3 Most Famous Sculptures in the World
- The Great Sphinx of Giza in the Giza Necropolis, Egypt
- David by Michelangelo in Florence, Italy
- Statue of Liberty in New York, United States of America
Listing the best or most famous of anything is really a dangerous game to play. It creates controversy, disagreement, and often even – for some reason – anger, and inevitably, something gets left out.
Yet, in the world of sculpture, there are some works that really just define particular moments in art history and sculptural history. Some are just so important that they can’t be overlooked. And there are others that, although not hugely significant artistically speaking, are recognisable by everyone at a moment’s glance, which is what we'll be exploring in this article.
🔨The Impact of Sculpture
The notion of ‘impact’ in terms of sculpture really sheds light on an interesting aspect of this art form. And that is that statues, sculptural works, carvings, and figurines are not limited to the realm of ‘art’. Artworks are not just innocently expressive works of beauty, regardless of their timeline.
Whether they're from prehistoric civilizations to antiquity, from the classical period to contemporary, the epitome of a successful sculpture in the form of monumental works of public visual art is that the fact that we all recognize them.
Elements embedded in sculptures
- Power and prestige
- Cultural and national identity
- Spirituality
Reasons behind creating sculptures
- Pure beauty and aesthetics
- Memorialisation and glorification
- Practical use
In recent years, the art of sculpting has evolved alongside its impact and purposes. For instance, many current sculptors are more keen on having temporary exhibitions in different cities, and adopt various new art techniques in their designs.
Sculpture is the art of the intelligence.
Pablo Picasso
🐫 The Great Sphinx of Giza
Whilst not the earliest of ancient sculptures – with the sculptures and figurines of the Palaeolithic and Upper Palaeolithic and from Mesopotamia, the Sphinx is one of the most recognisable sculptures to have ever existed. This statue from ancient Egypt is also one of the iconic images of the ancient world.
The Sphinx is a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. In this instance, its face is believed to represent Pharaoh Khafre, who reigned between 2558 and 2532 BC.
It’s thought to be both a figure for the worship of the sun. Yet, the fact that its face represents the Pharaoh shows the intertwinement of secular power and spirituality.
Right from the beginning of sculpture, then, you see these colossal images being used for lots of different purposes.
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🌿Statue of Zeus at Olympia
This one is a bit of a controversial one. Because, in the history of western art, this may be one of the most influential sculptures, but it is also one that we have never seen (not by anyone alive today!) One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, this sculpture was apparently over forty feet tall and made of gold and ivory.
The statue was made in Ancient Greece by the sculptor, Phidias, one of the most important names in Greek sculpture. His influence on the art world has been huge: he is considered one of the major influences on Hellenistic sculptural design, and his work influences all Greek and Roman art after him.
The figurative sculpture depicted Zeus, the king of the Greek deities who sat upon a large throne. Art historians believe that the temple in which the statue sat was destroyed by fire in the fourth century, with the statue itself irremediably damaged.
🪽Niké of Samothrace
Of all the masterpieces of ancient art that still survive, there are few that are more influential for the arts up until today. The Niké of Samothrace is a sculpture in the round depicting the Greek goddess of victory, Niké. It got its full name because it was discovered on the island of Samothrace, a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea.
There are a huge number of replicas of this sculpture in parks and the odd museum of art across the world. But the real sculpture is situated in the Louvre Museum, Paris.
Even though the sculpture is headless today, it represents the peak of figurative sculpture of the ancient art world. And what makes it particularly interesting is that it is one of the few Greek sculptures that survives, rather than just a replica from Roman art.
In itself, it is a beautiful sculpture that makes the most of the three dimensions that characterise the form. Rather than mere relief sculptures, the Niké of Samothrace is a freestanding sculpture, which is a unique form of its own as it engages with the space around it in a way which can be viewed from different sides.
♟Lewis Chessmen
If you play chess or you're a fan of The Queen's Gambit, this distinctive sculpture might interest you. The Lewis Chessmen are probably the most famous representatives of the sculptural tradition that existed in Europe outside of the Romanesque tradition that led to the Italian Renaissance.
The chess pieces are beautiful examples of small sculpture and are thought to have been made by sculptors in Trondheim, Norway. However, they were discovered on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, hence the name.
Depicting the whole team of chessmen, the pieces are believed to be made of walrus ivory and whales’ teeth. Currently, the British Museum has 82 pieces, whereas the National Museum of Scotland has 11 pieces, with the remaining pieces still missing and waiting to be discovered.
