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Art

30 questions in this category

Q: The illustrator Thomas Nast (1840-1902) changed the image we have of Father Christmas. What two characteristics did he introduce?
A: Plump and dressed in red (he had been dressed in green and used to be tall and thin)

Q: In which town was Leonardo da Vinci born?
A: Vinci (near Florence)

Q: On whose life is Somerset Maugham's "The Moon and Sixpence" based on?
A: Paul Gauguin

Q: Emanuel Radinsky was born in Philadelphia in 1890 and died in Paris in 1976. He was a surrealist painter and photographer. By which name is he better known?
A: Man Ray

Q: Cashmere wool comes from what animal?
A: Goat

Q: What was the name of Vincent van Gogh's art dealer brother?
A: Theodorus (Theo)

Q: Which Renaissance artist's life was fictionalised in the book 'The Agony and the Ecstasy' subsequently made into a film?
A: Michelangelo

Q: Which artist and illustrator painted a portrait of John F. Kennedy in 1960 that was later published on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post after his assassination?
A: Norman Rockwell

Q: What colour is cerulean?
A: Blue

Q: What is the name of the toning that produces brown and white photographs?
A: Sepia

Q: How did Van Gogh commit suicide?
A: He shot himself

Q: 'Glass of Absinthe' is a sculpture by which 20th century artist?
A: Pablo Picasso

Q: With which other painter would you associate painter Françoise Gilot?
A: Pablo Picasso (she lived and studied with him for ten years and had two children)

Q: What was the name of the painter who was the son of Hans Holbein the Senior?
A: Hans Holbein the Younger

Q: Which museum houses Velázquez's only painting of nude buttocks?
A: The National Gallery

Q: Who built El Escorial?
A: Juan Bautista de Toledo designed it and worked on it from 1563 to his death in 1567. Juan de Herrera revised and completed it.

Q: Which famous artist designed the Chupa Chups logo?
A: Salvador Dalí

Q: What type of paint was made out of pigment and egg yolk?
A: Tempera

Q: Which painter's trip to and later residence in California inspired him to make a series of paintings of swimming pools in Los Angeles using the comparatively new acrylic medium, rendered in a highly realistic style using vibrant colours?
A: David Hockney

Q: What's the name of the Postimpressionist artist known as 'Le Douanier'?
A: Henri Rousseau

Q: The Mexican painter Diego Rivera was married twice to another famous Mexican painter. Who?
A: Frida Kahlo from 1929 to 1939 and from 1940 to her death in 1954

Q: Who's the author of the painting popularly known as Droopy Watches or Melting Clocks and what's its correct name?
A: The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí

Q: The German guide to the 1937 World's fair called it 'a hodgepodge of body parts that any four-year-old could have painted'. Which painting were they describing?
A: Picasso's Guernica

Q: Whose paintings were characterised as being 'Matchstick men and matchstick cats and dogs'?
A: L.S. Lowry

Q: In Caravaggio's painting 'Doubting Thomas', what is Thomas doing?
A: Putting his finger in Christ's wound

Q: In which century did Rococo art and architecture develop?
A: 18th

Q: What nationality was Gustav Klimt?
A: Austrian

Q: In Botticelli's 'The Birth of Venus', what is Venus standing on?
A: A clam shell

Q: What did Salvador Dali wear to the opening of the International Surrealist Exhibition at London's New Burlington Gallery in 1936?
A: A diving suit

Q: Dante Gabriele Rossetti, John Millais and William Holman Hunt are all members of which movement?
A: Pre-Raphaelites

We're a long way from the United States but Madrid Me Mata is on Corredera Alta de San Pablo 31 (metro Tribunal) and holds its quizzes on Mondays at 10 pm. The quiz is usually on holiday over Christmas and New Year, Easter Monday, and mid-July to the beginning of September.

The quiz is held in English and consists of eight rounds of ten questions. Each round is on a topic or theme and one round may be chosen as a joker round earning double points for each correct answer.

Questions compiled by Luis de Avendaño. Additional questions provided by Alex Carter, Antony Reid, Antonio Vázquez, Declan Forde, Peter Moore, Steve Owen, John Wirnsberger, Clive Mendes, and Jennifer Riggins.

Thanks also to Alan; Alan Boxall; Alan Chapple; Andy Corder and Mick Watts; Andy Henderson at the Breeze Beer Garden in Thailand; Anthony Anchors; Barbara Ridgely; Bob Clarke; Bren Murphy of The Irish Rover; Brian Holt; Carter Young; Chris; Chris Goode and Nic Crequer; Chris O'Byrne; Chris Wilkins; Claire Ambler, Billy Painter and Richard Painter; Colin Dinnie; Colin Hurst; Damian Considine; Dan Hall; Dave Cohen, ex-teammate; Dave Harrop; Dave Love and Andy Bell; David Heslop; David Keen; David Regal; Diane Peake; Esther Ford; Fithi Garza; Geoff Swaine; George Holdstock; George Pitchley and Colin Hurst; Gerry O'Sullivan of Killarney; Godfrey Donaldson of Jeffreys Bay, South Africa; Graham Jones; Harry Winfield, question master of the Marina Alta Pensionisters Association in Benitachell, Alicante, Spain; Ian; Ian Gerrard; Jake Whiteman; Jeff Hicks; Jim Welsh; Jimmy Rafferty; Joe Bicarregui; John Polias; Jonathan Burt; Jurgen Lobert; Karim Nanji, Entertainments Officer, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London; Keith Woodcock from Chippenham; Ken G. Fisher of Toronto; Kevin Magill of the Cayman Islands; Kirsty Taylor; Lesley Melvin; Lucy Boulding; Luke Williams in Switzerland; Lynda Finn in New Zeland; Lynne and Thierry in Paris, and Steve Hall in Angola; Matt Jones; Mike Healy and Carol Balster; Mike Jones; Mike Mooney from Leeds; Mike O'Shea; Mr Lucky; Neil Robinson in New Zealand; Nick Dadds; Nick Dodd; Nick Wilde; Nicola Wood; Oscar Nolan from Dublin; Remo Anniyan; RKN; Rolland Willa; Ross Stewart of Auckland, New Zealand; Russ Hall; Sam Jones PhD, South Wales; Sebastien D. Fortas; Shelley; Sinead Fisher; Steve Rose; Steven Malan; Susanne; Suzy Fewtrell of New Zealand; Ted Bollard from Dublin; Terry Denham; Tim Sharples; Tony Newman; Yvonne Steyn from Somerset West, South Africa; and many others for correcting, amending and fine tuning the questions and answers.

Please send corrections and amendments to These questions have all been used at the Moore's Irish Pub quiz (formerly O'Donnell's) and at Triskel. New questions are added at irregular intervals. However, if 30 art questions are not enough, we recommend you check TriviaBug.

Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, The World Almanac and Book of Facts, Whitaker's Almanac, The Compact Edition of The Oxford English Dictionary, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Collins Gem Fact File, Diccionario Enciclopédico Espasa 1 and Wikipedia.. This page layout was last updated on Saturday, September 15^th, 2018 @ 7:41pm CEST (Europe/Madrid).

Website designed and maintained by Luis de Avendaño and conforms to level Triple-A of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 and to Section 508 standards. This website was first published on January 1^st, 1999 at www.avendano.org/quiz. Website hosting by pair Networks.