I love trivia so why not combine it with my other love – art.
- Monet’s father disapproved of him painting and wanted him to be a grocer instead.
2. Jackson Pollock used cigarettes to paint with.
3. Picasso was once accused and put on trial for theft of the Mona Lisa – he was cleared of the charges.
4. Michelangelo’s sculpture ‘La Pieta’ was the only work that he ever signed. He later regretted it and considered it a show of vanity and arrogance – he vowed never to sign a work again.
5. Salvador Dali was kicked out of art school in Madrid – he believed he was the re-incarnation of his dead brother and once set his bedroom on fire.
6. Paul Gaugin worked as a labourer on the Panama canal – he survived, unlike nearly 25,000 who died.
7. Leonardo da Vinci was a vegetarian and animal rights activist – he would regularly buy caged birds and other animals and then set them free.
8. William Morris would throw his dinner out the window if he did not think it was properly prepared.
9. Rubens was knighted by Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England.
10. Rodin died of frostbite
11. Velazquez is credited with coming up with the idea of lollipops
12. Georges Braque was the first person to be alive whilst his works were displayed at the Louvre.
13. Art used to be an olympic sport – it was scrapped because it attracted too many professionals.
14. Rembrandt once filed for bankruptcy.
15. Picasso was christened with a name consisting of 27 words: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso.