Can You Match These Famous Artists to Their Paintings?

By: Allison Lips
Estimated Completion Time
5 min
Can You Match These Famous Artists to Their Paintings?
Image: PeopleImages/E+/Getty Images

About This Quiz

Everyone creates art. However, only a few people become famous and world-renowned for their artwork. While Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Claude Monet, Salvador Dali and Roy Lichtenstein had very different styles, they do have one thing in common: Their work is found in museums around the world. 

An art lover would have to visit The Smithsonian, Le Louvre, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Modern Museum of Art and many others to see a fraction of the works that great artists have made. Even if you somehow manage to visit every art museum in the world, you still won't be able to see many works. Some of those pieces have made their way into private collections. When they hit the auction block, those paintings sell for thousands, if not millions, of dollars. Other paintings have been lost to time or destroyed by their creators, who felt that a particular painting should not have been created in the first place or was not their best work.

If you're familiar with art, you're going to enjoy this quiz. Instead of focusing on one art style, this quiz runs the gamut from Pop Art to Impressionism. Will you get all of these questions correct? Or will you forget the real name of "Dogs Playing Poker?" 

Mona Lisa
Wiki Commons By Leonardo da Vinci - Cropped and relevelled from File:Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, from C2RMF.jpg. Originally C2RMF: Galerie de tableaux en très haute définition:
Leonard Da Vinci painted which famous piece of art from 1503 to 1519?
Mona Lisa
Salvator Mundi
The Last Supper
St. John the Baptist
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Mona Lisa" is believed to be a painting of Lisa Gherardini. Today, you can find the painting in its own room at the Louvre. Approximately 6 million visitors visit the Louvre every year. Of those visitors, around 16,000 a day visit the "Mona Lisa."

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Girl with a Pearl Earring
Wiki Commons By Johannes Vermeer
Which painting has an unknown subject, but may be a portrait of Johannes Vermeer's maid?
The Art of Painting
The Milkmaid
The Little Street
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Girl with a Pearl Earring" is one of Johannes Vermeer's 36 known works. Most of his paintings feature women doing daily tasks. His other paintings include "Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window" and "The Music Lesson."

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The Birth of Venus
Wiki Commons By File Upload Bot (Eloquence)
This painting was created by Sandro Botticelli for Lorenzo de Medici. What was it called?
Primavera
The Birth of Venus
Adoration of the Magi
The Birth of Christ
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Sandro Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" depicts several gods. Venus is the goddess in the seashell. The others are Zephyr, the god of the west wind, and Horae, the goddess of the seasons. Aura, nymphs of the wind, or Chloris, nymph of spring, are two possible explanations for the fourth figure.

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The Starry Night
Wiki Commons By Vincent van Gogh - Transferred from the English Wikipedia
Vincent van Gogh painted this while in an asylum. What is its title?
Sunflowers
Cafe Terrace at Night
The Potato Eaters
The Starry Night
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Vincent van Gogh's older brother was also named Vincent van Gogh. However, the elder Van Gogh died at birth. The famous Van Gogh's other brother, Theo, was the recipient of most of the painter's 800 letters.

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Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1
Wiki Commons By James Abbott McNeill Whistler - Musée d'Orsay
Which painting features a depiction of James Abbott McNeill Whistler's mother?
The Peacock Room
Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1
Rose and Silver: The Princess from the Land of Porcelain
Portrait of Lady Meux
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1" is popularly known as "Whistler's Mother." The woman's real name is Anna Matilda McNeill Whistler. She lived with her son, James, in London from 1864 to 1875.

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The Kiss
Wiki Commons By Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt painted this portrait during his Golden Phase. What did he name it?
Beethoven Frieze
The Kiss
Death and Life
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Gustav Klimt studied at the Vienna School of Decorative Arts. Once he left the school, he opened a studio that specialized in mural painting. In 1897, Klimt founded the school of painting known as the Vienna Sesession.

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The Arnolfini Portrait
Wiki Commons By Jan van Eyck - Web site of National Gallery, London
Jan van Eyck may have painted the first painting made with oils. What is it called?
Annunciation
The Arnolfini Portrait
Lucca Madonna
Saint Jerome in His Study
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Jan van Eyck's "The Arnolfini Portrait" features Giovanni di Nocolao Arnofini and his wife. Arnofini came from a merchant family. Van Eyck signed the portrait with "Jan van Eyck was here 1434" in Latin.

