The 20 quiz questions
Question 1 : The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! Mona Lisa indeed has no visible eyebrows. Some think they faded over time, others that it was the fashion of the era.
Question 2 : Pablo Picasso was French.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! Picasso was Spanish, born in Málaga in 1881. He lived most of his life in France but never changed nationality.
Question 3 : The Scream by Edvard Munch was stolen twice from the same museum.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! The painting was stolen from the National Museum of Oslo in 1994, then from the Munch Museum in 2004. Both works were recovered.
Question 4 : The Sistine Chapel was painted by Leonardo da Vinci.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! It was Michelangelo who painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512, commissioned by Pope Julius II.
Question 5 : Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi is the most expensive painting ever sold at auction.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! Sold for $450.3 million at Christie's in 2017, it holds the absolute record for an artwork sold at auction.
Question 6 : The Impressionist movement was born in Germany.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! Impressionism was born in France in the 1860s-1870s, with artists like Monet, Renoir, Degas, and Pissarro.
Question 7 : Frida Kahlo painted more self-portraits than any other subject.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! Of about 200 works, 55 are self-portraits. She said: "I paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best."
Question 8 : Banksy is an American artist.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! Banksy is British, probably from Bristol. His real identity remains a mystery, but he is confirmed as being English.
Question 9 : Van Gogh's Starry Night was painted from a psychiatric asylum.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! Van Gogh painted this masterpiece in June 1889 from his room at the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where he had committed himself.
Question 10 : Cubism was invented by Salvador Dalí.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! Cubism was founded by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque around 1907-1908. Dalí was a Surrealist, a movement that appeared later.
Question 11 : Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel standing up, not lying on his back.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! Contrary to legend, Michelangelo worked standing on scaffolding, head tilted back, which caused him terrible pain.
Question 12 : Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon depicts women from the city of Avignon in France.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! The title refers to a street in Barcelona's red-light district (Carrer d'Avinyó), not the French city. They are prostitutes.
Question 13 : Monet suffered from cataracts, which influenced his later works.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! His cataracts affected his color perception. His late Water Lilies show more red/yellow tones, reflecting his altered vision.
Question 14 : Marcel Duchamp's ready-made "Fountain" is an actual decorative fountain.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! "Fountain" (1917) is an overturned urinal signed "R. Mutt". This provocative work revolutionized the concept of art in the 20th century.
Question 15 : Vermeer painted only about 35 paintings in his entire career.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! Johannes Vermeer produced very few works (34-37 attributed). He worked slowly and methodically, hence the rarity of his paintings.
Question 16 : Surrealism appeared before Dadaism.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! Dadaism (1916) preceded Surrealism (1924). André Breton, founder of Surrealism, was first a Dadaist before creating his own movement.
Question 17 : Gauguin and Van Gogh lived together for two months in Arles.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! In 1888, they lived together in the "Yellow House" in Arles for 9 weeks. Their tumultuous relationship ended with the ear-cutting incident.
Question 18 : The Venus de Milo lost her arms during transport to the Louvre.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! The statue was already armless when discovered on the island of Milos in 1820. Her arms had disappeared long before, probably in antiquity.
Question 19 : Klein Blue (IKB) is a color patented by artist Yves Klein.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: TRUE! Yves Klein filed a patent in 1960 for International Klein Blue, an ultravivid ultramarine blue he used in his famous monochromes.
Question 20 : The Louvre is the oldest public museum in the world.
Possible answers:
- True
- False
Explanation: FALSE! The Louvre opened in 1793. The Vatican Museums (1506), British Museum (1759) and others preceded it. The oldest would be the Capitoline Museums (1471).
