Famous Artists: Questions and Answers
Question/Answer Arts Quiz Page about Famous Painters, Sculptors, Printmakers, Ceramicists.
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Questions About Famous Artists

Bookmark this page for answers to all your queries about celebrated visual artists. More questions and answers are added every week. See also:

• Questions About History of Art
• Questions About Types of Art
• Questions About Irish Art

Renaissance

• Who were the greatest Old Masters in the history of art?
• Where can I find a list of the world's best artists?
• What chapel was decorated by Giotto di Bondone?
• What type of painting is Jan van Eyck famous for?
• Who was Roger Van der Weyden?
• Why is Donatello regarded as the greatest sculptor of the early Renaissance?
• What artistic technique was exemplified by Andrea Mantegna?
• Why is Alessandro Botticelli famous?
• Who was Hieronymus Bosch?
• Why is Leonardo da Vinci considered to be such a great artist?
• At what type of art did Albrecht Dürer excel?
• What sort of pictures were painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder?
• Was Michelangelo Buonarroti best at sculpture or painting?
• What famous paintings were painted by Raphael?
• Why is Titian so famous?
• What genre was practised by Hans Holbein The Younger?
• Who was Jacopo Tintoretto? Why is he remembered?
• Which country is associated with Pieter Bruegel the Elder?
• Why is the Mannerist El Greco so highly regarded?
• What sort of pictures were painted by Caravaggio?

Baroque (17th Century)

• What sort of women were painted by Peter Paul Rubens?
• Who was Giovanni Bernini?
• What sort of art was practised by Frans Snyders?
• Who were the greatest Baroque sculptors?
• Why was Nicolas Poussin?
• Which famous English king was painted by Anthony Van Dyck?
• What famous paintings were painted by Diego Velázquez?
• What made Rembrandt van Rijn such a great painter?
• What school of painting was led by Jan Vermeer?

18th Century

• What sort of pictures were painted by Jean Chardin?
• What famous paintings were painted by Francisco Goya?
• Why was Jacques-Louis David considered a political painter?
• Who were the best Neo-Classical sculptors?

19th Century

• Who are the world's most famous artists of the modern era?
• Which are JMW Turner's best known paintings?
• Who was Eugene Delacroix? Why is he famous?
• Which art movement was led by Gustave Courbet?
• What style is Jean-Francois Millet associated with?
• Which are the most famous modern art movements?
• How did Edouard Manet scandalize the French salon?
• Which famous 19th century art movement was led by Claude Monet?
• Who was Camille Pissarro?
• What style of painting is Pierre-Auguste Renoir famous for?
• Of which movement was Alfred Sisley the "forgotten member"?
• Who were the two famous women Impressionists?
• What famous paintings were painted by Edgar Degas?
• What style of painting was invented by Georges Seurat?
• What painting genre was John Singer Sargent famous for?
• Who were the top 19th Century sculptors?
• How did Paul Cezanne influence modern art?
• Why did Vincent Van Gogh commit suicide?
• What type of paintings were painted by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec?
• What style of painting is Paul Gauguin famous for?
• What famous sculptures were created by Auguste Rodin?

20th Century

• Which art movement was led by the colourist Henri Matisse?
• What style of painting was Wassily Kandinsky famous for?
• Which is Edvard Munch's most famous painting?
• Which art movement was the German painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner involved in?
• Which city and which style of painting is Amedeo Modigliani associated with?
• Why did Egon Schiele's self-portraits cause a scandal?
• Who was Max Beckmann?
• Why is Georges Braque one of France's most eminent artists?
• What's the difference between Pablo Picasso's Blue and Rose period?
• Juan Gris was an important member of which art movement?
• Why is Marcel Duchamp regarded as the father of conceptual art?
• Which surrealist paintings are Salvador Dali's most famous works?
• What sort of pictures were painted by the Neo-Plasticist Piet Mondrian?
• What style of painting was invented by Americans Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner?
• What famous works were painted by Willem De Kooning?
• What sort of paintings were produced by Mark Rothko?
• Which art movement is Andy Warhol associated with?
• Who is Fernando Botero? Why is he famous?
• Why is Damien Hirst the most successful contemporary artist?

