Scandalous Art Trivia Quiz

Answer: Avignon

Pablo Ruiz y Picasso was born in Málaga, Spain, in 1881, and died in Mougins, France, in 1973. He is probably the most famous artist that has ever lived, and has influenced almost all art movements of our time.

"Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", a canvas of monumental size, was painted in 1907, and is now held at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City.
The painting, created in Picasso's so-called "Rose Period", depicts with sharp geometric lines a group of five naked women. The title, "The young Ladies of Avignon", refers to a street in Barcelona, in which a notorious brothel was located. Years later, Picasso stated that "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" was his "first exorcism painting", against the fear of dangerous venereal diseases. Picasso's chief interest, though, was a new representation of the human figure. The use of geometric forms to portray faces and bodies, inspired by Iberian sculptures and African masks, caused a revolution in the art world, and prefigured the birth of Cubism.

Answer: James McNeill Whistler

Painter and etcher James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was American, but divided his professional life between Paris and London, achieving fame not only for his artistic talent, but also for his wit and eccentricity. His frequent exchanges of "bon mots" with Oscar Wilde were legendary. One episode is memorable: after a brilliant remark of Whistler's, Wilde uttered: "I wish I had said that", and Whistler replied: "You will, Oscar, you will!"

In art, Whistler's primary concern was a harmonious composition of forms and lines, colours and lights, and for his artistic concept, many critics saw in him a forerunner of abstract art.
Among his most famed works are "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1: Portrait of the Painter's Mother" (1871) and "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle" (1872-1873).
His "Nocturne in Black and Gold: Falling Rocket", the canvas that aroused John Ruskin's indignation, was a suggestive study of fireworks over London's Cremorne Gardens at night. Whistler sued Ruskin for libel in a sensational trial. He won, but was only awarded a symbolic farthing, and the enormous legal costs bankrupted him in 1879.

Answer: Salvador Dalí

"Artists are meant to be madmen, to disturb and shock us", said Anne Rice ("Interview with a Vampire"). And no artist knew how to play his role as madman better than Salvador Dalí, although he himself stated: "The difference between a madman and me is that I am not mad." With his extravagances, his exhibitionism, and his talent for self-publicity, he was always at the centre of the media's attention. Opinions about him were divergent: some saw him as a fraud, and doubted the artistic value of his works; others saw in him an unequalled genius.

Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), born in Spain, was the most popular figure of the Surrealism, the movement influenced by Sigmund Freud's theories of dreams. He was a highly prolific artist, with over 1500 paintings, many drawings, sculptures, prints, theatre set designs, etc. In his works, Dalí created an extraordinary universe of bizarre, dreamlike and symbolic images. Among his most acclaimed works is "The Persistence of Memory", studded with hallucinatory, melting clocks.

Answer: Marcel Duchamp

Painter and mixed media artist Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp was born in July 28, 1887, near Blainville, France, but lived in New York from 1942, and became an American citizen in 1955.

Although associated with Cubism, Surrealism and Dada, he always trespassed every artistic boundary.
In painting, his most renowned canvas is "Nude Descending a Staircase" (1912), a series of overlapping cubist figures which create a sense of motion.
In sculpture, he originated kinetic art, an innovation which was crucial for the evolution of 20th century avant-garde. Especially famous are Duchamp's "Readymades", i.e., as Surrealist leader André Breton defined them, "manufactured objects elevated to the dignity of works of art through the choice of the artist." Besides "Fountain", other Readymades produced by Duchamp were a bicycle wheel (considered the "first kinetic sculpture"), a shovel, and a comb.

Answer: Armory Show

"Armory Show", the exhibition of modern art held in 1913 first in New York, then in Chicago, was a legendary event in the history of American art. Its name is derived from the locations of the show, the 69th Infantry Regiment Armory in New York. At the exhibition were represented the most illustrious names of contemporary art: over 300 avant-garde artists, from Europe and America, with 1250 paintings and sculptures. Many were seen in the US for the first time, among them Picasso, Duchamp, Matisse and Kandinsky.
The new art aroused in the American public the most different feelings: enthusiasm and admiration in some cases, disgust and shock in others. The exhibition's impact was, in any case, enormous, and changed definitely the course of American art.

