Famous Paintings

What we verified before publishing

Fact-check status: passed

The following claims were verified through Perplexity Sonar before the questions were finalised. The host can reference any of them during play:

• The Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci, is widely believed to depict Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo.
• The title 'Mona Lisa' is a shortened form of 'Madonna Lisa,' meaning 'Lady Lisa' in Italian, rather than the woman's personal name.
• Vincent van Gogh painted 'The Starry Night' in 1889 while confined in an asylum room in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France.
• Despite being one of the most famous pieces of art in the world, Vincent van Gogh considered 'The Starry Night' a failure because it was never sold by him.
• Van Gogh officially sold only one painting during his lifetime, 'The Red Vineyard at Arles,' to fellow painter Anna Boch in early 1890.
• Pablo Picasso's mural 'Guernica' was created in 1937 as a response to the bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.
• 'Guernica' is housed in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid and is regarded by many critics as the most powerful anti-war piece in art history.
• Johannes Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' is not a traditional portrait of a specific individual but a 'tronie,' a Dutch Golden Age character study emphasizing expression and costume.
• In 'Girl with a Pearl Earring,' Vermeer originally depicted a green curtain in the background that has faded over time, rather than a plain empty backdrop.
• Grant Wood's 'American Gothic' depicts a farmer and his adult daughter, not a husband and wife, based on the artist's confirmation.
• Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper' depicts the moment Jesus told his disciples that one of them would betray him the following day.
• In 'The Last Supper,' the container of spilled salt near Judas' arm is a notable symbolic reference foreshadowing his treachery.