60 Unbelievable Artist Trivia Questions: How Many Can You Answer?

Artists tend to be interesting and unique individuals, often bordering on eccentric.

This is why art trivia questions and answers can be a brilliant game to play in a gathering where there are many art history trivia enthusiasts!

Facts about famous artists and paintings may surprise you since the world of art is an extremely creative and innovative place. Some of these weird art facts may bring your gathering to tears in laughter, or shock you all. Here are some trivia questions and answers about the most interesting art history facts. For more questions on art and literature, check out our book trivia and Shakespeare trivia.

Human beings have been creating art for a very long time, and we have found evidence of cave paintings that date back to the prehistoric era - that's over 20,000 years old! Read to find a few trivia questions and answers about ancient art.

1. Question: Which god is featured in the Mesopotamian work "Code of Hammurabi", created around BC 1792?

Answer: Shabash, a Mesopotamian god.

2. Question: In which culture do you find Fayum Mummy Paintings?

Answer: In Roman Egyptian culture, the deceased from the upper-class could afford a painted wood portrait to commemorate themselves, called the Fayum Mummy Portraits.

3. Question: Who is often credited as a pioneer of the Gothic architecture movement?

Answer: Abbot Suger.

4. Question: Which is the oldest illuminated manuscript that features the gospels?

Answer: "The Book of Durrow".

5. Question: The voluptuous sculpture of a woman was found in Europe and is dated around 25000 BC. What is the name of this prehistoric artwork?

Answer: "The Venus of Willendorf".

6. Question: Which Egyptian queen was immortalized in a limestone bust and dates back to 1360 BC?

Answer: Queen Nefertiti.

7. Question: What material is the iconic "Mask of Agamemnon" made of?

Answer: Malleable beaten gold.

8. Question: What kind of paint did people in the prehistoric era use to create their artwork?

Answer: Our ancestors usually used natural pigments to create and color their art.

9. Question: Why is 430-450 BC called the Golden Age of Greece?

Answer: This was a period when Greek art and sculpture thrived in Athens, producing some of the most well-known pieces of art we have today.

10. Question: Who took the Elgin Marbles from Turk-ruled Greece?

Answer: Lord Elgin.

The Renaissance and the century that came after was a golden era for art. Many paintings that were created then still influence the way we perceive art today. Here are a few questions about art from the Renaissance era.

11. Question: Which famous Renaissance artist painted the Mona Lisa?

Answer: Leonardo Da Vinci.

12. Question: Where is the Mona Lisa today?

Answer: The Mona Lisa is at The Louvre in Paris.

13. Question: How did Leonardo Da Vinci gain a good understanding of human anatomy?

Answer: Leonardo Da Vinci famously dissected corpses to understand bone and muscle structure.

14. Question: Which historic family from Florence were patrons of humanism during the Renaissance?

Answer: The Medici Family.

15. Question: What period is called the High Renaissance?

Answer: 1490-1527.

16. Question: Who painted "The Creation of Adam"?

Answer: Michaelangelo.

17. Question: Michaelangelo painted the ceiling of which historic building?

Answer: The Sistine Chapel.

18. Question: Which is the last painting left by the Italian Renaissance painted Raphael?

Answer: "Transfiguration".

19. Question: Who painted the "Venus of Urbino"?

Answer: Titian.

20. Question: The twin sculptures "The Rebellious Slave" and the "Dying Slave" were made by which sculptor?

Answer: Michaelangelo.

After the golden era of art during the Renaissance, the next section of famous art facts and questions focuses on art movements like Mannerism, Rococo, and Baroque. Here is a famous artwork quiz on this unique era of paintings.

21. Question: Who painted the "Six Tuscan Poets"?

Answer: Giorgio Vasari.

22. Question: Where was Francesco de' Rossi, the painter of "Portrait of a Man"?

Answer: Italy.

23. Question: Dominico de Pace Beccafumi belonged to which school of art?

Answer: the Sienese school of painting.

24. Question: Which Dutch painter is famous for his Baroque paintings like "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee"?

Answer: Rembrandt.

25. Question: Which art movement that came after Baroque is characterized by lighter colors, asymmetry, and beautiful flowy styles?

Answer: Rococo.

26. Question: Who immortalized the pilgrimage to Cythera in 1717?

Answer: Jean-Antoine Watteau.

27. Question: Which baroque painting features Jesus in disguise revealing himself to two disciples?

Answer: "Supper at Emmaus" by Caravaggio.

28. Question: Which Mannerist artist's sobriquet is derived from his physical appearance of dark skin and red hair?

Answer: Bronzino.