A curiosity: about Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase", President Theodore Roosevelt said: "There is in my bath-room a really good Navajo rug which, on any proper interpretation of the Cubist theory, is a far more satisfactory and decorative picture."

Answer: Diego Rivera

Mexican painter and muralist Diego Rivera (1886-1957) is widely regarded as one of the greatest figures of 20th century Latin American culture. He was married to Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and their turbulent marriage was as famous as their artistic careers. Rivera was an engaged and pugnacious artist. His large frescoes reflect Mexico's social problems, and have mostly didactic and political intentions. In 1922, he co-founded the Revolutionary Union of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors, and in the same year he entered the Mexican Communist Party. He remained faithful to the revolutionary cause till his death.

The controversy about the portrait of Lenin included in "Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future" ended with the destruction of the mural in 1933. After leaving the US, Diego Rivera made a new version of it in Mexico City, and titled it "Man, Controller of the Universe."

Answer: Elgin Marbles

On display at the British Museum in London, the so-called "Elgin Marbles" refer to the collection of sculptures which Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, acquired in 1806 in Greece and took to England. Removed from the Parthenon in Athens, they consist of the friezes, a caryatid and a column. Greece has always contested the legitimacy of Elgin's purchase, which occurred during the Ottoman occupation of Greece, and has claimed the return of the sculptures as part of the country's cultural heritage.

In the 1930's, the British Museum cleaned the marbles employing copper tools and abrasive alkali which erased forever the original colouring and the patina of the surface. That ignited an international scandal and reinforced Greece's plea. For a long time the British Museum denied the negative consequences of the cleaning, but sixty years later it finally admitted that the Marbles were damaged by "heavy handed" methods, although not as badly spoilt as some Greek experts stated.

Answer: Caravaggio

As an artist, Caravaggio was a revolutionary; as a man, he was passionate, impetuous, and often violent.
Born Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610) in Caravaggio, near Milan (hence his nickname), he moved in 1592 to Rome where he worked for several influential patrons, among them cardinals and aristocrats. He had often problems with the law because of his sanguine temper. After killing a man in a duel, he had to flee Rome, and died during his exile.

Many of his religious and secular paintings show sufferance and death. In a time of ideal beauty in art, he depicted his figures as ordinary human beings, with all their flaws and weaknesses, emphasising the realism of his subjects by dramatic contrasts of light and shadows. His so-called "chiaroscuro" technique made him famous, and had a great influence on contemporary and later artists.
His masterwork "Death of the Virgin", the largest painting that Caravaggio ever produced, was refused by the church that had commissioned it, and was acquired by the Duke of Mantua at Peter Paul Rubens' suggestion. It entered then into the collection of Charles I of England, and was bought later by French king Louis XIV. Today it is in the collection of the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Answer: Carl Fabergé Eggs

Goldsmith and Jeweller to the Imperial Court of Russia, Peter Carl Fabergé (1846-1920) is especially famed for the Easter Eggs he made for the Tsars and the European royalty. Fabergé Eggs are masterpieces of jewellery, the epitome of luxury. In gold, silver, or enamel, they all contain a little "surprise", i.e. a perfect miniature replica of a coach, a flower, a ship or other objects, all finely chiselled and encrusted with the most precious gemstones.
The first Easter egg was commissioned by tsar Alexander III for his wife Maria. The gift was so much appreciated that it started a tradition of more than thirty years. Also Nicholas II, the last tsar, carried on the Easter ritual. Fabergé created about 50 eggs, but only 42 of them have been found.

In 2004, Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg purchased all nine imperial eggs belonging to the Forbes collection, and returned them to his country. A scandal aroused when the eminent art expert Valentin Skurlov, and Tatyana Faberge, great-granddaughter of the famous jeweller, stated that one of the eggs, the one known as "Spring Flowers", was a fake. That was indignantly denied by Vekselberg who confirmed the genuineness of all eggs, and defined Skurlov's statement as "cheap provocation". The controversy has not yet been resolved.

Answer: Olympia

The establishment was hostile to Édouard Manet (1832-1883) throughout his life, yet he never stopped trying to receive an academic consecration.