Q. Who were the greatest Old Masters in the history of art?
If the ability to influence other artists is the true test of excellence in art, then the greatest Old Masters include:

• Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337) for his revolutionary "human" forms.
• Jan van Eyck (1390-1441) for his realistic oil portraits.
• Piero della Francesca (1420-92) for his pioneering work on linear perspective.
• Alessandro Botticelli (1445-1510) for his complex mythological paintings.
• Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) for "The Last Supper" and "Mona Lisa".
• Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) for his pioneering work in printmaking.
• Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475-1564) for his immortal frescoes and sculptures.
• El Greco (1541-1614) For his religious works and his use of black and white pigment.
• Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) for his dramatic monumental paintings.
• Nicolas Poussin (French, 1594-1665) for his elegant and polished classical academic painting.
• Diego Velázquez (Spanish, 1599-1660) for his complex compositions and portraits.
• Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669) for his chiaroscuro and perceptive portraits.

For biographies of these and other great European painters, see: Old Masters.

Q. Where can I find a list of the world's greatest artists?
• For the top 300 painters, see: Greatest Painting Ever.
• For a list of the top 10 greatest painters and sculptors, see: Best Artists of All Time.
• For a compilation of the finest painters across the different genres, see the following:
- For a list of narrative artists, see: Best History Painters: Top 10.
- For the top plein-air painters, see: Best Landscape Artists: Top 10.
- For the greatest still life art, see: Best Still Life Painters: Top 10.
- For a list of the finest portraitists, see: Best Portrait Artists: Top 10.
- For outstanding genre works, see: Best Genre Painters: Top 10.

Q. What chapel was decorated by Giotto di Bondone?
Giotto painted The Scrovegni Chapel in Padua: hailed as one of the earliest Renaissance masterpieces. For more information, see: Giotto: Biography (1267-1337).

Q. What type of painting is Jan van Eyck famous for?
Portraiture, in which he demonstrated his mastery of oils. For more information about his life, see: Jan van Eyck: Biography (1390-1441).

Q. Who was Roger Van der Weyden?
A Dutch artist, one of the greatest religious panel-painters of the Northern Renaissance, he treated his subjects with the utmost sympathy, endowing them with human qualities. For more information, see: Roger Van der Weyden: Biography (1400-1464).

Q. What famous paintings were painted by Piero della Francesca?
"The Flagellation" (1490) [Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino] and "The Portrait of Federigo da Montefeltro" (1465) [Uffizi, Florence], to name but two. For more information about his career, see: Piero della Francesca: Biography (1420-92).

Q. Why is Donatello regarded as the greatest sculptor of the early Renaissance?
Because he could bring sculpture to life by injecting it with narrative. His sculptures are full of energy and thought, ready to spring into action. Some of his work is intensely "modern". For more information, see: Donatello: Biography (1386-1466).

Q. What artistic technique was exemplified by Andrea Mantegna?
A Renaissance painter and engraver, Andrea Mantegna was noted for his large paintings of realistic figures, often presented from a low perspective to a create monumentality in his composition. For more information, see: Andrea Mantegna: Biography (1430-1506).

Q. Why is Alessandro Botticelli famous?
He was one of the first painters to combine complex allegory with superb figurative skill.
For more information, see: Alessandro Botticelli: Biography (1445-1510).

Q. Who was Hieronymus Bosch?
A 15th century Dutch painter renowned for his moralistic fantasy paintings of demons, sin and moral failing, like "The Garden of Earthly Delights" (1485) (Prado Museum, Madrid). For more information, see: Hieronymus Bosch: Biography (1450-1516).

Q. Why is Leonardo da Vinci considered to be such a great artist?
Because of his superlative draughtsmanship, his development of oil painting and his technique of sfumato. His masterpieces "The Last Supper" (1495-8) and "Mona Lisa" (La Gioconda) (1503-5) are among the most highly regarded and valuable works of art ever produced. For more information, see: Leonardo da Vinci: Biography (Italian, 1452-1519).

