Famous Artists in London's Tate Modern Quiz

Answer: Auguste Rodin

Far from being the celebration of romantic love it is often assumed to be, this sculpture by Rodin (1840-1917) represents the adulterous lovers, Paolo and Francesca da Rimini. In Dante's "Inferno", they were condemned to whirl forever in the winds of Hell. Of the four similar versions of this sculpture, none were actually carved by Rodin himself. Three were worked by other sculptors under his direction, while the fourth was carved in 1929 after his death, so can hardly be said to be by him at all.

Answer: Pablo Picasso

Picasso (1881-1973) painted nudes throughout his long career. This late work comes over as a brutal arrangement of orifaces, breasts and limbs. The face is that of his second wife, Jacqueline Roque.

Answer: Richard Long

Long (b.1945) is known for his work with natural materials, including many ephemeral sculptures created in the open air, photographs of which then become artworks themselves. This particular piece, however, uses actual slabs of red slate from the border of Vermont and New York State.

Answer: Mark Rothko

Commissioned for the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building in New York, this set of sombre red, black and maroon murals were in the event never installed there. They were presented to the Tate in 1968/69 by Rothko (1903-70) himself, who worked with the Gallery in displaying them to best advantage, in low light and a compact space.

Answer: Jackson Pollock

Pollock (1912-56) painted this in his Long Island studio, by his usual method of dripping and pouring paint over a large canvas lying flat on the ground. Abstract in the extreme, it is nevertheless vibrant and bursting with life.

Answer: Piet Mondrian

This is an early example of Mondrian's (1872-1944) pure geometric abstraction. It consists of a grid of horizontal and vertical lines in primary colours, plus black and grey.

Answer: Henri Matisse

This was Matisse's (1869-1954) first commissioned portrait. Greta Moll was one of the ten original students of the Matisse Academy, founded in 1908. Apparently the painting process was not straightforward, and the portrait was extensively reworked during the series of sittings.

Answer: Damien Hirst

Rather easier on the eye than Hirst's (b.1965) more famous pickled shark, sheep and cows, this consists of a selection of shells purchased in Thailand and displayed in a glass cabinet. Whether this qualifies it to share space in Tate Modern with Picasso and Matisse is for posterity to decide.

Answer: Edgar Degas

The original of this bronze sculpture by Degas (1834-1917) was sculpted in wax. After his death, his heirs had over 20 bronze casts made from the original, of which this is one. The model, Marie van Goethen, was a pupil in the ballet class at the Paris Opera.

Answer: Carl Andre

How could a quiz on Tate Modern omit the famous bricks? 120 firebricks arranged in a two-brick-high block on the floor. Originally, Andre (b.1935) created eight of these in a series of 120-brick combinations, which were "equivalent" to each other, hence the name. The subject of a famous controversy in the 1970s, when the cost of a heap of bricks was subject to some trenchant criticism.