"Olympia", presented at the Paris Salon in 1865, was ferociously attacked by critics and audience alike. Inspired by Titian's "Venus of Urbino", the canvas depicts, with an unusual realism, a nude courtesan.
It was not the nudity that was considered the most outrageous aspect of "Olympia", it was rather the theme: Manet didn't paint a mythological or biblical woman, but presented a self-confident, modern courtesan who didn't lower her head, but, on the contrary, met boldly the eyes of the observers. And the Parisian public couldn't accept to be reminded of prostitution at an art exhibition.
Not only the painting's subject aroused storms of protests; also Manet's new, revolutionary technique was strongly criticised by the most conservative academicians, and met with scepticism by the public.
In spite of all the attacks, though, Manet's work found several illustrious defenders, like Émile Zola, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Answer: Jacob Epstein

American-born from Polish parents, sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein (1880-1959) became a British citizen in 1910. He studied in Paris with Auguste Rodin. Noted for his realistic and powerful works in stone or bronze, Epstein broke many taboos and frontiers, becoming a pioneer of modern sculpture. Many of his works were first greeted with outcries of public indignation. His first big commission in 1907, 18 large, nude figures for the British Medical Association's Building in the Strand, aroused storms of protests, and had to be removed as offensive to public morals. In 1912 he designed and installed Oscar Wilde's grave at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, which had the same destiny: it created an uproar and was vandalised.

After First World War, he primarily devoted himself to bronze busts, and in the course of the years he portrayed many famous men like Joseph Conrad, Haile Selassie and Sir Winston Churchill. He himself was knighted in 1954.

Answer: Madame X

American painter John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) lived primarily in Europe. He became the most popular and best paid portrait painter of his time, and depicted a great number of celebrities.

In 1883, he painted Virginie Gautreau, a notable American-born beauty, wife of a rich Parisian banker, and showed the portrait at the Paris Salon of 1884 under the title of "Madame X".
The enormous canvas outraged the Parisian society and ignited a big scandal. All was considered shocking: her imperious pose, her pale complexion which revealed the use of powder, her low cut black dress with one strap seductively dangling off her shoulder (which was later changed), and much more.
Madame Gautreau's reputation suffered irremediably, and Sargent lost every hope to make a career in Paris. He decided to move to London, where he established himself as the favourite portraitist of the aristocrats and the wealthy.

Answer: Musée d'Orsay

Although modern photography and cinema have considerably evolved our moral standards about artistic nudity, the oil painting "The Origin of the World" by French artist Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) is still considered challenging, often even shocking.

The canvas was painted in 1866. The scandal created by such erotic work, which depicts with great realism a nude female torso, obviously increased Gustave Courbet's fame. The painting was banned from public view for many years, and was purchased by French psychologist Jacques Lacan, who hung it in his country house. To avoid outraging his guests, Lacan asked André Masson, his stepbrother, to build a double frame and put another picture on it. As a cover-up of the original painting, Masson drafted a surrealist version of it. The canvas is now in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Answer: Edvard Munch

"Disease, insanity and death were the angels which attended my cradle", said Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944). His family had a long story of mental illnesses and untimely deaths, and he placed his own obsessions, grief and anxiety deep inside in his paintings. The most famous of them is "The Scream".

Ophthalmologist Dr. Max Linde (1862-1940) from Lübeck, Germany, owned one of the most important private collection of contemporary art in Europe. Thanks to his assistance and friendship, Munch achieved fame and financial independence. Many of Munch's works were commissioned by Linde and featured him and his family. "Christmas in a brothel" was painted in 1904/05 while Munch was guest at Linde's house to portray his children. The episode of Christmas spent in a brothel caused a separation between Linde and Munch, but there was a reconciliation some months later.

Answer: Mark Rothko

Born as Marcus Rothkowitz in Daugavpils, Latvia in 1903, Mark Rothko emigrated to the United States in 1913. He is considered a crucial figure in the Abstract Expressionist movement, although he himself refused any label: "I am not an abstract painter. I am not interested in the relationship between form and colour. The only thing I care about is the expression of man's basic emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, destiny."

