Best painter

In your opinion, what is the best painter that has ever existed ? Personally, I think it's René Magritte, I like his paintings, and the surrealism art is very interesting.

 

I know Magritte's paintings and love them; especially Empire of Light, so misterious and nocturnal. I attended the Art School and I've studied several painters and styles. My favourite, from the Surrealist period, is Max Ernst; he was influenced by psychoanalysis, so the paintings are a reflexion of his subconscious, his dreams, his inner self. Some recurring elements are animals (especially birds), the water, the moon, and some weird antropomorphic characters, until he flew to America, and the paintings often feature the deserts, fantasy landscapes, many-colored rocks, and there's always a feeling of being inside an horrific dream, a feeling that something horrible is going to happen; in the first period his paintings reminds me of metaphysical paintings: strong shadows, dim lights, mild colors. In the American period, instead, his color palette was richer, with more vivid colors, more light, and the use of decalcomania, a technique that gives the painting a luxuriant texture.

 

I just felt in love with Dali...Salvador has always been one of my preferred artists because of his surrealist style. Each time I view his painting, I always seem to discover a new side that I have never seem before. His strange and wild imagination encourages a variability of interpretations to be made about the meaning behind his work. I appreciate how people can either just accept the art for its bizarre qualities or inspire people to find a deeper meaning.
Also Thomas Gainsborough is definitely one of my favorite British painters. His individual lyrical and dreamy style in painting enraptures me

 

In my opinion it's Zdzislaw Beksinski. His paintings are in the style of Utopian and Dystopian Surrealism. He is considered the best in manipulating light and that makes the paintings looks so beautifully strange. He really opens a whole new world to the viewer and the emotions of his paintings are very strong and deep.

 

You will probably get a different answer to everybody you ask,but since you are on the subject of surrealism, I would nominate Storm Thorgerson. Although not a painter, he started the album design company, "Hipgnosis". The final product was more of a surrealist photo,but they used a lot of drawings and sketches to get to that point.