Brancusi, second in twentieth century artists’ chart

The Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi reached the second position at the Sculpture category, following Alberto Giacometti, in an opinion poll recently organized by the French paper Le Figaro, that wished to establish a hierarchy of the best artists of the twentieth century.


Internet users worldwide, readers of the official website of the paper “Le Figaro” were invited to vote for the artists of the twentieth century. The poll was attended by 23,914 voters and included four main sections.


The poll had the following winners: Paul Cezanne, at the Modern Art Category (24.55 per cent of the votes), Francis Bacon at the Contemporary Art Category (25.60 per cent of the votes) and Alberto Giacometti at the Sculpture Category (35.15 per cent of the votes).


Constantin Brancusi reached the second position in the Sculpture Category, surpassing Alexander Calder (11.31 per cent), Cesar (7.37 per cent) and Henry Moore (6.93 per cent).


At the Modern Art Category, Paul Cezanne, considered the father of modernism, reached the first position, voted by 24.55 per cent of the readers). He was followed very closely by Pablo Picasso (24.08 per cent). The next positions went to Salvador Dali (13.46 per cent), Henri Matisse (10.18 per cent) and Wassily Kandinsky (7.41 per cent). The Postwar Art Category was won by Francis Bacon (20.42 per cent), the painter of sensuous issues, of anguish on pink backgrounds and of human bullfights. The second place was reached by Edward Hopper, who was granted 20.01 per cent of the votes. The famous Andy Warhol (19.73 per cent), considered as a genuine Pope of the Pop movement and a successful illustrator of books written by the celebrities of his age, reached the third position, and was followed by Mark Rothko (11.07 per cent) and Jackson Pollock (8.22 per cent).


The Contemporary Art Category was won by the French painter Pierre Soulages (25.60 per cent), followed by Lucian Freud (20.05 per cent), Yan Pei-Ming (10.14 per cent), Sophie Calle (10.10 per cent) and Anselm Kiefer (8.04 per cent).