In 2019, a lost Lewis Chessman piece was discovered in the drawer of an Edinburgh home. It had been passed down as a family heirloom since the 1960s when it was first bought at the price of only £5! Nonetheless, this medieval piece caused a sensation when it was sold for a high price at a Sotheby’s auction in London. Can you guess how much it was sold for?
🪴Porcelain Garden by Vladimir Kanevsky
At first glance, you'll might mistake the lifelike porcelain flower sculptures exhibited at the Frick Museum as actual flowers. A masterpiece collection by Ukraine-born architect turn sculptor, Vladimir Kanevsky, Porcelain Garden is fully hand-sculpted and painted to celebrate the reopening of Frick Collection in New York City in April 2025.
Known for his keen observation of European flowers and his knowledge of structural engineering to stabilise the floral sculpture while using various porcelain and sculpting techniques, flowers quickly became the main characters of Kanevsky's sculpting career.
In Porcein Garden, every featured floral sculpture tells a story which reflects the paintings of each room and complements the overall ambience of the deco. Some examples of the floral exhibition include:
🌸 Hydrangea in the Breakfast Room
🌸 Lilac in the Dining Room
🌸 Lilies of the Valley in the Boucher Room
🌸 Lemon tree in the Garden Court
🌸 Cherry Blossoms in the Oval Room
🌸 Pomegranate Plant in the Gold-Grounds Room
Important note: The installation of these flower sculptures will remain on view at the Frick Museum until September 2025, unless otherwise announced.
🏛️David
To modern and contemporary eyes, Michelangelo’s figure sculpture, David, may well be the most recognised representational piece ever to have existed. In the period of Donatello and Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo pushed the art of sculpture to its most beautifully naturalistic, elegant, and anatomically accurate.
I created a vision of David in my mind and simply carved away everything that was not David.
Michelangelo
Made of white marble, the statue was admired by artists and painters. It has influenced all types of outdoor sculpture and religious sculpture since. A classicist in style, Michelangelo developed the ways of doing sculpture that would influence everyone up to contemporary artists. And if you don’t know this sculpture, you’ve got a lot to learn!
🕯️Ecstasy of Santa Teresa
Capturing and taking to their zenith, the Baroque principles of design, the Ecstasy of Santa Teresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini rests in a church in Rome, Santa Maria della Vittoria. It has been a huge influence on modern art with its use of dynamism, characters in movement, and its engagement with its surrounding space. The subject and inspiration of the sculpture come from The Life of Teresa of Jesus, based on Saint Teresa’s vision as described in her autobiography, where she recounts a mystical encounter with an angel.
The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa was a deeply meaningful project for Bernini, especially as he had recently fallen out of favor with Pope Innocent X, resulting in a career slump. He was later commissioned by Cardinal Federico Cornaro, a famous patron from the famous Cornaro family, to design his burial chapel. This chapel, now known as the Cornaro Chapel, ultimately became the setting for The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.
Wealthy and influential individuals like royalties, noble families, wealthy merchants and religious institutions often commission artists to promote arts, religion, family prestige, and culture. Notable examples include the Medicci family and the Catholic Church.
To create a theatrical stage effect, Bernini sculpted marble portraits of members of the Cornaro family in opera box-like settings, where they appear to be watching the scene unfold like a dramatic performance. Meanwhile, learn more about history's most famous sculpture artists!
⛲Trevi Fountain
Remaining in Rome, the Trevi Fountain needs to have a place in this list. With its equestrian figures, gushing streams, and powerful swirling lines, this mammoth water feature is the most famous fountain in the world.
However, as this piece is not in an art museum or one of the city’s cathedrals but rather in the centre of town. It's no surprise it is often heaving with selfie-stick-wielding tourists capturing its gorgeous whiteness.
It is a piece of public art, commissioned originally by the Pope, and the resulting design was chosen through a competition. Again, this is a sculpture used to show off prestige and power. Yet, given that the whole thing was influenced by the genius Bernini, it’s at least quite a stunning testament to wealth. Today, this fountain is well known for a coin-throwing tradition as a good luck symbol.
🤰Nanas by Niki de Saint Phalle
Inspired by her pregnant friend, Niki de Saint Phalle, a French-American artist, incorporated the concept of collages to create vibrant, larger-than-life sculptures. Nana, which is a nickname for girls in French mark a celebration of femininity, strength, and most importantly, a revolutionary design outlook which portrays women in different body sizes and colours.