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The Garden of Earthly Delights
Wiki Commons By Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch painted which painting that is made of three parts?
Adoration of the Magi
The Garden of Earthly Delights
Saint Gregory's Mass
The Last Supper
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"The Garden of Earthly Delights" is a triptych, which is a painting with three panels. The middle panel measures 7.25 by 6.5 feet. The side panels are approximately 7.25 by 3.25 feet.

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The Fortune Teller
Wiki Commons By Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons. Original uploader was PiCo.
Which Caravaggio painting has two versions?
The Calling of St Matthew
Supper at Emmaus
Death of the Virgin
The Fortune Teller
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was known to have a quick temper. In 1606, Caravaggio lost his temper and killed a man. Instead of staying to face the consequences, he left Rome because he was sure that the Pope would pardon him, which he did.

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The Night Watch
Wiki Commons By Rembrandt
Frans Banning Cocq commissioned which Rembrandt painting?
The Night Watch
The Stoning of St. Stephen
The Baptism of the Eunuch
The Flight into Egypt
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"The Night Watch" has two much longer names: "Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq" and "The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch."

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Water Lilies
Wiki Commons By Claude Monet - Own work, Ermell,
In French, which Claude Monet painting is known as Nymphéas?
Water Lilies
Poppies
Women in the Garden
The Lunch
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

In 1893, Monet put a lily pond in his yard. From 1899 onward, the pond was the dominant subject of his paintings. In total, there were over 250 paintings of water lilies. However, Monet destroyed some of them.

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The School of Athens
Wiki Commons By Raphael
Raphael painted Plato, Aristotle and Socrates in a painting called what?
The School of Athens
Sistine Madonna
Transfiguration
Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Raphael spent 12 years of his life in Rome. During that time, he painted the Stanze di Raffaelo, which translates to "The Raphael Rooms," which are four rooms in the Palace of the Vatican. "The School of Athens" is a painting in the Stanza della Segnatura and stands alongside "Disputation of the Holy Sacrament," "The Parnassus" and "Thew Cardinal Virtues."

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Dance at Le moulin de la Galette copy
Wiki Commons By Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Which Renoir painting became property of the French Republic after its owner died?
Dance at Le moulin de la Galette
Luncheon of the Boating Party
Two Young Girls at the Piano
Dance in the City
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Gustave Caillebotte owned "Dance at Le moulin de la Galette" from 1879 to 1894. After his death, the painting was housed in Musée du Luxembourg until it was moved to the Louvre in 1929.

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Portrait of Madame Cézanne with Loosened Hair
Wiki Commons By Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne painted many portraits of his wife. Of the following paintings, which is one of them?
Portrait of Madame Cézanne with Loosened Hair
Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley
The Boy in the Red Vest
Still Life with Peaches and Pears
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Paul Cézanne was married to Hortense Fiquet Cézanne, who sat for at least 27 paintings. In each painting, she is depicted as sullen. In 2014, 24 of the paintings were displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Portrait of Pope Innocent X
Wiki Commons By Circle of Théodore Géricault
There are multiple versions of one of Diego Velazquez's paintings. One is in Rome and the other in New York. What is the painting?
Las meninas
Portrait of Pope Innocent X
Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan
The Triumph of Bacchus
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Diego Velazquez was appointed painter to Phillip IV in 1623. He would remain in the king's court for the rest of his life. In the 1640s, Velazquez painted less so that he could focus his attention on serving the king.

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On White II
Wiki Commons By Wassily Kandinski
What painting did Wassily Kandinsky paint in 1923?
Composition VII
On White II
Farbstudie Quadrate
First Abstract Watercolor
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Wassily Kandinsky is a Russian-born artist who was part of the influential group Der Blaue Reiter, which was based in Munich, Germany. In 1896, Kandinsky made the move from Russia to Germany, where he became a painter.

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The Scream
Wiki Commons By Edvard Munch
In 1994, which Edvard Munch painting was stolen from the National Gallery?
Anxiety
Vampire
The Dance of Life
The Scream
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Edvard Munch's first painting was "The Sick Child," which was inspired by his sister who died when Munch was 14. The Norwegian painter's work focuses mainly on psychological themes and was influenced by German Expressionism.

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Olympia
WikiCommons
Which Edouard Manet painting defied the trend of the time by featuring a regular woman?
Olympia
The Balcony
Luncheon in the Studio
The Absinthe Drinker
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

When it debut in 1965 Paris, Edouard Manet's "Olympia" was controversial because the painter had realistically depicted a nude body. Currently, the painting resides at Musée d'Orsy.

