Best Diptych

Albrecht Dürer's Four Apostles is a pair of oil paintings completed in 1526, depicting John, Peter, Paul, and Mark as monumental figures. The work was presented by Dürer as a gift to the city council of Nuremberg during the Protestant Reformation, though it contains no explicit religious narrative....

Adam and Eve is a pair of oil-on-panel paintings completed by German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer in 1507. The panels depict the biblical first humans at life size as idealized nude figures, showcasing Dürer's study of human proportion influenced by classical antiquity. Originally created for a...

Late Roman ivory diptych (c. 400 AD) made for the pagan aristocratic Symmachi and Nicomachi families, among the finest surviving examples of late antique ivory carving, now split between London and Paris.

Completed in 1634 by Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt van Rijn, these full-length pendant portraits depict the newly married Amsterdam couple Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit. The life-sized paintings are notable for their detailed rendering of the subjects' opulent black silk clothing and Rembra...

The Diptych of Empress Ariadne is an early Byzantine ivory carving dating to approximately 500 CE, currently housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. It portrays Ariadne, the Byzantine empress consort to Emperors Zeno and Anastasius I, standing in an imperial posture. The two-paneled artwor...

John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” and “Paradise Regained” are two epic poems published between 1667 and 1671. “Paradise Lost” recounts the biblical story of Satan’s rebellion and Adam and Eve's fall from grace, exploring themes of good versus evil and human nature. “Paradise Regained” portrays a later s...

Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych presents two panels featuring a vibrant, repeated portrait of Marilyn Monroe. Created in 1962 using silkscreen printing, it is notable for its exploration of celebrity and mass production within the Pop Art movement. The work utilizes stark color contrasts and layered i...

Two Figures is a 1953 painting by British artist Francis Bacon depicting two nude male bodies locked together on a bed in a dark, enclosed room. Bacon drew the figures' physical configuration from Eadweard Muybridge's photographic studies of wrestlers, transforming the source through blurred contour...

Shakespeare’s *Henry IV Parts 1 & 2* explores the political instability and personal struggles surrounding King Henry IV of England during the late 16th century. The plays chronicle his efforts to maintain order amidst rebellion, alongside the development of Prince Hal, a pivotal character grappling...

The Pieter Gillis and Erasmus Diptych is a pair of oil-on-panel portraits painted in 1517 by Flemish artist Quentin Matsys. The work portrays the humanist scholar Erasmus of Rotterdam alongside his friend Pieter Gillis, who served as town clerk of Antwerp. Commissioned as a friendship gift for Engli...

Painted in 1529 by Lucas Cranach the Elder, this diptych features paired portraits of Protestant reformer Martin Luther and his wife, former nun Katharina von Bora. The oil-on-panel paintings were originally commissioned by Johann the Constant and later copied extensively by the Cranach workshop. Th...

The Diptych of Laurent Froimont is an early Netherlandish religious and portrait painting created by Rogier van der Weyden around 1460. Executed in oil on oak panel, the left wing depicts Laurent Froimont, a treasurer of the Order of the Golden Fleece, in prayer, while the right wing features the Vi...

The Wilton Diptych is a medieval devotional panel-painting from approximately 1395. It features King Richard II of England presented in both regal and clerical attire. Crafted in the International Gothic style, this diptych showcases exceptional detail and artistry typical of late medieval religious...

*Going Forth By Day* is a large-scale, five-channel digital video installation created by American artist Bill Viola in 2002. Commissioned by the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin, the work takes its name from the ancient Egyptian funerary text commonly known as the Book of the Dead. The installation ut...

Rogier van der Weyden's Crucifixion Diptych (c. 1460), in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is distinguished by its striking red and white grounds and the intensely expressive grief of the mourning figures.

These diptych leaves, created around 1324-28 by Jean Pucelle, represent sections from a Book of Hours commissioned for Jeanne d’Evreux. The panels depict devotional scenes intended for personal prayer and reflection. They are notable examples of late medieval illumination within a Gothic style and w...

The Grandison Diptych is an English Gothic ivory devotional carving dating to the early 14th century, associated with Bishop John de Grandison of Exeter (died 1369). Ivory diptychs of this type served as personal devotional objects for wealthy clerics and lay worshippers in late medieval Europe. The...

Observance is a 2002 video installation by American artist Bill Viola, created as part of his 'Passions' series. Filmed in slow motion, the work depicts a procession of figures filing past an unseen focal point, their expressions conveying varied states of grief and contemplation. Viola drew inspira...

Two Studies for Self-Portrait is a 1977 oil-on-canvas diptych by Irish-British painter Francis Bacon. The work presents the artist's face in two separate panels, a format Bacon used to examine his own image from different perspectives. Bacon produced numerous self-portraits throughout his career, an...

This 6th-century ivory panel, known as the Barberini Ivory, offers a unique glimpse into late-antique Byzantine culture. Crafted from ivory, it likely depicts an imperial procession or triumph, representing one of the few surviving examples of such imagery from that era. The piece’s exceptional pres...

This ivory diptych, dating to approximately 400 AD, represents a scene of pagan sacrifice from the Roman Empire. Crafted during the Late Roman period, it offers a rare glimpse into religious practices and artistic styles of the time. The work is notable for its technical skill and reflects evolving...

Ken Moody and Robert Sherman’s diptych presents a stark portrait pairing. The 1984 work features photographer Robert Mapplethorpe alongside artist Ken Moody. It offers a direct visual comparison of two significant figures in late 20th-century art—Mapplethorpe known for his photographic style and Moo...

Francis Bacon’s “August 1972” is a diptych executed in oil on canvas. The work reflects intense emotional turmoil stemming from the artist's grief following the suicide of his companion George Dyer. Its distorted figures and unsettling palette capture a profound sense of anguish and isolation, chara...

This diptych, created around 1487 by Hans Memling, features portraits of Benedetto Portinari and Maria Baroncelli. The work exemplifies Flemish panel painting with meticulous detail, particularly in its depiction of Florentine clothing and jewelry. It was commissioned by the influential Medici famil...

Blue Black is a notable two-panel hard-edge painting created in 1962 by the American abstract artist Ellsworth Kelly. The work consists of two distinct rectangular canvases—one painted blue and the other black—placed adjacent to one another to form a single composition. It exemplifies Kelly's signat...

Joan Mitchell's Two Sunflowers is an abstract oil-on-canvas diptych created in 1980 by the American Abstract Expressionist painter. The artwork reflects her sustained dialogue with Vincent van Gogh's iconic sunflower imagery, translating the floral subject into her characteristically vigorous, gestu...

Bill Viola's Surrender (2001) is a video diptych from his Passions series in which two figures appear immersed in and reflected by water, evoking themes of spiritual transformation and self-dissolution.

"Two Studies for a Self-Portrait" is a 1986 oil on canvas diptych by the Irish-born British figurative painter Francis Bacon. Created when the artist was in his late seventies, the work presents two closely cropped views of his aging face emerging from a dark, formless background. The painting exemp...

The Morgan Diptych is a portable devotional object made of carved ivory, dating to the mid-14th century and originating in France. Currently housed in the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, it is a prime example of the intricate Gothic ivory carving that flourished in medieval Paris. The hinged pa...