In keeping with this month’s storytelling theme, our quiz is about the story behind some famous works of art. It’s been said, “Every picture tells a story.” Sometimes there’s a story behind the picture itself that needs to be told. It may have something to do with how or why the image was created or it may be about what has happened to the picture over the years.
While researching for this article, I found an excellent article about the stories behind famous paintings. I’ve shared the link at the end of the quiz. I encourage you to check it out to learn about the stories behind other famous works of art.
This is a multiple-choice quiz. Select the answer(s) that reveal a story about each painting. Good luck!
Answers to this quiz can be found in “Next Month in This Awful Awesome Life – April 2022” or by clicking this link, https://www.thisawfulawesomelife.com/home/2022/3/8/next-month-in-this-awful-awesome-life-april-2022.
1. “Christina’s World” by Andrew Wyeth
a. Christina was a neighbor Wyeth often observed daydreaming in the meadow on her parents’ farm.
b. Christiana was a model Wyeth hired to pose in the meadow.
c. Christina was a neighbor and muse of Wyeth with a muscle-wasting disease who often dragged herself across the family homestead to get around.
d. Christiana was a composite of the women in Wyeth’s life.
2. “American Gothic” by Grant Wood
a. The couple in the painting were models supposed to represent a Depression-era father and his daughter for the painting.
b. The couple in the painting were a farmer and his wife.
c. The female model in the painting is Wood’s sister, Nan Wood Graham and the man is his dentist, Byron McKeeby.
d. A and C
3. “Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Johannes Vermeer
a. This is a painting of Vermeer’s mistress.
b. The model was Vermeer’s wife who was his only female model.
c. The model in the painting may have been his daughter or a mistress, but the image presented is a “tronie” an idealized image cloaked in exotic clothing and not a specific person’s likeness.
d. This is a painting of Vermeer’s daughter.
4. “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe” (“The Luncheon on the Grass”) by Edouard Manet
a. This painting scandalized 19th century Paris because Manet depicted a nude in something other than a classical setting.
b. This painting scandalized 19th century Paris because the model was nude.
c. This painting scandalized 19th century Paris because the nude model was his mother.
d. None of the above
5. “Ophelia” by Sir John Everett Millais
a. His model Elizabeth Siddall posed in a pond on the private gardens of an important British businessman.
b. His model Elizabeth Siddall posed in a bathtub in Millais’ London studio and the foliage from descriptions in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” was painted outdoors.
c. His model Elizabeth Siddall posed in a pond on her family’s estate in North Devon.
d. His model Elizabeth Siddall posed on a chaise in Millais’ London studio and Millais created the water and foliage from descriptions in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”
6. “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee” by Rembrandt van Rijn
a. This painting was stolen from the Boston Museum in 1990 and has never been recovered.
b. Police suspected Whitey Bulger but could never find enough evidence to connect him to the crime.
c. The painting was stolen from the Boston Museum and was recovered six weeks later when Whitey Bulger was arrested for the crime.
d. A and B
7. “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear” by Vincent van Gogh
a. Vincent van Gogh cut off a portion of his left ear, but because he painted this work looking in a mirror the bandage depicted covers his right ear (mirror image).
b. The artist supposedly got into a fight with his friend and fellow artist Paul Gaugin and that is what caused him to cut off part of his ear.
c. Vincent van Gogh wrapped his ear in newspaper and gave it to a local prostitute for “safekeeping” and not as a romantic gesture.
d. All of the above
8. “Guernica” by Pablo Picasso
a. Picasso painted this work as a commentary about man’s capacity for violence.
b. This painting is a plea for peace after Germans bombed the tiny town in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War and the dawn of World War II.
c. This painting is about the Spanish Inquisition.
d. Picasso painted this piece after his mistress left him in Guernica to express the destructive power of desire.
9. “The Scream’ by Edvard Munch
a. Munch was inspired to paint “The Scream” after witnessing the sun set over the fjords and seeing the sky turn blood red as if nature were screaming.
b. Munch created this painting in response to the pressures of modern life on human beings.
c. Munch created this painting after having a dream about the end of the world.
d. None of the above
10. “Portrait of Adele Blouch-Bauer” by Gustav Klimt
a. This is one of a series of two paintings of Adele by Klimt. She is the only person to sit for him more than once.
b. The painting was stolen from the home of Ferdinand Blouch-Bauer by the Nazis in 1941.
c. The recovery of the painting by Ferdinand’s niece, Marie Altman in 2006 is the subject of the film, “Woman in Gold,’ starring Helen Mirren.
d. All of the above
11. Lascaux Cave Paintings by Unknown
a. The Paleolithic images were discovered by the world-famous archeologist, Marcel Ravidat on a dig in the Dordogne region of France funded by the French government.
b. The Paleolithic images were discovered by 18-year-old, Marcel Ravidat who fell into a hole in the ground while walking his dog in the Dordogne region of France.
c. The Paleolithic images were discovered by children playing hide and seek on their family farm.
d. None of the above
12. “Portrait of Madame X” by John Singer Sargent
a. This painting scandalized the Paris Art World because the model was a 14-year-old prostitute.
b. This painting scandalized the Paris Art World because the model was a male prostitute.
c. This painting scandalized the Paris Art World because the model was the wife of a prominent French banker, and it was considered unseemly to paint her in a sensual way.
d. None of the above
13. “Flaming June” by Frederic Leighton
a. This painting disappeared soon after it was painted and was discovered inside a chimney by a construction work in the early 60s.
b. The father of the model is rumored to be behind its disappearance.
c. This painting now hangs in Puerto Rico’s Museo de Arte de Ponce.
d. A and C
14. “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” by Georges Seurat
a. Seurat worked on this painting for over eight years.
b. After Stephen Sondheim saw this painting, he composed the hit Broadway musical “Sunday in the Park with George.”
c. Stolen by French Art Thief Stéphane Breitweiser, the painting was never recovered.
d. B and C
15. “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci
a. Though several women were rumored to be the model for this painting, recently discovered journal’s prove she was da Vinci’s cousin Angela Fratelli.
b. Leonardo da Vinci was blackmailed into painting his cousin by her husband who threatened to expose da Vinci’s sexual orientation.
c. Multi-spectral imaging in 2006 revealed that the smile on the “Mona Lisa” was originally bigger, but da Vinci painted over it.
d. None of the above
Sources for this article:
https://stacker.com/stories/3484/50-famous-paintings-and-stories-behind-them
Image of:
“Christina’s World”
By http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=78455, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8005786
“Guernica”
By PICASSO, la exposición del Reina-Prado. Guernica is in the collection of Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid.Source page: http://www.picassotradicionyvanguardia.com/08R.php (archive.org), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1683114
All other images are in the Public Domain