6 curiosities about famous works of art that you probably don’t know

Giorgio Vasari, considered one of the first art historians, is well known for the compilation he made in his books about many Italian artists, his collections of data and his anecdotes about the paintings and their artists.

But perhaps, and among all his publications, the book: Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects published in 1550, and which can be consulted online through the Britannica library, may not allow us to expand our knowledge about the world of art, but it can satisfy our curiosity about the most hidden life of the most classic artists, and his unrevealing intentions when painting, sculpting or drawing his famous paintings.

Curiosities about famous works of art: enigmas and stories

And it may be that many times knowing certain information about a work of art increases its value, either for a particular buyer or for everyone in general.

At art auctions, collectors and large-scale art buyers may often acquire or show interest in a work for a variety of reasons. These can be so powerful as to pay, as happened in 2013 more than 142 million euros per The three studies of Lucian Freud.

Art history is full of wild tales and fascinating figures with a powerful effect on our minds, which can make it difficult to determine What is reality and what is fiction about artists and their works. However, some of these stories endure because they remind us of qualities that we associate with the artists themselves, because in the end they are creative, often rebellious, original and a little eccentric. And above all, and in many cases, the truth they hide is as incredible as the art they create.

We tell you about six curiosities about famous works of art that you probably didn’t know, incredibly real facts about some of the most intriguing and famous artists in the history of art.

1. Van Gogh’s Starry Night

This small city that is represented in the mythical painting by Vincent Van Gogh is Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, in the south of France.

The artist apparently painted the work while he was a patient at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, a psychiatric hospital. located in the same town of Saint-Rémy. At the moment, Hospital It has a section named after the painter.

2. Michelangelo’s David

The marble slab that was finally turned into the sculpture of David by Miguel Ángel l in 1504, It was cut 43 years earlier for an artist named Agostino di Ducciowho planned to turn it into a statue of Hercules.

Di Duccio abandoned his sculpturewhich was originally going to be installed in a Florentine cathedral, and the marble was unused for 10 years until another sculptor, named Antonio Rossellino, decided to work with it.

Rossellino also abandoned his work because he found marble too difficult to sculpt, so It was, finally, Michelangelo who began working on sculpture in 1501.

3. The ceilings of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo frescoed the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, including the most famous panel called “The Creation of Adam,” which depicts God giving life to the first man, completely standing.

The artist invented a series of scaffolding specially designed to attach to chapel walls with supports, so that he and his assistants could be close enough to the ceiling to work and paint.

4. Picasso’s The Ladies of Avignon

Picasso’s abstract representation of five prostitutes from Barcelona was considered immoral in 1907. But, Picasso created more than 100 sketches and preliminary studies before capturing his vision on canvas. As a curiosity, in previous versions the figure on the far left was a man.

5. The thinker by Auguste Rodin

Although there are now dozens of copies and casts of Auguste Rodin’s famous sculpture “The Thinker” scattered around the world, its origin was literally much smaller.

Rodin originally created a version of 70 cm in 1880 as the central component of a larger sculptural work called “The Gates of Hell.” Inspired by Dante’s Inferno, the piece that was first called “The Poet” would be considered a representation of Dante himself.

6. Picasso’s blind guitarist

If we look at “The Old Blind Guitarist” by Pablo Picasso, we can see the silhouette of a woman . With the help of infrared and x-rays, scientists at the Art Institute of Chicago They found a couple of new figures that are hidden in the background of the work.

Most likely, the artist did not have enough money to buy new canvases and was forced to paint over the old ones.

We hope you have enjoyed this tour of some of the curiosities about famous and well-known works of art. However, these are just a few strokes, there are many more enigmas and mysteries around the artistic world. We encourage you to discover them!

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