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Green Stripe
Wikipedia Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
Henri Matisse painted his wife in which painting?
Dance
The Young Sailor II
The Open Window
Green Stripe
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Henri Matisse's "Green Stripe" is also known as "The Green Line," "Portrait of Madame Matisse," and by it's French name, "La Raie Verte." The painting is housed at the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow
Wiki Commons By Piet Mondrian - [1]
This Piet Mondrian painting was orignally called "Komposition mit Rot, Blau und Gelb." What is it's name in English?
Evening; Red Tree
Gray Tree
Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow
Victory Boogie Woogie
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Piet Mondrian painted "Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow" around 1930. The painting is oil on canvas like "Composition," which Mondrian had painted the previous year. In 1987, Alfred Roth donated the painting to Kunsthaus Zurich.

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View of Toledo
Wiki Commons By El Greco - Unknown
Which painting is one of only two surviing landscapes painted by El Greco?
The Burial of the Count of Orgaz
View of Toledo
The Disrobing of Christ
The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

El Greco was born Domenikos Theotokopoulo. His "View of Toldeo" depicts the city in which he spent most of his life. Some of the structures in the painting are Alcázar, Alcántara Bridge and the Castle of San Servando.

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Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird
Wikipedia By Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo made which painting after divorcing her husband of 10 years, Diego Rivera?
Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird
The Two Fridas
The Broken Column
Frida and Diego Rivera
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Frida Kahlo painted 143 paintings of which 55 are self-portraits. Her other self-portraits include "Self-Portrait with Monkey," "Diego and I," "Self-Portrait with Loose Hair" and "Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky."

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The Persistence of Memory
Wikipedia By Salvador Dalí
What was the name of Salvador Dali's painting that was anonymously donated to the Museum of Modern Art in 1934?
The Persistence of Memory
Lobster Telephone
Melting Watch
The Face of War
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

In 1931, Salvador Dali painted "The Persistence of Memory" at the height of the Surrealist Movement. He created the painting using his paranoiac-critical method, which relies on self-induced hallucinations and paranoia to create art.

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The City Rises
Wiki Commons By Umberto Boccioni - Moma.org
This Umberto Boccini painting is often considered the first Futurist painting. What is it called?
Elasticity
Three Women
The Laugh
The City Rises
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

In 1907, Umberto Boccioni moved to Milan. While in the Italian city, Poet Filippo Marinetti, who started the Futurist movement, began to have a heavy influence on Boccioni's work. Boccioni published "Manifesto of the Futurist Painters" in 1910.

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The Cornfield
Wiki Commons By John Constable
Which 1826 John Constable painting depicts the East Anglian countryside with shepherds and farm workers?
The Hay Wain
Hadleigh Castle
The Cornfield
Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

John Constable never left England and is closely associated with Stour Valley, which is nicknamed "Constable country." Constable's later paintings were not open-air oil sketches. Instead, they were sketches inspired by his earlier works.

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The Icebergs
Wiki Commons By Frederic Edwin Church
After spending a month on a boat in the North Atlantic, Frederic Edwin Church created which painting?
The Parthenon
El Rio de Luz
The Heart of the Andes
The Icebergs
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Frederic Edwin Church studied with Thomas Cole from 1844 to 1846. Both men are known for paint landscapes. Cole enjoyed Church's work so much, he once said that Church had "the finest eye for drawing in the world."

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Nighthawks
Wiki Commons By Edward Hopper
Which Edward Hopper painting was inspired by a restaurant on New York's Greenwich Avenue?"
Nighthawks
Chop Suey
Automat
House by the Railroad
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"Nighthawks" was completed in January 1942. It is currently owned by the Art Institute of Chicago. While most of Edward Hopper's paintings have one lonely subject, "Nighthawks" features many people in a neighborhood diner.

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Girls at the Piano
Wiki Commons By Johannes Vermeer
What is the name of Pierre-August Renoir's painting that was sketched in oils, painted in pastel, and has at least four finished versions with the same composition?
The Umbrellas
Dance at Bougival
Girls at the Piano
Dance in the City
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

In 1962, Renoir took lessons at the École des Beaux-Arts in drawing and anatomy. He also took lessons from Swiss painter Charles Gleyre, who had been a student of Neoclasical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominque Ingres.

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The Sower
Wiki Commons By Jean-Francois Millet
This Jean-Francois Millet painting was sold to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston by Marian Shaw Haughton. Which one is it?
The Sower
The Angelus
The Walk to Work
The Gleaners
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Vincent van Gogh admired Jean-Francois Millet. However, Van Gogh never got to see "The Sower" because it entered a private collection in Boston years before he was born. "The Sower" is a 40- by 32.5-inch painting made from oil on canvas.