Q. At what type of art did Albrecht Dürer excel?
Durer was the first and greatest Renaissance expert in engraving, and other forms of printmaking. He is best known for his woodcut prints such as the "Apocalypse" (1498) and "Passion" (c.1497-1500) series. For more information, see: Albrecht Durer: Biography (1471-1528).

Q. What sort of pictures were painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder?
Lucas Cranach founded the "Danube school" of landscape painting (with Albrecht Altdorfer), and was noted for his nudes and workmanlike portraits of (eg.) Martin Luther (1553) (Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweigh). For more information, see: Lucas Cranach: Biography (1472-1553).

Q. Was Michelangelo Buonarroti best at sculpture or painting?
Critics are divided. Some consider his greatest works to be the marble sculptures
Pieta (1500) and David (1501-4); while others regard his "Genesis" and "Last Judgement" frescoes on the ceiling and wall of the Vatican Sistine Chapel as the the greatest examples of figurative painting in the history of Western art. For more information about his life and works, see: Michelangelo Buonarroti: Biography (1475-1564).

Q. What famous paintings were painted by Raphael?
Among Raphael's most famous works are his frescoes in the Raphael Rooms at the Palace of the Vatican (eg. "The School of Athens," 1509-11), and his painting "The Transfiguration" (Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican Museum). For more information, see: Raphael Sanzio: Biography (1483-1520).

Q. Why is Titian so famous?
The Venetian painter Tiziano Vecellio (Titian) is renowned for his painterly skills in the use of colour, as exemplified by his portraits and landscapes. For more information about his short life, see: Titian: Biography (c.1490–1576).

Q. What genre was practised by Hans Holbein The Younger?
The German artist Hans Holbein was one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. Among his most famous portraits is a "Portrait of King Henry VIII" (c.1540) (Gallerie Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome) and "The Ambassadors," (1533) (National Gallery, London). For more information, see: Hans Holbein the Younger: Biography (c.1497–1543).

Q. Who was Jacopo Tintoretto? Why is he remembered?
One of the greatest Venetian Mannerist painters, Tinotoretto is renowned for his large-scale religious works, characterized by his use of foreshortening perspective. For more information, see: Tintoretto: Biography (1518-1594).

Q. Which country is associated with Pieter Bruegel the Elder?
Bruegel was a Dutch painter of highly detailed landscapes and genre scenes of peasant life in Holland and Belgium. For more information, see: Peter Bruegel the Elder: Biography (c.1525-1569).

Q. Why is the Mannerist artist El Greco so highly regarded?
Because of his stylistic figurative art, in which he combines Byzantine and Renaissance traditions with haunting use of black and white. For more information about his life and works, see: El Greco: Biography (c.1541-1614).

Q. What sort of pictures were painted by Caravaggio?
The unruly, short-tempered genius Caravaggio was one of the great painters of the Baroque school of art, renowned for his depiction of biblical characters as ordinary everyday people. For more information, see: Caravaggio: Biography (1571-1610).

Q. What sort of women were painted by Peter Paul Rubens?
Rubens - "the" iconographer of the Catholic faith during the Counter-Reformation - was famous for painting full-bodied curvaceous women, resulting in the adjective "rubenesque" to describe ladies with full figures. For more information and facts about his outstanding artistic career, see: Rubens: Biography (1577-1640).

Q. Who was Giovanni Bernini?
The successor to the great Mannerist sculptor Giambologna, Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini was reputedly the greatest Baroque sculptor of the 17th century, renowned for the dramatic realistic naturalism of his statues. For more information, see: Giovanni Bernini: Biography (1598-1680).

Q. What sort of art was practised by Frans Snyders?
Snyders was the foremost Baroque still life painter and animalier, specializing in objects and animals, rather than humans. For more information about his career and examples of his works, see: Frans Snyders: Biography (1579-1657).

