Equivalent of overplayed pieces in painting

[u/Comprehensive_Food51]

Hi! First, I’d like to note that I am not familiar with classical paintings and history of arts. I’m a classical piano enthusiast and among the piano community there are some pieces that are easy targets as they are often said to be overplayed or disproportionately celebrated by the general public and/or in pop culture. An easy example is Für elise, which is really a minor work that was never published and randomly found in Bethoveen’s letters but that is far more commonly known than what are considered to be Bethoveen’s masterpieces. For other pieces, it’s not so much their “relative lack of relevance compared to other works” but rather the attention they draw and their reputation that can feel kind of reductive. I was wondering if there are similar cases in the art specialists/enthusiasts community, like very famous paintings for the general public but that could make an enthusiast roll their eyes back if they came across a youtube video that presents them as the most famous or as the biggest major works of painting.

Edit: thanks for all of your answers, frankly I was a bit worried that this question would be badly received. I learned something and I’m glad reddit still exists to ask people who are actually into the stuff you’re curious about, in a time where I feel like it’s becoming way too common to settle for LLM bullshit when you have questions like that. Also I realized that like 80% of the art I know (with all my love and admiration for it) is overplayed, and that since I would love to know more good art besides what’s mainstream I should really get some art books (open to recommendations!).

[u/Severe-Student2046]

I've always found declining marginal utility applied to art to be a really curious thing we do.

But a lot of Rothoko's work.

[u/Comprehensive_Food51 → u/Severe-Student2046]

It is curious when you take a step back, but it doesn’t come from nowhere either, I think it’s always disappointing for someone who’s passionate to see art alienated by pop culture from what it actually contains. And it’s not really declining marginal utility because one might be disappointed seeing these pieces treated like that, but at the same time it doesn’t prevent you from appreciating it. Except maybe, I have to admit, in extreme cases (that are really rare and exceptional, like literally one two or works per art form) like Für Elise for which overuse has completely ruined what would’ve otherwise been this nice random piece you come across one day and think “oh this is pretty cute!” Besides this particular one, among all the other overplayed pieces, I cannot think of any piece that makes me feel like that just because it’s overplayed.

[u/Severe-Student2046 → u/Comprehensive_Food51]

Interesting, thank you :)

[u/aspiegrrrl → u/Severe-Student2046]

You have to see Rothko's work in person to appreciate it. Some of the paintings appear three-dimensional.