Paint & Art Trivia
Here are some fun and interesting, 'Did you know? ' factoids about all thing's paint, artist or art related.
The boxes are colour coded to denote related subjects i.e. All blue boxes relate to paintings. This page is updated frequently.
| Leonardo
da Vinci spent 12 years painting the Mona Lisa's lips. |
| Gothic
was originally a term of criticism among the Italian Renaissance artists
who coined it. The term implied that, compared to superior classical
buildings, the Gothic medieval cathedrals were so crude that only a
Goth could produce them. |
| On
3rd December 1961 Henri Matisse's painting Le Bateau was put the right
way up after hanging upside-down for 46 days without anyone noticing
at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, America. |
| Roman
statues were made with detachable heads, so that one head could be removed
and replaced by another. |
| Paul
Gaugin, the French painter, was a labourer on the Panama Canal. About
25,000 workers died during its construction. |
| In
ancient times, it was believed that certain colours could combat the
evil spirits that lingered over nurseries. Because blue was associated
with the heavenly spirits, boys were clothed in that colour, boys then
being considered the most valuable resource to parents. Although baby
girls did not have a colour associated with them, they were mostly clothed
in black. It was only in the Middle Ages when pink became associated
with baby girls. |
| When
Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1912, 6
replicas were sold as the original, each at a huge price, in the 3 years
before the original was recovered. |
| On
3rd Dec 1961 Grandma Moses, the renowned American primitive painter,
died at the age of 101 |
| English
artist Andy Brown, created a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain
by stitching together 1,000 used tea bags. |
| Carbon
paper was patented on October 7th 1806 by Ralph Wedgewood of London,
England |
| During
his entire life, artist Vincent Van Gogh sold just one painting; Red
Vineyard at Arles |
| In
1658 the first illustrated book for children was published in Germany. |
| Mental
illness may be profoundly responsible for the creation and enduring
popularity of Expressionism. Van Gogh's well-documented mental instability,
and Edvard Munch's traumatic childhood and enduring neuroses helped
to churn out some of the Expressionists' most important works. Munch
accepted that his mental illness was part of his genius, "I would
not cast off my illness, for there is much in my art that I owe to it." |
| On
20th November 1929 Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali held his
first one-man show in Paris, France |
| The
large canvases Jackson Pollock used for his Abstract Expressionist action
paintings were usually laid flat on the floor while he painted. Pollock
was a chain smoker and would frequently paint with a cigarette hanging
from his lips. This led to the intriguing incorporation of cigarette
ashes into the surface of some of his greatest works. |
|
Picasso could draw before he could walk, and his first word was the
Spanish word for pencil. |
| The
word 'cartoon' originally comes from painting terminology? The term
'cartoon' relates to a preliminary, but fully worked, sketch from which
the outlines could be transferred to be the basis of a design for a
fresco or painting. |
| When
Auguste Rodin exhibited his first important work, The Bronze Period,
in 1878 it was so realistic that people thought he had sacrificed a
live model inside the cast. |
The
world famous Louvre Museum and Art Gallery in Paris, France was built
in 1190 and was used as a fortress. |
| Rodin
died of frostbite in 1917 when the French government refused him financial
aid for a flat, yet they kept his statues warmly housed in museums.
|
| When
Auguste Rodin exhibited his first important work, The Bronze Period,
in 1878 it was so realistic that people thought he had sacrificed a
live model inside the cast. |
| A
tessellation is a design made from shapes that fit together
perfectly. For example a chessboard is a simple tessellation made of
squares. |
| That
in 1495 Leonardo da Vinci designed a pyramid-shaped parachute, and began
painting The Last Supper. |
| Salvador
Dali was actually expelled from the Surrealist group in 1939. Even with
all of the fame and publicity that Dali brought the group, they simply
felt his odd political interests (his support of General Franco) and
his fascination with Adolph Hitler were just too irrational for this
irrational movement |
| Left-handed
painter, Michelangelo, painted his famous David and Goliath with David
holding his sling in his left hand. |
| Another
famous left-hander, Leonardo da Vinci, wrote all of his personal notes
from right to left, forcing those who read them to use a mirror. |
Pablo
Picasso loved animals. Through his adult life he owned a pet monkey,
an owl, a goat, a turtle and packs of dogs and cats. He was known to
leave his studio windows open and to paint the pigeons that flew through.
|
| The
first pencil was invented in England in 1565 |
| The
term Art Nouveau was taken from the name of a shop that opened in Paris
in 1895. In France, Art Nouveau is referred to as 'Modern Style'. |
| Vincent
Van Gogh committed suicide while painting Wheat Field with Crows. |
| In
1961 Georges Braque was the first living artist to have his work exhibited
in the Louvre. In addition to painting, Braque also designed stage sets,
costumes and illustrated books. |
| Impressionism
was given its name from one of Monet's pictures, Impression: Sunrise. |
| People
have been painting things for the past 20,000 years, but it wasn't until
1880 that you could purchase ready mixed paints. |
| When
Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque coined the term Cubism they created
a technique called collage. Dada and other Surrealist artists later
adopted this technique of sticking pre-printed patterns onto their compositions.
|
| Genghis
Khan forever impacted Eastern porcelain by introducing the Chinese to
cobalt blue, which he carried from Iran. |
| In
all of Dali's paintings you can find a self-portrait. That is, if you
look hard you will see at-least a silhouette of Dali himself. |
| Leonardo
Da Vinci invented high heels |
| In
the late nineteenth century the Impressionist movement was initially
not received very well by the establishment. Reviews were at times abusive:
La Figaro, 1876, "Five or six lunatics, one of them a woman, have
met here to exhibit their works. Someone should tell Mr. Pissarro forcibly
that trees are never violet, the sky is never the colour of fresh butter,
that nowhere on earth are things to be seen as he paints them."
Maybe not, but the popularity of this movement cannot be disputed |
| People
have been painting things for the past 20,000 years, but it wasn't until
1880 that you could purchase ready mixed paints. |
The
ancient Egyptians developed paints from pigments in the soil . Yellow,
orange, and red all being derived from a form of rust. |
Missionaries
shared the secret of pink with the Chinese. They fired gold to a certain
temperature until it turned pink. If fired at another temperature, it
turned purple |
Yellow
is the most difficult colour for the eye to process |
|
Leonardo
Da Vinci invented the scissors. |
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