For the past seven or so years, every day, sometimes as many as four times a day, a new artwork has been posted to the FolkArtwork Instagram page (currently sitting at 6,924 total posts as we speak!). And for the past few years, I’ve been delighted to see which works become the most popular and drive the crowds wild.
By popular, I mean garnered the most likes, and by crowd, I mean anyone and everyone who follows, interacts, likes, comments, and enjoys these posts.
What started as an interest of mine, not knowing a thing about self-taught or outsider art — hence the FolkArtwork handle — became a daily posting of my favorite artworks, which made me hoot and holler, and it still brings me joy years later knowing that many, many more people also enjoy these works.
subscribe to the b-b-bonus this week in outsider art newsletter to see the top posts from 30-16!!!
For the past week, I’ve been posting the top fifteen works posted from 2025. Quilts, pull toys, paintings, gravestones and more, with today marking the fourth most popular post of 2025 and culimnating with the most popular post of 2025 out on New Years’s Eve.
Stay tuned!
The most popular posts according to you…
1. Tibetan Tantra Rug
Tibetan Tantra rug with Buddhist symbolic skeletons surrounded by skulls and severed human heads alternating with crossed dorje (double tridents) symbols via @jozanmagazine / reddit
2. The Dove
HILMA AF KLINT The Dove, no. 9 (1915) // © Stiftelsen Hilma af Klints Verk (Photo: Albin Dahlström/Moderna Museet)
3. The Mowing Devil
The Mowing-Devil (1678) or the Earliest Known Depiction of a Crop Circle via @publicdomainrev
4. Sava Sekulić
SAVA SEKULIĆ The Army of Generals Franchet d’Espèrey (1976) // Oil on pasteboard; 72.5 x 61.5 cm via @zandercollectioncologne
6. Animals
MAKER UNIDENTIFIED Animals (1930) // Cotton, sateen; 23 in x 19 in (58 cm x 48 cm) via @internationalquiltmuseum
7. Joseph Carway Creations
@thinkitsover creations // paint on wood
8. Elizabeth Loveday
ELIZABETH LOVEDAY Oss, Oss and Oss (c. 2024-2025) // Textiles; approx 78cm x 78cm courtesy the artist @elizabeth.loveday.art
9. Winged Skull
ARTIST UNKNOWN Gravestone of Lucy Ulmer (c. 1796; Southern Maine) // Featuring rustic winged death head resembling a spider (photo credit Ron Romano)
10. Catacomb Saints
the “catacomb saints” — once-revered holy objects regarded by 16th- and 17th-century Catholics as local protectors and personifications of the glory of the afterlife (Photos via Paul Koudounaris / @hexenkult)
Per @atlasobscura
“The jeweled skeletons were originally found in catacombs beneath Rome in 1578, and distributed as replacements under the belief they were Christian martyrs to churches that had lost their saint relics in the Reformation. However, for most, their identities were not known.
The receiving churches then spent years covering the revered skeletal strangers with jewels and golden clothing, even filling their eye sockets and sometimes adorning their teeth with finery. Yet when the Enlightenment came around they became a little embarrassing for the sheer amount of money and excess they represented, and many were hidden away or disappeared.”
11. “I Am Sick Of Cooking”
NELLIE MAE ROWE This Kicthing Will Be Close Be Cause of illness (1982) // Crayon and pencil on paper; 7 inches x 9 inches via @highmuseumofart
12. Ian Felice
IAN FELICE Last Dance (2021) // Oil on linen via the artist @ian.felice
13. Manuel Jimenez Ramirez
MANUEL JIMENEZ RAMIREZ Dog (c. 1970) // Carved wood, original yellow-painted surface with polychrome; 6 1/2″ H, 8 1/2″ L via @jeffreysevansassociates
14. Cat Pull-Toy
ARTIST UNKNOWN Cat (ca. 1960; Mexico) // Wood, Paint; 3 3/8 x 3 3/8 x 6 7/8 in. (8.5 x 8.5 x 17.5 cm) via @museumofinternationalfolkart
15. International Quilt Museum
MAKER UNIDENTIFIED Bunnies (1933; United States) // Appliqued, Hand; 48 in x 40.25 in (122 cm x 102 cm) via @internationalquiltmuseum
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