State of the Art Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wassily Kandinsky

Contrary to popular belief, Pablo Picasso did not invent Abstract art. Russian painter Wassily Kandinksy was the first person to break down his paintings into completely non-representational forms. His first abstract paintings came about in 1910, including the first of his ten "Compositions". "Composition VIII", the most famous of them, is a purely geometrical study of musical forms in distorted space.

While Matisse aided in the development of Fauvism, his art didn't become more abstract until the years after 1910. Dali was a Surrealist who came later on, and Pollock was an abstract expressionist who hadn't even been born yet.

Answer: Woman with a Parasol

"Woman with a Parasol" depicts Monet's wife Camille swirling around in a white dress while their son Jean watches in the background. It was finished in 1876 at his second home in Argenteuil. Next to van Gogh, Monet was one of the most prolific painters of the Impressionist era. Some of his other famous paintings are "Impression, Sunrise" and "The Water Lily Pond".

"The Birth of Venus" was by Sandro Botticelli, "Tahitian Women" was by Paul Gaugin, and "The Sleeping Gypsy" was by Henri Rousseau.

Answer: George Grosz

Grosz was a satirist of the Weimar party before the Nazis seized power in 1933. After Hitler became Chancellor, Grosz fled to America just a few days before his apartment was raided by the Gestapo. "The Pillars of Society" presents us with a dueling aristocrat, a journalist with a chamber pot on his head, a Socialist with a pile of dung steaming from his skull, and a pro-Nazi preacher; all in the foreground of a military that is burning down the city. Finished in 1928, "The Agitator" seemed to predict Hitler's rise to power and all his maniacal doctrines of war.

Marcel Duchamp was a French-American painter and sculptor, Albert Bierstadt painted landscapes of the American west, and Piet Mondrian was a Dutch Cubist.

Answer: David Hockney

Similar to a puzzle, Hockney used over 700 of his own photographs to create a cohesive image of the Mojave Desert (also known as a photomontage).

All of the other artists mentioned were American. Like Hockney, Andy Warhol was a leading figure in Pop Art. Georgia O'keeffe mainly painted flowers and Leroy Nieman was known for his impressionist paintings of sporting events.

Answer: Anne-Louis Girodet

"Ossian Receiving the Ghosts of French Heroes" showed fallen heroes of the French Revolution being welcomed by one of Napoleon's favorite poets, Ossian. At the time, it wasn't known that the poems of Ossian were forgeries of Irish and Gaellic legends written by James Macpherson. Regardless, Ossian caused a sensation when it was released prior to the revolution. Napoleon was so inspired by it that he kept a copy of it when he went into battle. Girodet had been commissioned by Napoleon to paint something for his new mansion at Malmaison, but hadn't known that his favorite poet was to be featured in it.

Thomas Gainsborough was an English painter, best known for painting "The Blue Boy". Edgar Degas was one of the founders of Impressionism and liked to paint dancers. Francois Boucher was a leading figure in the Rococo movement, and is famed for his female portraits and fleshy paintings of mythological figures.

Answer: The Storm on the Sea of Galilee

Jesus and his Apostles seem to be on the verge of a shipwreck in this harrowing painting. Interestingly, 14 people can be found in it and not the expected 13. Some experts believe Rembrandt included himself in the painting, but the figures in it are too small to know for sure. Sadly, it was stolen from the Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990 and has not been seen since.

"The Great Wave off Kanagawa" was by Katsushika Hokusai, "The Crossing of the Red Sea" was by Nicolas Poussin, and "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog" was by Caspar David Friedrich.

Answer: Artemisia Gentileschi

Raped by her private tutor when she was young, Gentileschi sought vengeance through prosecution and painting. Many of her paintings depicted strong women in the Bible who'd been through immense struggles, such as Judith. In the story, Judith beheads the general about to burn her village down, which must have given Gentilieschi some extra motivation and a sense of retribution. Highly influenced by the violence and starkness of Caravaggio's painting of the same name, "Judith Beheading Holofernes" is often considered her masterpiece. For her efforts, she was rewarded by becoming the first female member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence.

Mary Cassatt was an American painter of babies and mothers. Jan Vermeer was a Dutch painter of domestic scenes (best known for painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring"). Anguissola was also an Italian painter, but she never painted the Judith story.

Answer: Europe After the Rain II

Ernst used the technique of decalcomania in this painting, and it worked to its greatest potential. It resulted in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic scene in which the war has left Europe ravaged, wrecked, and inhospitable. Ernst was a German living in Paris when World War I broke out, but he became drafted by the army and was forced to return home. Between the wars he moved back to Paris. When the Gestapo of occupied France came after him during World War II, he fled to America. One can only imagine how much his pessimism and disgust with the wars inspired him to create "Europe After the Rain II".

"Guernica" was by Pablo Picasso, "Face of War" was by Salvador Dali, and "Allegory of the Outbreak of War" was by Peter Paul Rubens.

Answer: "Christina's World" by Andrew Wyeth

The woman in "Christina's World" is a fusion of Wyeth's neighbor and his wife. His neighbor had polio and he was inspired to paint her after watching her crawl on the grass in front of his house. Since the woman was 55 at the time, he decided to use his wife's body to represent her physical form.

James Whistler was an American, but the painting of his mother was indoors. Picasso and Rossetti were not American.

Answer: Nelson Rockefeller

Diego Rivera was one of Nelson Rockefeller's mother's favorite artists. He commissioned him to paint something for the Rockefeller Center at $21,000. Unfortunately, Diego decided to make a political statement in the mural that didn't sit well with the Rockefellers. At the center of the mural, a workman is seen attempting to control the biological and cosmological forces of the universe inside the wings of an insect. To his left there are upper-class capitalists and a large statue of Jupiter: the Roman King of the Gods. The god is angry and seems to be commanding a large army that is headed for a group of people on the right side of the mural. The right side represents socialism and the rise of the proletariat. A controversial portrait of Lenin is shown among them, and several fellows are holding up a red flag. Behind them, a headless statue of Caesar indicates that classical authority and religious idolatry has finally submitted to the scientific revolution and the rule of the people.

Needless to say, Rockefeller was a little distraught at being associated with tyrannical forces. After it was destroyed, Rivera re-created it on a smaller scale that was almost identical to the first. He called this second one "Man, Controller of the Universe".