Save us!
Last night I was thinking through a scenario. What if the world was a dead lump, humanity wiped out through a cataclysm of some sort; nuclear war (50's), ice age (60's), resource depletion (70's), nanobots (80's), killer virus (90's), or global warming (00's).
Nobody is left. In a cave deep under the surface of the moon, safe for a few billion years, safe from the tectonic activity of Earth, and from meteorites, the knowledge of humanity is stored. It was so resource expensive to send things there that just ten great artworks were chosen. I was pondering which.
I thought; The complete works of Shakespeare (that counts as one!), Michelangelo's David, Beethoven's 9th Symphony (if not all nine), 1984 by George Orwell, Paradise Lost by John Milton...
but when it came to paintings I got stuck. Not the Mona Lisa surely! So, what IS the best painting in the world?
The answer matters.
Of course on some level it will always be a matter of opinion, but some paintings do have more universal appeal than others. Criteria are needed. For me it must be beautiful, and executed well, at least. I'd nominate Las Meninas I think, or The Seven Deadly Sings by Otto Dix, or The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke!