Focusing on antiquity after the discovery of many ancient archaeological revelations of the time, the Neoclassical Era tried to imitate and reinvent the Golden Art Movements of the past. The Neoclassicist era evolved into the period of Romanticism, a movement that reflected through all fields, including architecture and literature. Realist and Impressionist art and the kind of beautiful artist style introduced by Vincent Van Gogh revolutionized art as we know it. This modern art quiz that features trivia questions from this glorious period of innovative art.

29. Question: Which Italian Neoclassicist sculptor created the "Venus Victrix"?

Answer: Antonio Canova.

30. Question: Name the artist who painted the most famous pictorial representation of Napoleon, "Napoleon Crossing the Alps".

Answer: Jacques-Louis David.

31.  Question: Name the English Artist who was both a gifted artist and a poet in the Romanticist era?

Answer: William Blake.

32.  Question: Which iconic scientist was immortalized by William Blake in a muscular, god-like painting?

Answer: Isaac Newton.

33. Question: Where is "The Nightmare" by Henry Fuseli located today?

Answer: Detroit Institute of Arts.

34. Question: What medium is used in "The Desperate Man" by Gustav Courbet?

Answer: Oil and Canvas self-portrait.

35. Question: The French Revolution that overthrew King Charles of France was commemorated in which iconic artwork?

Answer: Eugene Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People".

36. Question: Name the artist who painted the "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog", a painting that portrays the Romanticist art movement perfectly?

Answer: Caspar David Friedrich.

37. Question: Which painting by Francisco Goya features a titan consuming one of his children?

Answer: "Saturn Devouring His Son".

38. Question: Which painting by Eugene Delacroix represents the Orientalist perception of the Western Romanticist movement?

Answer: "The Death of Sardanapalus".

39. Question: What is Plein air painting?

Answer: Plein Air Painting, which developed during the Romantic art movement, involves stepping out of the studio and defying the strict traditional rules of painting.

40. Question: Dante Gabriel Rossetti immortalized this beautiful woman as the subject of his painting.

Answer: "Lady Lilith".

Modern art after the coming and passing of Realism was a result of the socio-cultural atmosphere of the 1900s and reflected the alienation and estrangement felt by the public. No list of art trivia questions would be complete without the long list of iconic names like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Andy Warhol.

41. Question: What art movement is Pablo Picasso attributed to most often?

Answer: Cubism, a postmodern art movement that featured flat two dimensional, and boxy shapes, was used exemplarily well by Pablo Picasso.

42. Question: Name the Cubist painter whose name has twenty-three words?

Answer: Pablo Picasso.

43. Question: How many paintings did Vincent Van Gogh sell while he was alive?

Answer: It is rumoured in art trivia that he sold only one painting his entire life.

44. Question: Who tried to shoot the pop artist Andy Warhol?

Answer: The feminist activist Valerie Solanas detested Andy Warhol and tried to shoot him.

45. Question: When did Pablo Picasso complete his very first painting?

Answer: His first artwork, titled "Le Picador", was created when he was just nine.

46. Question: Who was the first living artist who has a retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern art, New York?

Answer: Roy Lichtenstein.

47. Question: Name an artist who represents the Minimalist art movement?

Answer: Frank Stella who painted the "Black Painting".

48. Question: What is the YBA?

Answer: The YBA - Young BritishArtist - were a group of young painters who created art with a shock factor and indecent/scandalous imagery.

49. Question: Which school of art does Alighiero Boetti belong to?

Answer: The Art Povera or Poor Art.

50. Question: WhichArt Povera artist created iconic installations like "Igloo with Tree" and "Che Fare"?

Answer: Mario Merz.

51. Question: Which everyday item was featured in Andy Warhol's most famous pop art painting?

Answer: "Campbell's Soup Cans".

52. Question: Which school of art raised questions about the estrangement of the modern man by defying expectations of reality?

Answer: Surrealism.

53. Question: Which painting features a man in a suit with a floating green apple in front of him?

Answer: "The Son of Man" by Rene Magritte.

54. Question: Edward Munch belonged to which school of art?

Answer: Expressionism.

55. Question: What is the pointillism technique in Post-Impressionist art?

Answer: This technique used thousands of minute dots to paint a beautiful picture.

56. Question: Name the painter whose portraits of nature are representative of the Impressionist movement.

Answer: Claude Monet.

57. Question: Who painted "The Water Lily Pond"?

Answer: Claude Monet.

58. Question: Which painter belonging to the Art Nouveau movement created posters of the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt?

Answer: Alphonse Mucha.

59. Question: Name the Polish artist whose conceptual art portrayed her scattering letters across a field?

Answer: Ewa Partum.

60. Question: Which Indian painter was exiled because of the sensitive nature of his subjects?

Answer: M F Hussain.

Art Trivia is always interesting and a great way to enculturate kids!

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly trivia for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for artist trivia questions then why not take a look at cartoon trivia, or anime trivia?