Q. Who were the greatest Baroque sculptors?
After Bernini, the best sculptors of the baroque school included Alessandro Algardi (1595-1654), the Flemish classicist Francois Duquesnoy (1594-1643), the Florentine artist Giovanni Battisto Foggini (1652-1725), and the French sculptors Francois Girardon (1628-1715), Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720) and Pierre Puget (1620-94). For more information about these 3-D artists, see: Baroque Sculptors.

Q. Why was Nicolas Poussin?
A Frenchman who spent most of his painting career in Rome, Poussin was the doyen of polished academic-style painting, as exemplified by "Rape of the Sabine Woman," (1637) (Louvre, Paris) and "The Continence of Scipio," (1640) (Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow). His interpretation of classical mythology influenced a large number of famous artists. For more information, see: Nicolas Poussin: Biography (1594-1665).

Q. Which famous English king was painted by Anthony Van Dyck?
A pupil of Rubens, Van Dyck was one of the great Flemish portaitists of the 17th century and became court painter to King Charles I, whose portrait he painted on many occasions. For more information, see: Anthony Van Dyck: Biography (1599-1641).

Q. What famous paintings were painted by Diego Velázquez?
Velazquez was court painter to the Catholic monarch King Philip IV, becoming renowned for his portraiture - he completed more than 20 portraits of the King as well as members of the Royal Family. His most famous paintings include "Las Meninas" (1656) (Museo de Prado) and the portrait on horseback of Duke de Olivares, 1634 (Museo del Prado, Madrid). For more information, see: Diego Velazquez: Biography (1599–1660).

Q. What made Rembrandt van Rijn such a great painter?
Rembrandt's paintings are famous for their rich colours, luxuriant brushwork, and unrivalled portrayal of light and shadow. In addition, his portraits disclose an unusual perception of human character. For more information, see: Rembrandt: Biography (1606-1669).

Q. What school of painting was led by Jan Vermeer?
Johannes Vermeer concentrated on interiors and everyday scenes of life in Holland. He became the leader of the Dutch Realist School of Genre Painting. Only 35 paintings have been definitively attributed to his brush. For more information about his painting career and "discovery", see: Jan Vermeer: Biography (1632-1675).

Q. What sort of pictures were painted by Jean Chardin?
French painter Jean Chardin was the top 18th century still-life painter, specializing in small-scale still life and genre works. For more information, see: Jean Chardin: Biography (1699-1779).

Q. What famous paintings were painted by Francisco Goya?
The best known works by Goya include "The Nude Maja" (c.1800), "The Clothed Maja" (c.1803), "The Third of May 1808" (1814) and "Saturn Devouring his Son" (1819-23), and The Colossus (1810) (all of which hang in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. For more information, see: Goya: Biography (1746-1828).

Q. Why was Jacques-Louis David considered a political painter?
David was a strong supporter of the democratic movement that swept away the French monarchy in 1789. His sternly heroic style of Neoclassicist painting was a deliberate comment on the frivolity of Louis XVI, whose execution he later voted for. For more information, see: Jacques-Louis David: Biography (1748-1825).

Q. Who were the best Neo-Classical sculptors?
The main spokesman of the neoclassical movement was Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-68), while its leading exponent was the Italian sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822). Leading French Neoclassicists included Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828), and Claude Michel, known as Clodion (1738-1814). In England, leading exponents of Neoclassicism were Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823), Thomas Banks (1735-1805), John Flaxman (1755-1826) and his great rival Sir Richard Westmacott (1775-1856). Canova's preminent mantle was later assumed by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorwaldsen (1770-1844). For more details, see: Neoclassical Sculptors.

Q. Who are the world's most famous artists of the modern era?
For a list of biographies of the most renowned painters and sculptors of the 19th and 20th century, please see: Famous Painters.

Q. Which are JMW Turner's best known paintings?
The English Romantic landscape artist John Mallord William Turner was a prolific watercolourist and oil painter whose works influenced a huge number of later artists and styles, including Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism. His most renowned paintings include "Hannibal Crossing the Alps" (1812) (Tate, London), "Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway" (1844) (National Gallery, London), "The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons" (1835) (Philadelphia Museum of Art) and "The Fighting Temeraire" (1838) (National Gallery, London). For more details, see: JMW Turner: Biography (1775-1851).

