[Images: "Guernica"(1937),Picasso, Museo Reina Sofia via wikipedia; "Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?"(1956), Richard Hamilton via georgetown; "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space"(1913),Boccioni, moma via wikipedia; "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon"(1907),Picasso; "Monument to the Third International"(1919-20),Tatlin; "Spiral Jetty"(1970),Smithson /Artwork: designslinger]

We have gone ranking crazy. There are more top 10, to top 100 lists than ever.
David Letterman's Top 10, AFI's Top 100, the Weekend Box Office Report's Top 10, even the Library of Congress has gotten in on the action. Now, we've got one for the art world, a list ranking the top artwork of the 20th century. The International Herald Tribune, recently published an article about David Galenson, an economist at the University of Chicago, who has done an analysis of artists of the 20th century and come up with his top 10 list.
                                             
                                               "His statistical approach has led to what he says
                                                is a radically new interpretation of 20th-century art,
                                                one he is certain art historians will hate.
                                                It is based in part on how frequently an illustration
                                                of a work appears in textbooks."

[Image: Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, xtec /Artwork: designslinger]

His Number One: Pablo Picasso's, 1907, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon."
Galenson has written several books on art and the market, as well as published papers with titles such as: "Masterpieces and Markets: Why the Most Famous Modern paintings Are Not by American Artists," and "The Careers of Modern Artists: Evidence from Auctions of Contemporary Art." He believes that art in the 20th century became a commodity, like oil or wheat. The economic buying power was no longer controlled by solely by the titled or upper classes of society, and the "new money" class turned art into something for consumption and innovation.

[Image: Monument to the Third International, usc /Artwork: designslinger]

Number Two on his list: Vladimir Tatlin's, 1919, "Monument to the Third International."
Auction prices would appear to be the easiest barometer of ranking the top artworks, but because some of the centuries most important works will never come up for auction, he opted for textbook publication. His theory is, that of 33 textbooks, the most important works would merit the most illustrations.

[Image: Spiral Jetty, photo by Soren Harward via wikipedia /Artwork: designslinger]

Number Three: Robert Smithson's, "Spiral Jetty," a giant earthwork in Utah.
Needless to say, art experts aren't going to fall all over themselves embracing the notion that any artwork can be ranked as easily as 1, 2, 3. But, the concept is an interesting one and certainly pertinent to the culture we live in today. We have grown to love lists that tell us in an instant, the number one choice is........