The Times Top 200 Artists of the 20th Century to Now

Sixteen weeks after we invited you to have your say, the votes are in — all 1.4 million of them. Here, we reveal the results of our poll, in conjunction with the Saatchi, to discover who you think are the greatest artists working since 1900

Charles Saatchi's verdict I Tracey Emin's favourite I Jack Vettriano's favourite

At first glance, the results of this poll may seem rather predictable — but the longer you look, the more telling the quirks and anomalies become. This is precisely its point. It’s not there to agree with. It is there to argue against.

Several artists would seem to be enormously overrated. What is Martin Kippenburger doing in the Top 20, rated above Rothko and Schiele and Klee? It feels like a blip — which is probably appropriate for a radical who likes to barge in irreverently. Frida Kahlo does not merit her top spot of 19. How can this solipsistic painting by-numbers-style recorder of her own misery be placed above Munch, with his otherworldly scream? She probably represents the woman’s vote. But then, why not put Louise Bourgeois far higher — that septuagenarian who, rummaging about in the rag-and-bone shop of the heart, has had so pervasive an influence on future generations?

Influence, perhaps, is not adequately reflected in this list. Andy Warhol, who stamped the patterns of postmodernism, comes only eighth when the delightful but pre-eminently decorative Gustav Klimt comes in third. Do we, at heart, not appreciate the conceptual? Do we prefer a nice painting to a muddle of ideas? Marcel Duchamp, the father of the conceptual, is rated only fifth — and Richard Hamilton and Gilbert and George, so profoundly influential on their peers, come in at 97 and 130. For the significance of their work, both should make the top quarter.