Le Penseur | Auguste Rodin | 1902 Originally entitled The Poet, Rodin's inspiration for his world-renowned statue came from Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy," in which The Thinker represents the epic poem's author and protagonist pondering his writing in front of the Gate of Hell. The nude figure was inspired by the nude statues of Michelangelo and has come to symbolize intellect.

Norwegian artist Edvard Munch painted a series of painting featuring an agonized person against a red/orange sky. He claims to have been inspired while on a walk with two friends near Oslo in which he noticed the blood red of the sky as he continued walking alone and then felt an "infinite scream passing through nature."

De Sterrennacht | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 Arguably van Gogh's most memorable work, The Starry Night represents the sky as viewed outside of van Gogh's sanatorium though he painted the masterpiece during the day from memory. Van Gogh once wrote to his brother Theo that death was the vehicle by which one reached the stars - tragic yet insightful.

School of Athens | Raphael | 1509 One of the world's most famous frescoes, the School of Athens features several of history's best philosophers, scholars, and scientists engaging in what we can only assume must be intellectual conversations that sparked the foundation of our modern understanding of the world. Housed in the Vatican, the School of Athens symbolizes the importance of free and creative thinking to understand the human experience.

One of several prints created by the Japanese artist Hokusai, The Great Wave of Kanagawa shares something in common with the 35 other prints with which it first appeared: the presence of Mount Fuji in the image. In addition, although often thought to be a tsunami wave threatening boaters in the water, the wave pictured is actually thought to be an okinami, or a wave generated by high winds.