Question 1: It’s World Art Day and Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday. Which painting is by Leonardo?
A The Last Supper
B The Persistence of Memory
C Girl with a Pearl Earring
Leonardo da Vinci, a genius of the High Renaissance, is renowned for his mastery in art, science, and engineering. ‘The Last Supper,’ one of his most famous works, covers a wall in a dining hall at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. The painting was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, who was Leonardo’s patron at the time.
Correct Answer: The Last Supper
Question 2: Which artist was a pioneer of the Cubism art movement?
A Jean-Michel Basquiat
B Andy Warhol
C Pablo Picasso
Cubism is an avant-garde art movement that began in Paris in the early 1900s. Pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, this movement changed the way art was seen. Instead of painting objects realistically, Cubist artists broke them into geometric shapes and showed multiple perspectives at once. Picasso’s ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ is considered the first Cubist painting. The artwork is housed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Correct Answer: Pablo Picasso
Question 3: The world’s most valuable stolen painting is …
A Van Gogh’s ‘Poppy Flowers’
B Vermeer’s ‘The Concert’
C Manet’s ‘Chez Tortoni’
Johannes Vermeer’s ‘The Concert’ (c. 1664) portrays two women and a man making music in an intimate domestic setting. In the background, Baburen’s ‘The Procuress’ hangs on the wall. In 1892, American collector Isabella Stewart Gardner purchased it for $5,000 at a Paris auction. Nearly a century later, in 1990, the painting was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Its whereabouts are still unknown, and today it is estimated to be worth $250 million.
Correct Answer: Vermeer’s ‘The Concert’