Over the years, the Nana sculptures have appeared in various forms and have gained international recognition since their debut in 1965. Some Nanas have travelled the world as part of art exhibitions, while others have become permanent public installations such as the Guardian Angel (L'Ange Protecteur) at Zurich’s train station and the trio of Nanas in Hanover, Germany.
If you haven’t seen these vibrant sculptures in person, there is a current exhibition titled "Myths & Machines" featuring the Nanas. It runs from May 2025 to February 2026 at Hauser & Wirth, Somerset, England.
⭐Grounded in the Stars
Let's review another unique contemporary public art which features a woman. Grounded in the Stars is a 12-foot bronze statue by British artist Thomas J Price, which depicts an anonymous black woman in regular clothing. The statue was unveiled in Times Square, New York, in April 2025, and the character was constructed based on the artist's observations of different people and images in cities like London and Los Angeles.
Grounded in the Stars creates a cultural conversation as it marks a symbolic presence of highlighting the depiction of black women in a public art space. Additionally, the sculpture also pays a subtle homage to Michelangelo's iconic statue, David, through the statue's overall stance — bridging the gap between sculpture history.
💋Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss
One of our personal favourites in this list is the marble sculpture by Antonio Canova known as Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss. Depicting the Greek gods in passionate movement, Canova’s statue is absolutely representative of the neoclassical and emerging Romantic movements of his age.
Do you know that two sculptures were made? Canova created two almost identical marble sculptures. The first version is located in the Louvre, Paris, while the second one is located at the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
The sculpture is inspired by the story of Cupid and Psyche from The Golden Ass, a Latin novel by Lucius Apuleius' Latin novel. It is famous for having no single preferred viewpoint, with action happening from all different perspectives.
🗽Statue of Liberty
In terms of sculpture as a public art project, the Statue of Liberty (Full name: Liberty Enlightening the World) is the most iconic, the most politically explicit, and the most famous. It involved two key French designers: Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor, and Gustave Eiffel (yes, that Eiffel), who engineered its metal framework.
The significance of the French designers lies in the fact that the statue was a gift from France to the United States, celebrating the 100th anniversary of American independence and serving as a symbolic token of friendship.
Standing on Liberty Island at the entrance to the docks of New York, this site-specific work was intended to remind visitors and immigrants arriving by boat of the central values of the United States of America.
🙏Christ the Redeemer
Rio de Janeiro’s famous image of Christ is one of the seven wonders of the modern world. Standing high above the Brazilian city, this statue, like the Statue of Liberty in a way, communicates the values and ideals of the country in which it is placed.
📍Exact location: Top of Mount Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro
📍Material: Soapstone and reinforced concrete
📍Measurements: 30m high, 28m wide (arm stretch)
📍Year of completion: 1931
📍How to reach the feet of the statue: Climbing steps, using escalators and elevators
🧠The Thinker
Probably the most influential sculptor of the last two centuries, Auguste Rodin (the father of modern sculpture ) brought modernism to sculpture and developed the artistic language that would go on to influence all aspects of abstract sculpture and contemporary sculpture.
The Thinker is his most famous work, depicting a man sitting with his chin on his hand. It has many versions located worldwide, but the original version is now in the Musée Rodin in Paris.
Whilst Rodin himself didn’t experiment with medium and material as much as his successors would, his impressionistic style took the pompous posing out of the art for good.
And while, when we think of twentieth-century sculpture, we might immediately think of Pablo Picasso and Brancusi, Rodin is where it all began.
Did you know that this sculpture was originally named The Poet? Rodin based this sculpture on the famous Italian poet, philosopher and writer, Dante Alighieri, who wrote The Divine Comedy.
🧑🎨Explore The Sculpture Landscape in Canada With Superprof
We hope you are inspired by the beauty of the above sculptures and the story behind each of them. If you're interested to learn more about sculpting as a beginner or taking classes on the history of sculpture during the Renaissance, Roman sculpture, and Greek sculpture, you can always hire an art tutor on Superprof.
Whether you are looking for classes for kids or adults, you can find an experienced and qualified art tutor to take your skills to the next level through one-to-one tutoring in the comfort of your home. Just head to the Superprof homepage to start reviewing the tutors' profiles. After going through the essential information, you can proceed to book your first lesson with your desired tutor.
Have fun exploring the art of sculpting!
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