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32 Facts About Art More Interesting Than a Bowl of Fruit

Nothing against bowls of fruit

32 Facts About Art More Interesting Than a Bowl of Fruit

October 12, 2023

Here are 32 artfully-crafted facts to drop into your conversation palette. After all, you never know when somebody’s going to bring up Degas, but when they do, you can sting them with #24 and then help yourself to more wine.

32

This is Bridge, by Robert Ryman. It sold for $20.6 million in 2015. All-white paintings such as this are more about the response they provoke from viewers than expressing ideas themselves. It provides an outlet for the viewer to fill in their own stories and emotions. If this expensive painting makes you feel angry or confused, that speaks to something about you. Which is the work's purpose. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

31

CRACKED.COM In Steve McCurry's most iconic photograph Afghan Girl,he shows his technical style by using low light and shadows to get the purest colors, and a great, dark appearance. Не likes to connect with the person, so he can capture the expression of the face, especially the eyes. By doing this, people who see the photograph can feel the essence of conflict, in this case, war. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

30

JACKSON POLLOCK revolutionized painting. Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950 Where other artists stood their canvases upright and brushed on paint, Pollock laid his flat and poured and dripped the paint in swirling patterns. So rather than using paint to create an image, the paint itself was the art. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

29

CRACKED COM Jeff Koons describes his Balloon Dogs sculptures as being symbolic of humans as breathing machines; a balloon filled with air represents etemal optimism that humans will also have breath. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

28

CRACKED.COM Laocoön and His Sons has been a puzzle and subject of endless debate since the work was discovered in 1506. What is certain about this scene from the Fall of Troy is that it shows an extraordinary range of movement for an inanimate object, and elevates the agony of suffering into something beautiful. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

27

Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas are deep, heavy works of brooding emotion, greatly misunderstood during his time... ...except for No.25, the Ор. 79 Sonata in G major, a light and happy dance tune. The popular style of the day was watered-down simple harmonies, easy to play and easy on the ear; essentially, the Blink 182 of the Nineteenth Century. SUCK IT! With No.25, Beethoven tried his hand at the popular style, not to give in to the masses, but rather to say if you guys are going to do pop-punk, at least let me show CRACKED.COM you how to do it — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

26

A man punched a hole through a $10 million Monet painting Не was sentenced to 5 years in prison. Не is banned from art galleries until 15 months after his release. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

25

Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère is one of the first cases of product placement. The labels on the bar show that they're from Bass Brewery. Art critics believe it's a negative commentary on consumer culture. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

24

A stolen Degas painting was found in a suitcase on a bus. Worth almost a million dollars, no one on the bus claimed the painting, stolen nine years prior. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

23

The MoMA hung a painting upside down for 47 days before someone realized INCORRECT CORRECT A visitor was one who caught the wrong orientation of Matisse's Le Bateau. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

22

Michelangelo hid underground for three months While avoiding the wrath of the Pope, the artist doodled on the walls of a room underneath the Medici Chapel. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

21

Vincent van Gogh's gun sold for $182,000 The weapon believed to be used in his suicide sold for double what was expected. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

20

Franz Kafka's works often depict illogical, bureaucratic reactions to surreal situations. For example, in 'The Metamorphosis', Gregor Samsa wakes up to find out that he's turned into a giant insect (surreal) and the first thing he does is to get up to go to work (bureaucratic). His works often present these situations as criticism of the absurdity of bureaucratic systems. CRACKED COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

19

GRACKED.COM It's just an old lady, who cares? Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 1 by James McNeill Whistler shows that a painting can be visually arresting without bright colors or a surreal subject. Whistler also manages to depict the skin of an elderly woman very realistically. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

18

Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas (1656) is thought of as one of the first modern paintings because of how it challenged notions of viewer, artist, and subject. The artist is shown painting a portrait of a royal couple. The couple, however, can only be seen in the mirror on the far wall since they are outside of the painting standing where the viewer is. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

17

This untitled watercolor by Wassily Kandinsky has been called the first Abstract painting. Kandinsky realized that simply using colors and shapes could communicate emotion to a viewer even without depicting literal objects. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

16

GRAGKED.COM Vincent van Gogh pioneered stippling - painting with big visible brushstrokes. This and his superior work with colors to express emotion rather than using them realistically make his paintings, like The Starry Night, highly sought after. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

15

Black Iris III by Georgia O'Keeffe is commonly seen as an artistic representation of the female genitalia. O'Keeffe herself disputed this view and explained that a flower's small size hinders a quick glance from grasping its detail, which is why she took the time out to observe and paint flowers as she saw them. The large scale of the painting is intended to capture the viewer's attention and enable the viewer to see the flower through her eyes. GRAGKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

14

Leonardo Da Vinci was a wedding planner for four years The seating for The Last Supper mirrors his layout for the wedding of the Duke of Milan Leonardo. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

13

Roy Lichtenstein directly reproduced from comic artists I DON'T CARE/ TO RATHER SINK THAN CALL BRAD FOR HELP/ His paintings sell for milliions, while the original artists struggled to make end's meet. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

12

When Dali's remains were exhumed, his mustache was still perfectly intact X His body was removed for DNA samples for a paternity case, 28 years after his death. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

11

Picasso was once suspected of stealing the Mona Lisa in 1911. One of Picasso's friends had sold him art stolen from the Louvre before and reported him to the police. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

10

Before he was an artist, Jeff Koons was a commodities broker on Wall Street In case you needed more reasons to dislike him, Koons made bank before he made millions off his art. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

9

Basquiat was in Blondie's music video for Rapture. Debbie Harry bought Basquiat's first painting for $200. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

8

Rembrandt's Portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III has been stolen 4 times The 9x12 inch painting has been nicknamed the takeaway Rembrandt as its small size has led to its numerous thefts. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

7

A computer can tell a real Jackson Pollock from a fake It has 93% accuracy. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Now-You-Know Facts From Art History

6

CRACKED.COM Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon revolutionized artistic representation by showing multiple perspectives simultaneously. such as the figure in the bottom right who is both facing and turned away from the viewer. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

5

Rhein II by Andreas Gursky remains the most expensive photograph in the world. It portrays a vast expanse and a river with straight banks, which is not usually seen in nature. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

4

Girl with a Pearl Earring looks so mysterious because it's technically not a portrait. A portrait captures the appearance of a specific person. This painting is a tronie - which means the girl is intentionally designed to not look like any specific person, or like she belongs to any specific place. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

3

Constantin Brancusi's sculpture of Fish has no eyes or scales. CRACKED.COM It is meant to show just the flash of its spirit. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

2

The Bean's real name is Cloud Gate. You're supposed to see the distorted reflection of the Chicago skyline, and then walk under the Gate to see your own reflection distorted in the same way. This makes you feel like you are part of the architecture-- like you're participating in it. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

1

This painting is known as Son of Man by Rene Magritte. This painting represents a conflict of what we can see versus what we can't see because one thing hides another. This is why the man's eye is partially covered by the apple: because what's intended to be seen, cannot be. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

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