40 art trivia questions and answers
The material spans painters and signature works, sculpture, ceramics, mosaics, printmaking, pigments, perspective, modern movements, architecture, museums, and visual techniques.
Updated
Who painted the Mona Lisa?
easy
Leonardo da Vinci
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa?oldid=1364364951
What did Van Gogh do after a confrontation with a razor?
easy
He severed part of his own left ear
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh?oldid=1365516977
What material is traditionally shaped by a potter on a wheel?
easy
Clay
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter's_wheel?oldid=1365184248
Which primary colors mix to make green in traditional painting?
easy
Blue and yellow
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_mixing?oldid=1350477109#Pigment_mixing
What is a painting made on wet plaster called?
medium
Fresco
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresco?oldid=1362206690
Which Mexican artist was born on 6 July 1907 in Coyoacán?
hard
Frida Kahlo
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo?oldid=1365718605#1907%E2%80%931924%3A_Family_and_childhood
What tool holds and mixes an artist’s paint colors?
easy
A palette
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palette_(painting)?oldid=1328070225
Which 19th-century movement originated with a group of Paris-based artists?
medium
Impressionism
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism?oldid=1363845951
Who painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512?
easy
Michelangelo
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel_ceiling?oldid=1361379409
What is a three-dimensional artwork made by carving or modeling called?
easy
Sculpture
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sculpture?oldid=1364853577
Which artist painted The Starry Night?
easy
Vincent van Gogh
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starry_Night?oldid=1364457162
What does a portrait primarily depict?
easy
Artistic representation of a person
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait?oldid=1359415562
Which museum in Paris houses the Mona Lisa?
easy
The Louvre
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre?oldid=1362298616#Management%2C_administration%2C_partnerships
What is the name for art made by assembling small pieces of glass or tile?
easy
Mosaic
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic?oldid=1365269224#Terminology
Which Spanish artist co-founded Cubism with Georges Braque?
easy
Pablo Picasso
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso?oldid=1365390373#Rose_Period%3A_1904%E2%80%931906
When were the arts of ancient Greece rediscovered?
medium
The early Renaissance
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_art?oldid=1365246973#Greek
How are Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans widely regarded?
easy
A canonical symbol of Pop art
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell's_Soup_Cans?oldid=1364150627
Why do artists use perspective in a flat image?
easy
The illusion of depth
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_(graphical)?oldid=1361340774#Early_history
Which sculptor created The Thinker?
medium
Auguste Rodin
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thinker?oldid=1362396931
What type of paint uses egg yolk as a traditional binder?
hard
Egg tempera
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempera?oldid=1360385238
Which Japanese printmaker created The Great Wave off Kanagawa?
medium
Hokusai
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa?oldid=1364555480
How is a triptych arranged?
medium
Divided into three sections
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triptych?oldid=1365785600
What is negative space in art?
medium
The space around and between objects
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_space?oldid=1364543582#Use
Which artist designed the melting clocks in The Persistence of Memory?
easy
Salvador Dalí
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Persistence_of_Memory?oldid=1365591625
What does chiaroscuro emphasize?
hard
Strong contrasts between light and dark
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiaroscuro?oldid=1357000630
Which ancient sculpture was discovered without its arms on the island of Milos?
medium
The Venus de Milo
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_de_Milo?oldid=1362156819#Discovery
What is a readymade in modern art?
hard
Ordinary manufactured objects that the artist selected and modified
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readymades_of_Marcel_Duchamp?oldid=1348192631
Who painted Girl with a Pearl Earring?
medium
Johannes Vermeer
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_with_a_Pearl_Earring?oldid=1361287529
Why does watercolor paint look transparent on paper?
hard
The paper being visible between the particles
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watercolor_painting?oldid=1362548745#Transparency
Which 60-panel work brought Lawrence national recognition?
hard
The Migration Series
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Lawrence?oldid=1364546214
How is trompe-l’oeil intended to affect the viewer?
hard
Tricks the viewer into perceiving painted objects or spaces as real
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trompe-l'%C5%93il?oldid=1364275896
Which architect designed the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao?
hard
Frank Gehry
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guggenheim_Museum_Bilbao?oldid=1363487739#Architecture
How did pointillists build images?
medium
Small, distinct dots of color
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism?oldid=1331243871
How does bas-relief differ from freestanding sculpture?
hard
A projecting image with a shallow overall depth
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relief?oldid=1363347696#Low_relief_or_bas-relief
What period followed Picasso’s Blue Period?
medium
His Rose Period
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picasso's_Blue_Period?oldid=1356786285
Which art movement emerged in the United Kingdom and United States in the mid-to-late 1950s?
medium
Pop art
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_art?oldid=1363328593
Which lapis-lazuli pigment was at times valued as highly as gold in Europe?
hard
Ultramarine
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarine?oldid=1363907550
How is a figure’s weight distributed in contrapposto?
hard
Most of its weight on one foot
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrapposto?oldid=1365307695
Which Bauhaus teacher wrote Concerning the Spiritual in Art?
hard
Kandinsky
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky?oldid=1362559902#Artistic_periods
Why is the Bayeux Tapestry technically not a tapestry?
hard
Embroidered rather than in a tapestry weave
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry?oldid=1365769038
How to play
Read the artist or artwork wording exactly as printed so the question does not shift from creator to title. Give foreign technique names one neutral repeat, and accept established pronunciation variants.
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8 turns × 60 seconds = 8 minutes of play, plus instructions and breaks.
60
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Team 1: 0
Team 2: 0