have you been?
I still remember that thread "." of yours. It was priceless. You have a superb sense of humour.
https://www.talkclassical.com/63155-a.html?highlight=#post1704075


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## UniversalTuringMachine (Jul 4, 2020)

Beethoven14 said:


> 1. Beethoven
> 2. Shakespeare
> 3. Coltrane
> 4. Tarkovsky
> ...


What is this? A joke about your unabashed Beethoven fanboyism?

Suppose I take this list seriously, would you care to explain why Coltrane is ranked higher than Ozu, or Fellini higher than Homer?


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## Beethoven14 (Feb 14, 2019)

UniversalTuringMachine said:


> What is this? A joke about your unabashed Beethoven fanboyism?
> 
> Suppose I take this list seriously, would you care to explain why Coltrane is ranked higher than Ozu, or Fellini higher than Homer?


It is a sieve which I hope may be of use. Any reordering seems to me a less useful sieve.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Your list might make one of the greatest worst lists of all time.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Not a bad list for a start but infinite room for quibbling. Durer? Dostoevsky? Goethe? Leonardo? Ma Yuan? Li Po? Sophocles? Aeschylus?


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Beethoven14 said:


> 1. Beethoven
> 2. Shakespeare
> 3. Coltrane
> 4. Tarkovsky
> ...


Is this really serious.....


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## Beethoven14 (Feb 14, 2019)

MENO.
I feel, somehow, that I like what you are saying.

SOCRATES.
And I, Meno, like what I am saying. Some things I have said of which I am not altogether confident. But that we shall be better and braver and less helpless if we think that we ought to enquire, than we should have been if we indulged in the idle fancy that there was no knowing and no use in seeking to know what we do not know; that is a theme upon which I am ready to fight, in word and deed, to the utmost of my power.


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## aioriacont (Jul 23, 2018)

Rogerx said:


> Is this really serious.....


at least it has Schubert

but he shoudl be in a higher position


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

How wonderfully subjective.

I'm good with that.


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Beethoven14 said:


> 1. Beethoven
> 2. Shakespeare
> 3. Coltrane
> 4. Tarkovsky
> ...


17. Cardi B

In all seriousness, why don't you tell us how you came up with this list and please tell me, cuz I don't know, about Tarkovsky, Ozu, Fellini, Kurosawa and Malick.


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## Guest (Jul 7, 2020)

Beethoven14 said:


> 1. Beethoven
> 2. Shakespeare
> 3. Coltrane
> 4. Tarkovsky
> ...


Just the two artists then. And too many film directors. Too few writers. And why only/as many as 16? You could just stop at Shakespeare, Da Vinci, Tolstoy, Moore, and Kurosawa and that would have made more sense.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Somebody loves the movies, and doesn't care for literature or the visual arts.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

_"Beauty must appeal to the senses, must provide us with immediate enjoyment, must impress us or insinuate itself into us without any effort on our own part. Take Leonardo da Vinci; take Mozart: these are the great artists."_ -Debussy


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## umbrellockre (Dec 1, 2018)

Sorry, you're deceived. 1. Mozart, 2. Michelangelo, 3. Shakespeare.


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## Guest (Jul 7, 2020)

hammeredklavier said:


> _"Beauty must appeal to the senses, must provide us with immediate enjoyment, must impress us or insinuate itself into us without any effort on our own part. Take Leonardo da Vinci; take Mozart: these are the great artists."_ -Debussy


Debussy? Who he?


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

“We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents”

- Bob Ross


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## Beethoven14 (Feb 14, 2019)

Many have correctly observed the list reveals more about my exploration and memory than about any truth but I hope it may serve a useful exercise to others.

Op. 131 is a work which I think continuously on and which guides me in the conduct of life. Beethoven is given first.

Shakespeare is the only artist I find of comparable magnitude to Beethoven. The creation of Hamlet, Falstaff, Edgar, Cleopatra. 

After the first two the list position becomes less meaningful but I'll try to provide some justification. 

Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo are the only ones I would consider from their medium. Leonardo probably would be at 17th. My personal preference is for Raphael's Transfiguration, but to have achieved Moses, Sistine Chapel, Last Judgment, St. Peter's is completely unfathomable.

I completely understand those who would place Mozart or Bach first -- Don Giovanni, The Art of Fugue, The B Minor Mass etc. Any attempt at the greatest artists must include Schubert, but I cannot seriously consider him above BMB. 

Do any other literary figures belong besides Cervantes, Dante, Homer? I can only consider Dostoevsky (Brothers Karamazov), Tolstoy (Hadji Murad), Joyce (Finnegans Wake). But Don Quixote, Divine Comedy, Iliad seem still beyond. Plato I have not considered, but he would be near the top, likely after Beethoven and Shakespeare. 

Coltrane is the greatest American.

I thank MarkW for introducing me to the sublime Ma Yuan.

flamencosketches has identified correctly my love for movies. Nostalghia (1983) is the most perfect movie and the ending of Andrei Rublev (1966) defines the height of the medium. Ran (1985) justifies Kurosawa. The Tree of Life (2011) justifies Malick. The ending of 8 1/2 (1963) justifies Fellini. Ozu has made the only film which has changed my conduct of life.


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## UniversalTuringMachine (Jul 4, 2020)

Beethoven14 said:


> Many have correctly observed the list reveals more about my exploration and memory than about any truth but I hope it may serve a useful exercise to others.
> 
> Op. 131 is a work which I think continuously on and which guides me in the conduct of life. Beethoven is given first.
> 
> ...


Despite the "pretentious" appearance of this post I find your take both sincere and valuable. But my gut feeling (yes I know I should elaborate later) tells me that your list a bit too canonical/orthodox/mainstream, which for me, is a sign of lacking critical thinking (not to offend you, but to provoke you a little).


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

Any supposed list of so called "great" artists that does not contain the name Machaut is incomplete and not thoroughly researched. For instance, all the names on the list provided herein are artistically one dimensional, whereas Guillaume's output was in both literature and music composition. Hey, I love Bill Shakey too, but he never wrote a polyphonic motet.


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## UniversalTuringMachine (Jul 4, 2020)

Room2201974 said:


> Any supposed list of so called "great" artists that does not contain the name Machaut is incomplete and not thoroughly researched. For instance, all the names on the list provided herein are artistically one dimensional, whereas Guillaume's output was in both literature and music composition. Hey, I love Bill Shakey too, but he never wrote a polyphonic motet.


I listened to Machaut's Messa de Nostre Dame once and boy it was a transformative experience.


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