Q. Who was Eugene Delacroix? Why is he famous?
Delacroix was the reputed son of a French Prime Minister who became the leader of the French Romantic art movement. His most famous painting is "Liberty Leading her People," (1830) (Louvre, Paris). For more details, see: Eugene Delacroix: Biography (1798-1863).

Q. Which art movement was led by Gustave Courbet?
The French painter Courbet is regarded as the leader of the 19th century French art style known as "Realism", whose members sought to depict nature in all its irregularity, even ugliness. For details of his career, see: Gustave Courbet: Biography (1819-1877).

Q. What style is Jean-Francois Millet associated with?
The Norman painter Jean-Francois Millet was a founder of the Barbizon landscape school in France. Best known for his genre-paintings of rural peasant life, his work overlaps both Naturalism and Realism. For details of his career and examples of his landscape paintings, see: Jean-Francois Millet: Biography (1814-1875).

Q. Which are the most famous modern art movements?

Impressionist Art (Flourished 1860s-1880s), Neo-Impressionism (1870s), Newlyn School (1880s onwards), Art Nouveau (Late 19th Century - Early 20th Century), Symbolism (Late 19th Century), Post Impressionist Art (c.1880-1900), Les Fauves (1898-1908), Expressionist Art (1900 onwards), Die Brucke (1905-11) (The Bridge), Der Blaue Reiter (1911-14) (The Blue Rider), Ashcan School, New York (c.1892-1919), Cubist Art (1908-1920), Orphism (1912-16), Purism (Early, mid-1920s), Precisionism (1920s, 1930s), Collages (1912 onwards), Futurism (1909-1914), Rayonism (c.1910-20), Suprematism (1913-1920s), Constructivism (c.1917-21), Vorticism (c.1913-15), Dada (Europe, 1915-1924), De Stijl (1917-31), The Bauhaus School (Germany, 1919-1933), Neo-Plasticism (1920-40), Art Deco (1920s, 1930s), Ecole de Paris (Paris School), Neue Sachlichkeit (Germany, 1920s), Surrealism (1924 onwards), Magic Realism (1920s), Degenerate Art (Entartete Kunst) (1930s, Germany), Social Realism (late 1920s, early 1930s), Socialist Realism (1929 onwards), St Ives School (late 1930s onwards), Neo-Romanticism (1930s, 1940s, 1950s), Art Brut, Organic Abstraction (1940s, 1950s), Existential Art (1940s and 1950s), Abstract Expressionism (mid-1940s, 1950s), Art Informel (mid-1940s, 1950s), Tachisme (late-1940s, 1950s), Arte Nucleare (c.1951-60), Kitchen Sink Art (mid-1950s), Assemblages (1953 onwards), Neo-Dada (1950s, early-1960s), Op-Art (Optical Art) (1950s, early-1960s), Pop Art (1950s, 1960s), New Realism (1960s), Post-Painterly Abstraction (Early, mid-1960s), Feminist Art (late 1960s onwards).

For mini-profiles of the above styles and schools, see: Modern Art Movements.

Q. How did Edouard Manet scandalize the French salon?
Manet was above all a classicist, and in his attempt to reinterpret works by the Old Masters, fell foul of the French arts establishment for his evocative paintings "Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe" and "Olympia" (both 1863) and was rejected by the Paris Salon. However, he was regarded with huge respect by both his contemporaries and the younger generation of Impressionist painters. For details of his career and works, see: Edouard Manet: Biography (1832-1883).

Q. Which famous 19th century art movement was led by Claude Monet?
Monet was the leader and leading exponent of the spontaneous style of landscape art, known as Impressionism, named after his painting - "Impression, Soleil Levant" (Impression, Rising Sun). For details of his career and works, see: Claude Monet: Biography (1840-1926).

