Masterpiece Detective: Famous Paintings & Artists: questions and answers
Study every question with its correct answer and explanation.
1. In which museum does Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa hang?
- A. Uffizi Gallery, Florence
- B. Louvre, Paris
- C. Prado, Madrid
- D. British Museum, London
Answer: Louvre, Paris
The Mona Lisa became even more famous after it was stolen from the Louvre in 1911; it was recovered in Italy two years later.
2. Who painted 'The Starry Night', with its swirling night sky?
- A. Claude Monet
- B. Paul Cézanne
- C. Vincent van Gogh
- D. Paul Gauguin
Answer: Vincent van Gogh
Van Gogh painted it in 1889 while staying at an asylum in southern France, inspired by the view from his window.
3. Edvard Munch, who created 'The Scream', came from which country?
- A. Norway
- B. Sweden
- C. Germany
- D. Netherlands
Answer: Norway
Munch made several versions of 'The Scream', both paintings and pastels, starting in 1893.
4. Which artist painted 'The Persistence of Memory', famous for its melting clocks?
- A. René Magritte
- B. Joan Miró
- C. Pablo Picasso
- D. Salvador Dalí
Answer: Salvador Dalí
Dalí painted this dreamlike Surrealist scene in 1931, and it is surprisingly small — about the size of a sheet of office paper.
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5. Which Dutch artist painted 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'?
- A. Rembrandt
- B. Johannes Vermeer
- C. Peter Paul Rubens
- D. Frans Hals
Answer: Johannes Vermeer
Vermeer painted it around 1665, and it hangs in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, where it is nicknamed the 'Mona Lisa of the North'.
6. The art movement Impressionism got its name from 'Impression, Sunrise', a painting by which artist?
- A. Édouard Manet
- B. Edgar Degas
- C. Claude Monet
- D. Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Answer: Claude Monet
A critic mocked Monet's painting at an 1874 exhibition by calling the group 'Impressionists' — and the artists happily kept the name.
7. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque pioneered which art style, showing objects from several angles at once?
- A. Surrealism
- B. Pop Art
- C. Impressionism
- D. Cubism
Answer: Cubism
Cubism, which took off in the years just before the First World War, broke subjects into geometric shapes, as if seen from many sides at the same time.
8. 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa', a famous woodblock print by Hokusai, comes from which country?
- A. Japan
- B. China
- C. Korea
- D. Vietnam
Answer: Japan
Look closely behind the giant wave and you'll spot a tiny Mount Fuji — the print is part of Hokusai's series 'Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji'.
9. Frida Kahlo, famous for her bold self-portraits, came from which country?
- A. Spain
- B. Argentina
- C. Mexico
- D. Cuba
Answer: Mexico
Kahlo began painting seriously while recovering from a terrible bus accident she survived at the age of 18.
10. Artist Zainul Abedin, honoured in Bangladesh as 'Shilpacharya', became famous for his drawings of which 1943 disaster?
- A. A great earthquake
- B. The Bengal famine
- C. A cyclone
- D. A river flood
Answer: The Bengal famine
His stark black-ink sketches of the Bengal famine made him famous, and he later led the founding of Dhaka's first art institute, today the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka.