Creating a comprehensive list of the top 100 American painters from the last 100 years is a significant undertaking. Here is a curated list that spans diverse artistic movements and styles, organized alphabetically to ensure variety across realism, abstraction, conceptualism, and contemporary art.
Top 100 Masters of American Painters (Last 100 Years)
A-D
- Alice Neel (1900 1984)
- Andrew Wyeth (1917 2009)
- Anne Truitt (1921 2004)
- Archibald Motley (1891 1981)
- Barkley L. Hendricks (1945 2017)
- Basquiat, Jean-Michel (1960 1988)
- Bearden, Romare (1911 1988)
- Benny Andrews (1930 2006)
- Beverly Buchanan (1940 2015)
- Charles White (1918 1979)
- Chuck Close (1940 2021)
- Cy Twombly (1928 2011)
- David Hammons (b. 1943)
- Dorothea Tanning (1910 2012)
E-H
- Ed Ruscha (b. 1937)
- Edward Hopper (1882 1967)
- Elaine de Kooning (1918 1989)
- Elizabeth Murray (1940 2007)
- Ellsworth Kelly (1923 2015)
- Eva Hesse (1936 1970)
- Fairfield Porter (1907 1975)
- Faith Ringgold (b. 1930)
- George Tooker (1920 2011)
- Georgia O’Keeffe (1887 1986)
- Grace Hartigan (1922 2008)
- Hans Hofmann (1880 1966)
- Helen Frankenthaler (1928 2011)
- Horace Pippin (1888 1946)
I-L
- Jacob Lawrence (1917 2000)
- James Turrell (b. 1943)
- Janet Sobel (1893 1968)
- Jasper Johns (b. 1930)
- Joan Mitchell (1925 1992)
- Judy Chicago (b. 1939)
- Julie Mehretu (b. 1970)
- Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977)
- Kerry James Marshall (b. 1955)
- Lee Bontecou (1931 2022)
- Louise Bourgeois (1911 2010)
- Louise Nevelson (1899 1988)
- Lucian Freud (1922 2011)
- Lyonel Feininger (1871 1956)
M-P
- Mark Bradford (b. 1961)
- Mark Rothko (1903 1970)
- Marsden Hartley (1877 1943)
- Martin Puryear (b. 1941)
- Mary Cassatt (1844 1926)
- Mickalene Thomas (b. 1971)
- Milton Avery (1885 1965)
- Morris Graves (1910 2001)
- Nancy Spero (1926 2009)
- Norman Bluhm (1921 1999)
- Norman Lewis (1909 1979)
- Norman Rockwell (1894 1978)
- Philip Guston (1913 1980)
- Pollock, Jackson (1912 1956)
R-T
- Ralph Goings (1928 2016)
- Raymond Saunders (b. 1934)
- Red Grooms (b. 1937)
- Richard Diebenkorn (1922 1993)
- Richard Estes (b. 1932)
- Robert Colescott (1925 2009)
- Robert Indiana (1928 2018)
- Robert Mangold (b. 1937)
- Robert Motherwell (1915 1991)
- Robert Rauschenberg (1925 2008)
- Romare Bearden (1911 1988)
- Roy Lichtenstein (1923 1997)
- Sam Gilliam (1933 2022)
- Stuart Davis (1892 1964)
U-Z
- Theaster Gates (b. 1973)
- Thomas Hart Benton (1889 1975)
- Tom Wesselmann (1931 2004)
- Walton Ford (b. 1960)
- Wayne Thiebaud (1920 2021)
- William H. Johnson (1901 1970)
- William Merritt Chase (1849 1916)
- Winslow Homer (1836 1910)
- Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1893 1953)
- Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929, Japanese-American Influence)
This list spans notable pioneers of American Realism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, and contemporary figurative movements. Let me know if you’d like more details on any artist!