An art material company based in the UK have revealed a series of maps revealing the most Googled artist in every country in the world and the results are fascinating. 

In a year when most people around the world have not been able to travel to see their favourite artists work, the team at Ken Bromley Art Supplies decided to try and understand which artists have been the most popular during the pandemic. The research was completed using Google Keyword Planner to discover which artists from years gone by to contemporary, were the most Googled in each country during 2020. 

Gareth Evans, a marketing manager for Ken Bromley Art Supplies said “I am fascinated by what people Google and what it tells us about what people are interested in. Carrying out this research allowed us to understand that centuries after his birth, Leonardo da Vinci is still having an impact on art and culture around the world”. 

Here in Qatar, we favoured Leonardo da Vinci as the artist we searched for the most. But why does the Italian artist have such a popularity here? 

Some of his popularity could be due to the Qatar National Library holding the ‘Leonardo da Vinci as Seen by his Contemporaries: Remarks about the Mona Lisa and Other Portraits’ event in 2019 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death and to discuss the early history and importance of da Vinci’s paintings.  

Marianna Gadaleta, an Italian teacher living in Qatar who attended the event, said: “What is really fascinating about the Library is how it welcomes everyone without any limitation. I am happy to see that an Italian artist is celebrated in Qatar at the national library and this is what is also making this place very unique.”

Dominance of Leonardo da Vinci over all World

As the research revealed, Leonardo da Vinci didn’t just win in Qatar, he was also the overall global winner, winning in 82 countries in total including in nearby Middle Eastern countries UAE, Oman, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.

His world fame comes from paintings such as the "Mona Lisa", which has been named the most famous painting of all time. The ‘Isleworth Mona Lisa’ is believed by some to be an earlier version of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece went on an exhibition tour around Asia as a bid to prove its authenticity. His "The Last Supper" painting is far and away the most reproduced religious painting in history. Da Vinci also made deep investigations in topics like zoology, botany, hydrodynamics, aerodynamics, geology, optics, human anatomy, and flight. He made unique and innovative sketches of machines that weren't available in his lifetime until many years later just like the parachute, helicopters, underwater breathing device, airplanes, and military tanks and so it becomes clear why he is so popular around the world.

Da Vinci Continuing to Make Headlines

Leonardo da Vinci and his work has also frequently made news headlines in the Middle East in recent years. In 2017, his painting of Jesus in Renaissance dress ‘Salvator Mundi’ become the most expensive painting ever sold at auction when it fetched over $450 million at a Christie's auction in New York. The bidder was anonymous at the time and the true owner is still debated. Officially, the buyer was Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud but it has been reported that he was a stand in buyer for Mohammed bin Salmon, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. 

In more recently years the mystery and secrecy of where and who owns the painting has been widely reported. Initially it was meant to be displayed at the Louvre in Paris in 2019 next to the famous ‘Mona Lisa’ painting, but this never happened. 

A month after the auction the Abu Dhabi culture department reported that they had acquired the painting and that it would be unveiled to the public in the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum, but it remains absent. 

Many people have also questioned and debated the authenticity of the painting and whether it was in fact painted by Leonardo da Vinci.

This helps to continue to keep Leonardo da Vinci’s legacy alive and in popular culture and makes it easier to understand why he is still the most Googled artist around the world and here in Qatar. 

To see the full list of the winning artist in each country, as well as the 7 maps which have been produced, visit the Ken Bromley Art Supplies blog.