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The Day Dream
Wiki Commons BY Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Which Dante Gabriel Rossetti painting relates to his poem that has the last line: "Drops the forgotten blossom from her hand"?
The Girlhood of Mary Virgin
Proserpine
The Beloved
The Day Dream
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Sometime before October 31, 1979, Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "The Day Dream" was commissioned by Constantine Alexander Ionides for 700 guineas. The painting was Rossetti's last finished work.

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In the Car
Wikipedia By Roy Lichtenstein
"Girls' Romances," a comic book, inspired which Roy Lichtenstein painting?
Girl with Ball
In the Car
Crying Girl
Drowning Girl
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Roy Lichtenstein was a member of the Pop Art movement and a contemporary of Andy Warhol. Many of Lichtenstein's paintings used Ben-Day dots, which was a printing process that featured dots of equal size and distribution across a given area.

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Three Musicians
Wikipedia By Pablo Picasso
Which one of Pablo Picasso's paintings features a monk holding sheet music?
Three Musicians
Head of a Woman
Painter and Model
Acrobat
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Pablo Picasso's "Three Musicians" features two characters from "commedia dell'arte," or Italian comic theatre. The first character is the Pierrot, which is on the left. The other is a Harlequin, which is in the center.

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A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
Wiki Commons By Georges Seurat
In 1884, art critics dismissed this Georges Seurat painting as "bedlam," "scandal" and "hilarity." What was it called?
Bathers at Asnières
Young Woman Powdering Herself
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
Circus Sideshow
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

"A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" debuted at the 1886 Impressionist exhibition. It was created using dot-like dabs of paint, which is a technique now known as Pointillism. The painting is housed at the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Self-Portrait without Beard
Wiki Commons By Vincent van Gogh
This Vincent Van Gogh painting sold for $71.5 million in 1998. Which is it?
Self-Portrait without Beard
The Yellow House
Almond Blossoms
The Red Vineyard
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

At the 1998 Christie's auction, "Self-Portrait without Beard" had seven serious bidders. The painting was originally made for Van Gogh's mother's 70th birthday to prove to her that her son was doing fine.

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Man at the Crossroads
Wiki Commons By Kgv88 - Own work
Which Diego Rivera painting was originally a mural in Rockefeller Center?
Man at the Crossroads
The Flower Carrier
Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park
Pan American Unity
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Diego Rivera's painting was removed from Rockefeller center in 1934, two years after it was commissioned. In 2014, the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington D.C. told the story of the mural in an exhibition called "Man at the Crossroads: Diego Rivera's Mural at Rockefeller Center."

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American Gothic
Wiki Commons By Armbrust
Grant Wood won $300 for which painting?
Woman with Plants
Daughters of Revolution
Young Corn
American Gothic
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Grant Wood submitted "American Gothic" to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1930. He ended up winning a $300 prize and the art museum acquired the piece for its permanent collection. The small town of Eldon, Iowa inspired the painting.

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The Son of Man
Spencer's Painting of the Week via youtube
What is the name of the painting that is a self-portrait of Rene Magritte?
The Treachery of Images
The Listening Room
The Son of Man
The Lovers
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Magritte painted apples on several occasions. The other paintings include "The Postcard," " Listening Room," "Ceci n'est pas une pomme," "The Habit" and "Le prêtre marié." Another recurring feature in Magritte's paintings is the bowler hat, which first appeared in "Man in the Bowler Hat."

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A Friend in Need
Wiki Commons By Cassius Marcellus Coolidge -
While C.M. Coolidge is famous for painting dogs, which of his famous paintings is most often called "Dogs Playing Poker?"
A Bold Bluff
Pinched with Four Aces
Sitting up with a Sick Friend
A Friend in Need
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

In 1998, one of Coolidge's original paintings was sold for $74,000. In 2005, "A Bold Bluff" and "Waterloo: Two" were expected to sell for $30,000 to $50,000, but would end up selling for over $590,000.

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The Creation Of Adam
Wiki Commons By Michelangelo - "Michelangelo and The Sistine Chapel", Andrew Graham-Dixon, 2009
Which Michelangelo painting illustrates a story from the Book of Genesis?
The Creation Of Adam
The Entombment
The Last Judgment
Separation of Light from Darkness
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The Sistine Chapel was renovated in the late 15th century and named after the man who supervised that renovation, Pope Sixtus IV. The chapel is located in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace.

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