Art History quiz

More questions about Art History

These visible examples show the question style. LearnClash turns the full topic into ranked duels and spaced repetition.

1. 1 Easy

   Which mountain sits behind The Great Wave?

   Answer: Mount Fuji

   Why: The Great Wave is the opening print in a series of thirty-six different views of Mount Fuji.

2. 2 Medium

   What happened to Banksy's Girl with Balloon immediately after its auction?

   Answer: It shredded itself

   Why: The shredder hidden in the frame stopped halfway; renamed Love Is in the Bin, the half cut canvas resold in 2021 for 18.6 million pounds.

3. 3 Hard

   Why did Caravaggio have to flee Rome in 1606?

   Answer: He killed someone

   Why: A papal sentence made him an outlaw anywhere the Pope ruled, so he painted on the run in Naples, Malta and Sicily until his death in 1610.

4. 4 Easy

   How much of his own ear did Vincent van Gogh cut off?

   Answer: His entire left ear

   Why: Doctor Félix Rey sketched the injury for a writer in 1930, and that diagram, rediscovered in 2016, settled a century-old argument.

5. 5 Medium

   Why did Monet's later paintings look increasingly red and blurry?

   Answer: He had cataracts

   Why: Diagnosed in 1912, Monet put off surgery for a decade; after three operations in 1923 he destroyed canvases whose colours now looked garish.

6. 6 Hard

   What stone was ground up to make Renaissance blue paint?

   Answer: Lapis lazuli

   Why: Nearly all of it came from one Afghan valley, the Sar-e-Sang mines in Badakhshan, and the ultramarine it yielded rivalled gold in price.