The Canon

The Canon

The important thinkers in high culture — from Homer to Stravinsky. Literature, philosophy, visual arts, and music across twenty-seven centuries.

235 figures — 80 in literature & philosophy, 88 in visual arts, 67 in music

Literature & Philosophy
Visual Arts & Architecture
Music & Performing Arts

Ancient Greece & Rome

800 BC – 400 AD
800–500 BC
HomerSapphoHesiodThalesAnaximanderPythagorasHeraclitus
500–300 BC
AeschylusSophoclesEuripidesPlatoAristotlePhidiasAristophanesPindarThucydidesParmenidesEmpedoclesDemocritus
300 BC – 400 AD
VirgilOvidCiceroHoraceSenecaMarcus AureliusPlotinusLucretiusVitruviusPlutarch

Late Antiquity & Medieval

400 – 1400 AD
400–800
Augustine of HippoBoethius
800–1200
Hildegard of Bingen
1200–1400
Thomas AquinasDante AlighieriPetrarchGiottoGuillaume de MachautBoccaccioCimabueArnolfo di CambioDuccioSimone MartiniOrcagnaGeoffrey Chaucer

Renaissance

1400 – 1600 AD
1400–1500
BrunelleschiDonatelloJosquin des PrezBotticelliLorenzo GhibertiMasaccioFra AngelicoPaolo UccelloPiero della FrancescaLeon Battista AlbertiAndrea MantegnaGiovanni BelliniVerrocchioDomenico GhirlandaioPeruginoFra Filippo LippiLuca SignorelliJan van EyckHieronymus Bosch
1500–1600
Leonardo da VinciMichelangeloRaphaelShakespeareMontaigneMonteverdiPalestrinaTitianMachiavelliErasmusThomas TallisOrlando di LassoWilliam ByrdTomas Luis de VictoriaJohn DowlandCarlo GesualdoAndrea del SartoCorreggioGiorgioneBenvenuto CelliniTintorettoVeroneseLudovico AriostoTorquato TassoFrancois RabelaisChristopher MarloweEdmund SpenserAlbrecht DurerLucas Cranach the ElderHans Holbein the YoungerPieter Bruegel the ElderAndrea Palladio

Baroque & Enlightenment

1600 – 1800 AD
1600–1700
CervantesCaravaggioRembrandtVelázquezMiltonPascalDescartesBerniniVermeerSpinozaJean-Baptiste LullyArcangelo CorelliHenry PurcellFrancois CouperinAntonio VivaldiMoliereJean RacinePeter Paul RubensNicolas PoussinClaude LorrainEl GrecoFrans HalsGeorges de La TourJacob van Ruisdael
1700–1800
J.S. BachMozartKantHumeVoltaireRousseauHandelHaydnGluckJean-Philippe RameauDomenico ScarlattiGeorg Philipp TelemannC.P.E. BachJonathan SwiftSamuel JohnsonFriedrich SchillerAntoine WatteauGiambattista TiepoloJean-Simeon ChardinWilliam HogarthGiovanni Battista PiranesiAntonio CanovaJean-Honore FragonardCanalettoThomas GainsboroughGeorge StubbsSir Joshua Reynolds

Romanticism & 19th Century

1800 – 1900 AD
1800–1850
BeethovenGoetheHegelSchubertChopinSchopenhauerBalzacDelacroixTurnerCarl Maria von WeberGioachino RossiniGaetano DonizettiHector BerliozFelix MendelssohnRobert SchumannFranz LisztStendhalAlexander PushkinCharles DickensGiacomo LeopardiFrancisco GoyaJacques-Louis DavidJean-Auguste-Dominique IngresJohn ConstableCaspar David FriedrichWilliam Blake
1850–1900
WagnerVerdiDostoevskyTolstoyNietzscheKierkegaardMonetCézanneBrahmsFlaubertTchaikovskyDvorakRodinAnton BrucknerBedrich SmetanaCesar FranckGeorges BizetModest MussorgskyRimsky-KorsakovGabriel FaureEdward ElgarHugo WolfCharles BaudelaireHenrik IbsenAnton ChekhovGustave CourbetEdouard ManetEdgar DegasVincent van GoghPaul GauguinJean-Francois MilletJames McNeill WhistlerPierre-Auguste RenoirToulouse-LautrecGeorges Seurat

Fin de Siècle & Early Modernism

1900 – 1920 AD
1900–1920
MahlerRichard StraussDebussyPucciniProustThomas MannRilkeKlimtStravinskyHenry JamesMatisseJean SibeliusErik SatieSergei RachmaninoffArnold SchoenbergMaurice RavelBela BartokAnton WebernAlban BergSergei ProkofievFrancis PoulencDmitri ShostakovichOlivier MessiaenBenjamin BrittenFranz KafkaW.B. YeatsJoseph ConradEdvard Munch