Q. Who was Camille Pissarro?
Pissaro was one of the leading French Impressionists, but anarchistically minded and hardly ever out of debt. He produced a wide range of cityscapes, still lifes, portraits, landscapes and peasant scenes. For details of his career, see: Camille Pissarro: Biography (1830-1903).

Q. What style of painting is Pierre-Auguste Renoir famous for?
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was Monet's closest painting partner and one of the greatest of all Impressionist painters. A prolific artist, he painted over 6,000 oils of women, children, flowers and fields, using his characteristic "rainbow palette". He became the finest ever depicter of dappled light. For details of his career and works, see: Renoir: Biography (1841-1919).

Q. Of which movement was Alfred Sisley the "forgotten member"?

Alfred Sisley was the "forgotten Impressionist" about whom little is known, and whose works continued to be underrated, in spite of being one of the most consistent plein-air painters of the movement. For details of his career and works, see: Alfred Sisley: Biography (1839–1899).

Q. Who were the two famous women Impressionist Painters?

The most famous female Impressionist was Berthe Morisot (1841-95), the sister-in-law of Edouard Manet. Another well-known woman Impressionist artist was the American Mary Cassat (1844-1926). Both these exceptional members of the Impressionism movement exhibited at most of the group's exhibitions in Paris.

Q. What famous paintings were painted by Edgar Degas?
Degas' most famous paintings include his series of ballet dancers, as well as "The Absinthe Drinker" (1875) (Musee d'Orsay, Paris) and his bronze figurine "Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer" (1879) (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). For details of his career and works, see: Edgar Degas: Biography (1834-1917).

Q. What style of painting was invented by Georges Seurat?
During his tragically short life, Georges Seurat managed to invent a new form of oil painting, called Neo-Impressionism, based on the colourist technique known as Pointillism, a form of Divisionism. In this, pure colours are placed side-by-side on the canvas and 'mixed' by the eye, rather than being mixed beforehand by the painter. For details of his career and works, see: Georges Seurat: Biography (1859-1891).

Q. What painting genre was John Singer Sargent famous for?
One of the great classically trained artists, John Singer Sargent was the last famous portrait painter in the "grand manner," noted for his painterly skills, including his classical "au premier coup" technique. For details of his career, see: John Singer Sargent: Biography (1856–1925).

Q. Who were the top 19th Century sculptors?
The most successful 19th century exponents of sculpture included: the rococo, classical and realist (!) James Pradier (1790-1852), the romantics Auguste Preault (1810-79), David d'Angers (1788-1856), Antoine-Louis Barye (1796-1875), the Florentine school led by Felicie de St Fauveau (1799-1886), the light-hearted Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827-75), the decorative Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (1824-87), Jules Dalou (1838-1902) and John Gibson (1791-1866). For a full explanation, see: 19th Century Sculptors.

Q. How did Paul Cezanne influence modern art?
The anxious and troubled Cezanne was a key figure in both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, and a master of both landscape and still-life painting. In particular, his carefully structured landscapes was a major influence on Pablo Picasso when developing his Cubist theories in the later 1900s. For details of his career and examples of his influential works, see: Paul Cezanne: Biography (1839-1906).

Q. Why did Vincent Van Gogh commit suicide?
No one knows the real answer to this question, but Van Gogh's depression was the key reason for his compulsive painting career, which in effect spanned only the last 5-6 years of his life. Art historians consider that only in his painting was he, in any way, at peace. For the story of his tragic life, see: Vincent Van Gogh: Biography (1853-1890).

Q. What type of paintings were painted by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec?
The alcoholic, syphilitic French painter Toulouse-Lautrec was renowned for his paintings of the seedier side of Parisian life during the turn of the century: in particular, his scenes of night clubs, bars and brothels. For details of his career and works, see: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901).