Mark Rothko committed suicide in 1970. In his will, he appointed three of his closest friends as executors. A few months after the artist's death, they sold some of his paintings to a gallery, in which they were financially involved, at very favourable conditions. Too favourable, thought the heirs, and sued the trustees, accusing them of fraudulent practises and corruption. The trial went on for many months, and it publicly disclosed, for the first time, many of the intrigues and tricks that dominate the international art market.
Rothko's works are exhibited in the best museums around the world.

Answer: David

Along with Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) is the embodiment of the Renaissance man. He was an absolute prodigy in every artistic field: painting, architecture, engineering or poetry. His life is studded with masterworks: he designed the dome of the St Peter's Basilica in Rome, painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and created the greatest statues of all times.

In 1504, he sculpted his magnificent David, a colossal statue in Carrara marble, commissioned by the city of Florence to be installed in the central Piazza della Signoria. Over the centuries, the triumphant nudity of that perfect body has never ceased to offend public decency, and in many reproductions David's "private parts" have been demurely covered with a fig leaf.
The original David is housed in the Galleria dell'Accademia, whereas a plaster copy towers in Piazza della Repubblica, in Florence. Both uncensored.

Answer: Auguste Rodin

French artist Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) has often been regarded as the greatest sculptor since Michelangelo. He was the last of the classical artists, and at the same time the pioneer of a new sculpture. His innovative techniques, which aimed at expressing human emotions through the postures and motions of his subjects, had a profound influence on subsequent generations.

When he presented his "Age of Bronze" at the Paris Salon of 1877, he was highly praised, but, because of the extreme realism of his work, was also unjustly suspected of having made a cast from a live model. The uproar had a positive consequence, though: it made his name famous internationally.

Rodin's most iconic masterpiece is "The Thinker" (1880), which was his first creation to be erected in a public place. It is a portrayal of Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Among Rodin's works are also "The Burghers of Calais" (1884-1886) and "The Kiss" (1886).

Answer: Expressionism

The Nazi regime, alarmed about the increasing popularity of modernist art, which contrasted with the political aims of the Third Reich, started a defamatory campaign against the avant-garde, labelling it "Entartete Kunst" (Degenerate Art) and forbidding it. "Entartete Kunst" was also the title of an exhibition inaugurated in Munich in 1937, that later travelled to several other German and Austrian cities. The exhibition put on display over 650 paintings, sculptures and prints confiscated from 32 museums and private collections in Germany. The creations, all modernist artworks, were presented together with mocking or demonising comments.

Many of the exhibited creations are considered today masterworks of contemporary art. Especially represented at the exhibition were artists of the so-called German Expressionism, which included movements as "Der Blaue Reiter" (The Blue Rider) and "Die Brücke" (The Bridge). Most notable figures of the German Expressionism were Emil Nolde (1867-1956), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) and Max Beckmann (1884-1950).

Answer: Maja

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) was born in Fuendotodos, a village near Zaragoza, Spain. Accomplished as painter and etcher, he had a great influence on contemporary and later artists, and is often called "the Father of Modern Art". Among his most important works are "The Third of May" (1808), which depict the brutal massacre of unarmed street fighters by French soldiers in Madrid, and the "Disasters of War" (1812-15).

Both "La Maja vestida" (The clothed Maja) and "La Maja desnuda" (The naked Maja) are on display at the Prado Museum in Madrid. Created at a time when the depiction of nude women were severely prohibited by the Church, the paintings were a landmark in the annals of Spanish art.
The Duchess of Alba was, with her husband, one of Goya's most influential patrons. Today, her identity as the naked and clothed Maja is no longer officially accepted, and other women have been suggested as the possible model.

Answer: Jean-Honoré Fragonard

French painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) was a favourite with Louis XV's and Louis XVI's courts; among his most influential patrons were Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry. For the latter he painted "Progress of Love", a series of four large paintings, held today at the Frick Collection in New York.
Like no other painter, Fragonard succeeded in capturing the frivolity, the hedonism and the gallantry of the Rococo age. His exquisite paintings are always finely detailed and delicately coloured, and depict graceful scenes of romance and sensuality, often set in gardens.

He was extremely prolific, producing over 550 paintings, thousands of drawings and 35 etchings. Other well-known works by Fragonard: "The Stolen Kiss" and "The Music Lesson". "The Swing" is on display at the Wallace Collection in London.