Interesting facts about famous artists

Art is regarded by many people in different categories. For some, art is a pure pleasure, others see it as great decoration for one’s home, while there are those that regard art as investment opportunity.

Time to learn some new and curious things

No matter where you stand on the question of art, there is little doubt that you would be interested in the following facts concerning the lives and works of some of the world’s most famous artists.

• As it often happens in the world of art, some of the greatest painters die without being recognized in their own time. This is particularly true in the case of Paul Cezanne, whose works currently rank among the most expensive in the art trading world. Cezanne was the illegitimate child of a wealthy merchant and his young mistress, one Anne-Elisabeth-Honorine Auburt. Cezanne passed away from complications caused by pneumonia in 1906. He lived and died in severe poverty, surrounded by hundreds of unsold paintings.
• Leonardo Da Vinci, the creator of Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, is probably the earliest animal rights activist in modern history. Da Vinci was a vegetarian. Leonardo was known for buying caged birds and then setting them free. Another interesting fact about the Italian genius is that despite the fact that he is today remembered primarily as a painter, he left as little as 30 painting, most of them even unfinished.
• Salvador Dali was known as one of the most eccentric painters – and people for that matter – of the 20^th Dali often explained that he is actually the reincarnated spirit of his dead brother. Dali authored as many as 1500 painting. Nearly all of them are today regarded as masterpieces. But what few people know is that every painting that Dali ever made contains a portrait of his own silhouette somewhere on the canvas.
• Paul Gauguin is now regarded as one of the foremost French post-Impressionist artist. Like many in his lot however, Gauguin went rather underappreciated in his own time, which led him to seek other ways to sustain himself. At one time, the painter worked on the construction of the Panama Canal.
• Henri Mattise’s best known work is La Bateau. The painting is currently in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, USA. When the museum first acquired the work, it went for 46 days hanged upside down without anyone noticing.
• Anish Kapoor is a prominent Indian-born British sculptor. His works are very well received by the art community, but quite recently a collector sued an art storage company for damages in the amount of 350 000 GBP. The reason? The people from the facility threw away a work by Kapoor, because they thought it is rubbish.
• William Morris is known for being one of the most eccentric painters in its time. The source of that eccentricity can be traced back to his childhood, when he was evidently spoiled by everyone around him. His temperament persisted into adulthood as well. Morris was known for throwing away his dinner through the window is he deemed the way it was served unsatisfactory.
• Claude Monet had a rather turbulent relationship with his father. The senior Monet criticized his son severely for the path in life that he had chosen. He made great efforts – fortunately unsuccessful – to make Monet give up on his dream of becoming a painter and start working in the family’s grocery store instead. Monet went on to become not only one of the most famous French artists of his time, but also one of the most successful in financial terms too – so good thing that he had persisted.
• Pablo Picasso is a giant in modern art. The father of Cubism was actually born as Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso – yes you have counted right, those are no less than 27 names. Picasso came from his mother side. There is a popular story about that the first word uttered by the baby Pablo was the Spanish word for pencil.
• Vincent Van Gogh is another example of a famous artist who rose to prominence only after his death. There are several interesting facts about Van Gogh. The most famous story about the painter is about how he cut off his own ear, which is not exactly true – he did not cut off his entire ear, but rather just its tip. Van Gogh had an older brother who died at birth and who was also named Vincent Van Gogh, which many consider to be pretty morbid. The painter’s active period lasted for just ten years. His other brother’s wife collected his letters and works after Van Gogh passed away, and it is thanks to her that his work actually gained any recognition.
• Andy Warhol was the father of pop art. The eccentric New Yorker was in the habit of creating time capsules – boxes in which he put various objects, sealed and dated. Much in consistency with his whole persona, the content of those time capsules included items such as a mummified foot, Caroline Kennedy’s birthday cake, a 17th-century German book on wrestling and drawings of 1950s icons such as Jean Harlow’s dress and Clark Gable’s boots. Imagine finding one of those in the park!

The most expensive pieces of art ever sold on an auction

Adjusted price (in millions)	Original price (in millions)	Painting	Artist	Year
~$300	~$300	Interchange	Willem de Kooning	1955
~$300	~$300	Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?)	Paul Gauguin	1892
$272 +	$259 +	The Card Players	Paul Cézanne	1892/93
~$200	~$200	Number 17A	Jackson Pollock	1948
$186	$186 (€140)	No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red)	Mark Rothko	1951
$180	$180 (€160M for pair)	Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit	Rembrandt	1634
$179.4	$179.4	Les Femmes d’Alger (“Version O”)	Pablo Picasso	1955