Q. What style of painting is Paul Gauguin famous for?
Gauguin began as an Impressionist, but remained too strongly affected by colour to follow in Monet's naturalist footsteps. Influenced by the colours of Peru, where he spent time in his youth, and by the tones and hues of Tahiti and other islands of the South Pacific to where he retired, his colourist paintings paved the way for Synthetism and Cloisonnism, as well as Primitivism. His most famous works include: "The Vision after the Sermon" (1888) (National Gallery of Scotland), "The Yellow Christ" (1889) (Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York), and "Where Do We Come From, What Are We? Where Are We Going?" (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), as well as "Woman with a Flower" (1891) (Ny Carlsberg-Glyptotek), "Brooding Woman" (1891) (The Worcester Art Museum), "Tahitian Women On the Beach" (1891) (Musee d'Orsay), "We Shall Not Go to Market Today" (1892) (Kunstmuseum Basel), "Arearea" (1892) (Musee d'Orsay) and "When Will You Marry?" (1892). For details of his career and beautiful works, see: Paul Gauguin: Biography (1848-1903).

Q. What famous sculptures were created by Auguste Rodin?
A master in all media of the "plastic arts", including bronze, stone, plaster and wood, the Victorian French sculptor Auguste Rodin is renowned for numerous masterpieces, including: The Age of Bronze (1877), The Walking Man (1877), St John the Baptist Preaching (1878), The Thinker (1881), The Burghers of Calais (1885-95), The Kiss (1888-9), Monument to Balzac (1898), and The Gates of Hell (1880-1917). For more details of his career and works, see: Auguste Rodin: Biography (1840-1917).

Q. Which art movement was led by the colourist Henri Matisse?
Henri Matisse began as an Impressionist before moving into Post-Impressionism in order to explore the psychological and perceptional uses of colour. At the turn of the century, he became the leader of a group of artists who were dubbed "Les Fauves" (wild animals) by critics, because of their garish pigments. In addition to his attachment to Fauvism, Matisse explored collage and printmaking. For details of his lengthy painting career and works, see: Henri Matisse: Biography (1869-1954).

Q. What style of painting was Wassily Kandinsky famous for?
The Russian-born artist Kandinsky was the founder and leader of Der Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) art movement, an early style of German Expressionism. For details of his career and works, see: Wassily Kandinsky: Biography (1866-1944). See also: Expressionist Painters.

Q. Which is Edvard Munch's most famous painting?
One of the earliest individual expressionists, the neurotic Norwegian artist Munch is renowned for his pictures of anxiety and death, of which the most famous is "The Scream", which remains one of most recognizable images in the history of art. For details of his career and works, see: Edvard Munch: Biography (1863-1944).

Q. Which art movement was the German painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner involved in?
The artist Ernst Kirchner was a member of the Die Brucke (the Bridge) art group, an early style of German Expressionism. He is best known for his Berlin street scenes and nudes. For details of his career and works, see: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Biography (1880-1938).

Q. Which city and which style of painting is Amedeo Modigliani associated with?
The Italian painter Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an expressionist (influenced by Cubism), noted for his nudes and portraits, who worked almost entirely in Paris. For details of his career and works, see: Amedeo Modigliani: Biography (1884-1920).

Q. Why did Egon Schiele's self-portraits cause a scandal?
The bizarre genius Egon Schiele specialised in shocking and erotic expressionist figure paintings - including many self-portraits, such as the grisly "Nude," (1910). For details of his career, along with examples of his extraordinary works, see: Egon Schiele: Biography (1890-1918).

Q. Who was Max Beckmann?
The German artist Max Beckman was a leading modernist painter, printmaker and sculptor. Although difficult to classify, some art critics consider him to be a major influence on the history of art in the 20th century. His most famous works include "The Dream" (1921) (St Louis Art Museum), "Departure" (1932) (Museum of Modern Art, New York), "Journey on the Fish" (1934) (Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart) and "Carnival" (1942) (University of Iowa Museum of Art). For details of his career and works, see: Max Beckmann: Biography (1884–1950).

Q. Why is Georges Braque one of France's most eminent artists?
Braque is celebrated as one of the founders (along with Pablo Picasso) of the revolutionary art movement, known as Cubism. He was also the first artist to use collage. He devoted much of his later life to still-life painting. For details of his long painting career and examples of his works, see: Georges Braque: Biography (1882-1963).

