Culture
Fun Facts About the Art World
June 30, 2016 @ 12:00am
1. The National Gallery of Art owns the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Western Hemisphere.
2. Frida Kahlo had a reputation for partying late at night and winning tequila challenges against hefty men.
3. Roman statues were made with detachable heads, so that one head could be removed and replaced by another.
4. Salvador Dalí brought surrealism into the kitchen, exhibiting sculptures draped in fresh seafood as part of the 1939 World Fair in New York and publishing a cookbook in 1973.
5. The Hirshhorn’s founding donor and namesake, Joseph H. Hirshhorn, considered the modern artists whose work he collected to be his friends. He helped Willem de Kooning pay for the construction of an art studio in Long Island and visited Pablo Picasso in France.
6. Leonardo da Vinci spent 12 years painting the Mona Lisa’s lips.
7. Warhol said that he adopted his gray-haired look while in his 20s so that people would notice how young he looked in the face.
8. The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s displays include American art covering every type of movement found in the U.S., with more than 7,000 artists represented.
9. Picasso could draw before he could walk, and his first word was the Spanish word for pencil.
10. With an impressive roster of over 1,200 artists from around the world, National Harbor’s Art Whino Gallery represents one of the most fortified outposts of “lowbrow art,” an artistic movement which draws inspiration from the underground and pop culture.
Fun facts courtesy of the following articles:
#1: www.nga.gov/support/facts.shtm
#2: www.learnodo-newtonic.com/frida-kahlo-facts
#s 3, 6, 9: www.thriveart.com/facts
#4: www.news.artnet.com/art-world/happy-birthday-salvador-dali-296493
#5: www.citywalkingguide.com/washingtondc/hirshhornmuseumfacts
#7: www.flavorwire.com/110223/andy-warhol-82-birthday-facts/2
#8: www.citywalkingguide.com/washingtondc/americanartmuseumfacts
#10: www.theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/washington-dc/articles/washington-dc-s-10-contemporary-art-…