Painting by Numbers

book by Komar and Melamid

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July 23, 2026

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"Painting by Numbers" is a book by Russian-born American artists Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid, documenting their international survey of aesthetic tastes in painting. The project, which began in 1993, involved polling people in several countries about their preferences in art. The results were posted online, and the duo created a website showcasing the "Most Wanted" and "Least Wanted" paintings by country.1

The survey revealed that most participants preferred recognizable objects over abstractions, with blue being the most favored color. Komar and Melamid, known for their SOTS Art movement, used this project to ironically comment on popular perceptions of art, contrasting with their earlier rejection of the Soviet government's officially endorsed style, Socialist Realism.12

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Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid
…with publication of their book Painting by Numbers, which documents their international survey of aesthetic tastes in painting. The project began in late 1993 when they hired a market research firm to poll people in several countries about their taste in art; they began posting the results on the World…
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…with publication of their book Painting by Numbers, which documents their international survey of aesthetic tastes in painting. The project began in late 1993 when they hired a market research firm to poll people in several countries about their taste in art; they began posting the results on the World…
Read More