Q. What's the difference between Pablo Picasso's Blue and Rose period?
Picasso's Blue Period (c.1901-4) coincided with his early poverty-stricken years in Paris, during which he focused on portraying the melancholy side of Parisian life in shades of blue and blue-green. His Rose Period (c.1905-7) marked an upturn in his artistic fortunes, and is characterized by works employing a lighter palette of orange, fawns and pinks, making his canvases more cheery, though still occasionally melancholic. For details of his career and works, see: Pablo Picasso: Biography (1881-1973).

Q. Juan Gris was an important member of which art movement?
The Spanish sculptor and painter Juan Gris is regarded by art critics as the "Third Member of Cubism," after Pablo Picasso and George Braque. Noted for his own colourful style, he became one of the movement's leading theorists. For details of his short painting career and works, see: Juan Gris: Biography (1887-1927).

Q. Why is Marcel Duchamp regarded as the father of conceptual art?
The avante-garde Duchamp flirted with Cubism, Dada and Surrealism but is famous for signing a snow shovel and proclaiming it a work of art - stating it was the artistic idea that counted, not the artistic "craftsmanship" behind it. One of his most famous works is "Fountain" (1917) (Tate Collection, London), a replica of a urinal. For details of his career and works, see: Marcel Duchamp: Biography (1887-1968).

Q. Which surrealist paintings are Salvador Dali's most famous works?
Dali's most celebrated surrealist works include "The Persistence of Memory" (1931), "Soft Construction with Boiled Beans" (1936) and "The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory" (1952-4). For details of his career and works, see: Salvador Dali: Biography (1904-1989).

Q. What sort of pictures were painted by the Neo-Plasticist Piet Mondrian?
The Dutch-born abstract artist Piet Mondrian was a member of the De Stijl art movement in Holland, before developing his own style of Neo-Plasticism movement. He eventually emigrated to America. Critics now regard him as one of the most important abstract painters of the 20th century. For details of his career and works, see: Piet Mondrian: Biography (1872-1944).

Q. What style of painting was invented by Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner?
The alcoholic depressive Pollock, and his wife Lee Krasner (1908-84), developed the revolutionary "drip-and-splash" style of Abstract Expressionism, known as "Action Painting". For details of his career and works, see: Jackson Pollock: Biography (1912-1956).

Q. What famous works were painted by Willem De Kooning?
The Dutch-born painter Willem de Kooning was the longest-living Abstract Expressionist of his era. His most famous works include "Woman and Bicycle" (1952) (Whitney Museum of American Art), "Marilyn Monroe" (1954) (Private Collection) and "Door to the River" (1960) (Whitney Museum of American Art), along with his "Woman" and his "Corps de Dame" series. For details of his career and works, see: Willem de Kooning: Biography (1904-1997).

Q. What sort of paintings were produced by Mark Rothko?
The Latvian-born, Jewish American painter, Mark Rothko was a leading member of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism and founder of Colour Field painting. He specialized in large-scale canvases featuring blocks of colour designed to envelop the viewer. For details of his career and works, see: Mark Rothko: Biography (1903-1970).

Q. Which art movement is Andy Warhol associated with?
Warhol was a leading member of the Pop Art Movement, notorious for his screenprints of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, as well as his use of consumerist iconography. For details of his career and works, see: Andy Warhol: Biography (1928-1987).

Q. Who is Fernando Botero? Why is he famous?
The Columbian painter and sculptor Botero is one of the most celebrated contemporary South American artists of modern times, noted for his large-scale obese figures, some of which have been repeated as sculpture. His paintings can sell for up to $1 million. For details of his career and works, see: Fernando Botero: Biography (b.1932).

Q. Why is Damien Hirst the most successful contemporary artist?
Leader of the Young British Artists movement (Britart), and patronized by the powerful British millionaire art collector Charles Saatchi, Hirst was the first contemporary artist to truly understand the postmodernist market for fine art, in the process creating a series of innovative, sometimes shocking works of sculpture, installations and other forms of contemporary art. For details of his career and works, see: Damien Hirst: Biography (b.1965).

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