42 Art Trivia Questions and Answers
Painters, movements, architecture and the works worth knowing.
Every question below is shown with its answer, so you can scan the whole set, pick the ones you want, and run a round without clicking through. They are free to use for quiz nights, classrooms and pub quizzes. Where a question has extra background, it links to the full explanation.
1.The painter Gilbert Charles Stuart, who lived from 1755-1828, was most well known for his portraits of which person?
Answer: GEORGE WASHINGTON
Read the full explanation2.Among the greatest works of early Renaissance art are the bronze door panels called the Gates of Paradise created by 15th century sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti for the cathedral in what artistic city?
Answer: FLORENCE
Read the full explanation3.Which 20th century American painter became famous by dripping or pouring swirls and spatterings of paint on a canvas?
Answer: JACKSON POLLOCK
Read the full explanation4.Which artist painted the Mona Lisa?
Answer: LEONARDO DA VINCI
Read the full explanation5.What are the three orders of classical Greek architecture?
Answer: DORIC / IONIC / CORINTHIAN
Read the full explanation6.Who painted 'The Night Watch', a masterpiece of the Dutch Golden Age?
Answer: Rembrandt
Read the full explanation7.What is the term for the use of light and shadow in painting to create a sense of three-dimensionality?
Answer: Chiaroscuro
Read the full explanation8.Who is the Mexican artist known for her self-portraits and works inspired by nature and Mexican folk art?
Answer: Frida Kahlo
Read the full explanation9.What Japanese art form involves folding paper into decorative shapes?
Answer: Origami
Read the full explanation10.Who painted 'The Scream', one of the most recognizable images in art history?
Answer: Edvard Munch
Read the full explanation11.Who sculpted the statue of David, completed in 1504?
Answer: Michelangelo
Read the full explanation12.The use of canvas as a primary painting surface came of age in which century: 14th, 16th, or 18th?
Answer: 16TH
Read the full explanation13.What art technique creates images by assembling different materials such as photographs and fabric?
Answer: Collage
Read the full explanation14.What is the term for a sculptural work that projects from a flat background?
Answer: Relief
Read the full explanation15.What art movement of the 1920s explored the unconscious mind through dream-like imagery?
Answer: Surrealism
Read the full explanation16.Who is known for his drip painting technique and is a leading figure in abstract expressionism?
Answer: Jackson Pollock
Read the full explanation17.Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?
Answer: Michelangelo
Read the full explanation18.Who painted the Mona Lisa?
Answer: Leonardo da Vinci
Read the full explanation19.What innovative, sometimes controversial French sculptor in 1904 unveiled a bronze work of a contemplative male, that he called Le Penseur ?
Answer: François Auguste René RODIN 1840-1917.
Read the full explanation20.What term describes the technique of painting with thick layers of paint to create texture?
Answer: Impasto
Read the full explanation21.What art movement, begun in the early 20th century, features fragmented and abstract forms, pioneered by Picasso and Braque?
Answer: Cubism
Read the full explanation22.What French artist is known for his paintings of ballet dancers?
Answer: Edgar Degas
Read the full explanation23.Who painted 'The Persistence of Memory', featuring melting clocks?
Answer: Salvador Dali
Read the full explanation24.Who painted 'The Birth of Venus', showing the goddess emerging from the sea?
Answer: Sandro Botticelli
Read the full explanation25.Who painted 'Guernica', depicting the bombing of a Spanish town during the Civil War?
Answer: Pablo Picasso
Read the full explanation26.What art technique uses small dots of color to form an image when viewed from a distance?
Answer: Pointillism
Read the full explanation27.What Dutch painter is famous for 'Starry Night' and cutting off part of his own ear?
Answer: Vincent van Gogh
Read the full explanation28.What museum in Paris houses the Mona Lisa?
Answer: The Louvre
Read the full explanation29.Who created the sculpture 'The Thinker'?
Answer: Auguste Rodin
Read the full explanation30.Who painted 'Water Lilies', a series of approximately 250 oil paintings?
Answer: Claude Monet
Read the full explanation31.What is the term for a painting done on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling?
Answer: Fresco
Read the full explanation32.Which artist's first important painting, from 1885, was called "The Potato Eaters"?
Answer: VINCENT VAN GOGH
Read the full explanation33.What architectural style features pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and flying buttresses?
Answer: Gothic
Read the full explanation34.Which 19-20th century artist, son of the founder of a New York jewelry chain, applied the Art Nouveau style to stained glass windows, lamps, and other decorations?
Answer: LOUIS TIFFANY
Read the full explanation35.Who painted 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte' using pointillist technique?
Answer: Georges Seurat
Read the full explanation36.What American artist is famous for his paintings of Campbell's soup cans?
Answer: Andy Warhol
Read the full explanation37.Who painted 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'?
Answer: Johannes Vermeer
Read the full explanation38.What art movement of the 1960s used imagery from popular culture, such as advertising and comic books?
Answer: Pop Art
Read the full explanation39.What art movement emphasized emotion and individualism, rejecting the rationalism of the Enlightenment?
Answer: Romanticism
Read the full explanation40.The capital building in Sacramento - is it of Greek or Roman architectural style?
Answer: ROMAN - similar to Forum in Rome
Read the full explanation41.Born in 1606 in the Netherlands, this painter's masterpieces include The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp (1632) and The Night Watch (1642). Who was this Dutch painter?
Answer: REMBRANDT van Rijn
Read the full explanation42.The most famous paintings of this French post-impressionist artist who lived from 1839-1906 include Mont Sainte-Victoire and The Card Players. Who is this artist?
Answer: PAUL CEZANNE
Read the full explanation