Famous Paintings Quiz
Look at the painting and choose the correct artist. Get 10 right to win!
Level
1
Rookie
Points
0
Combo
x1
Goal
0/10
Famous Paintings Quiz – Name the Artist
The Famous Paintings Quiz shows you one of the world's most iconic artworks and asks you to identify the artist. With 13 masterpieces spanning five centuries — from Renaissance Italy to 20th-century America — this quiz tests your art history knowledge in a fast, visual format.
How the quiz works
Each round displays a full painting. Choose the correct artist from four options. A correct answer builds your streak and earns bonus points; three wrong answers ends the game. Identify 10 paintings correctly to win.
The 13 paintings in the quiz
| Painting | Artist | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Mona Lisa | Leonardo da Vinci | c. 1503–1519 |
| The Starry Night | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 |
| Girl with a Pearl Earring | Johannes Vermeer | c. 1665 |
| The Birth of Venus | Sandro Botticelli | c. 1484–1486 |
| The Scream | Edvard Munch | 1893 |
| The Great Wave off Kanagawa | Katsushika Hokusai | c. 1831 |
| The Night Watch | Rembrandt van Rijn | 1642 |
| Las Meninas | Diego Velázquez | 1656 |
| Water Lilies | Claude Monet | 1906 |
| Arrangement in Grey and Black | James McNeill Whistler | 1871 |
| Liberty Leading the People | Eugène Delacroix | 1830 |
| Napoleon Crossing the Alps | Jacques-Louis David | 1801 |
| American Gothic | Grant Wood | 1930 |
Why art identification is challenging
Many great artworks are instantly recognizable — the Mona Lisa's mysterious smile or The Scream's anguished figure — but the artist behind them is not always as well known. Van Gogh's swirling brushwork is distinctive, but distinguishing Dutch Golden Age painters (Rembrandt, Vermeer) from each other, or separating French Impressionists (Monet) from Post-Impressionists (Van Gogh), requires genuine art literacy.
Painting highlights
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is the most visited painting in the world, housed at the Louvre in Paris. It is believed to depict Lisa Gherardini, wife of a Florentine merchant.
The Starry Night was painted by Vincent van Gogh while he was a patient at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The swirling sky is now one of the most reproduced images in Western art.
The Great Wave is technically a woodblock print, not a painting — part of Hokusai's series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji". It is the most internationally recognized work of Japanese art.
The Night Watch by Rembrandt is enormous — 363 × 437 cm — and depicts a militia company led by Captain Frans Banninck Cocq. It hangs in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix depicts the July Revolution of 1830 in France. The central figure (Liberty) later inspired the design of the Statue of Liberty.
Tips to identify the artist
- Style of brushwork — Van Gogh's work has visible, expressive swirls; Vermeer's has near-photographic smoothness
- Era and palette — Renaissance (15th–16th c.) favors earth tones; Impressionism (19th c.) uses bright, broken color
- Subject matter clues — Dutch Golden Age scenes are often domestic; French Romantic art depicts dramatic historical events
- Country of origin — Japanese woodblock prints have flat color and outline; European oils have depth and chiaroscuro
Frequently Asked Questions
Are all 13 paintings in major museums?
Yes. The paintings are held at institutions including the Louvre (Paris), MoMA (New York), Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), Prado (Madrid), and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Are the images real photographs of the paintings?
Yes. All images are high-resolution photographs of the actual paintings, sourced from Wikimedia Commons and Google Arts & Culture under open licenses.
Is this quiz good for students?
Absolutely. The quiz is commonly used to prepare for art history exams. The 4-option format reinforces artist–work associations through repetition.
Can I play multiple times?
Yes. The answer choices are randomized each round, so repeated plays remain challenging.
What art movements are covered?
The quiz spans Renaissance, Dutch Golden Age, Romanticism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Expressionism, Japonism, Neoclassicism, and American Regionalism.
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Sources
- The Louvre – Collection — Home of the Mona Lisa
- MoMA – The Starry Night — Van Gogh's masterpiece
- Rijksmuseum – The Night Watch — Rembrandt's militia portrait
- Wikimedia Commons – Paintings — Public domain artwork images