Best Paintings of all time

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer – Gustav Klimt wins 65% of its duels and tops the Paintings ranking ahead of The Scream – Edvard Munch.

The podium reveals a Klimt stronghold: his Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer commands 1344 ELO points, followed by Munch's The Scream at 1334. Water Serpents II – Gustav Klimt holds third place with 1329 points, establishing a 46-point gap over Portrait of Dr. Gachet – Vincent van Gogh in fourth. This margin marks the sharpest divide in the ranking, suggesting Klimt's dual presence at the summit reflects a clear preference for his ornamental style. At the bottom, Number 17A – Jackson Pollock sits in last place with 1094 ELO, while The Origin of the World – Gustave Courbet and Woman with a Watch – Pablo Picasso occupy the two positions just above. The lower tier indicates that modern abstraction and provocative realism struggle to match the appeal of more decorative or expressive works.

This ranking draws from 1495 duels contributed by 26 players across 20 contenders, with the data updated on 12 October 2026. The vote remains open: head to the Paintings TopList to cast your own choices and shift the standings. Every duel you complete refines the order and brings the community's collective taste into sharper focus.

Updated on October 12, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →