I thought it would be fun to start a thread where everyone can just add some interesting facts about different artists
Re: interesting facts about artists
Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s.
I recently found out that Andy Warhol used urine in some of his paintings.According to Victor Bockris, the Oxidation paintings were created when Victor Hugo, Ronnie Cutrone and Walter Steding took turns peeing on canvases coated with wet copper paint, which would oxidize and turn orange and green when it was weed on
Re: interesting facts about artists
Michelangelo was the famous artist that painted the ceilng of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Today everyone calls him Michaelangelo, but his whole name was Michangelo Buonarroti. When he was alive, many called him 'Buonarrati'.
The Sistine Chapel paintings have made Michelangelo famous for hundreds of years, but he considered himself a sculptor first.
He loved marble and thought about the rock in a very unusual way. He often told friends that he felt there was a figure already in the marble and his job was to carve away the part of the stone that hid that figure.
Michelangelo's figures always look like they were caught at the moment of an action. His figures look like this because Michelangelo put a twist at their waist, neck, or arm.
Re: interesting facts about artists
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty and bold color, had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art.
Van Gogh had a bad habit of licking his brushes as he was painting for texture and whatever else. During his time, the lead in the paint was enough to drive someone crazy or killl them. Hence, poor Vincent went mad.
Re: interesting facts about artists
An interesting fact about Vincent Van Gogh is not that he suffered from poor health. Which he did. Or even that his mental problems may have led him to cut off his ear. Which it did. An interesting fact about Vincent Van Gogh is that his epilepsy, caused by a brain lesion, caused by an overuse of absinthe, was treated with a medicine that many believe made him see yellow spots. Others believe that it was the lesion itself that caused him to see yellow. This may be why so many of his paintings use many yellow shades or include yellow spots, for example, Starry Night or Sunflowers.
Re: interesting facts about artists
You can’t talk about Van Gogh without mentioning that he cut off his ear. In itself this is not an interesting fact; everyone knows that Van Gogh cut off his ear. There are several common misconceptions surrounding this fact: One is that he cut off the entire ear, when in fact it was only the lobe (which is still pretty disgusting), the other is that he cut it off because he couldn’t sell his paintings. In fact it had nothing to do with that. Van Gogh was heavily influenced by another Impressionist artist, Paul Gauguin. They even lived together in the South of France. One day he turned on Gauguin and chased him through the house with a knife. Many believe it had something to do with a prostitute, to whom Van Gogh sent the piece of his ear lobe which he cut off later that day
Re: interesting facts about artists
One of Van Gogh’s most famous works, Starry Night, was painted while he was staying in a mental hospital (then known as an asylum) in Saint-Remy De Provence in 1889, sometime after the ear incident. This was not the first time that Van Gogh was hospitalised, he had been admitted after cutting off a part of his ear, but this time he committed himself into the hospital. His mental illnesses had begun to get the better of him and it wasn’t just the epilepsy he had to contend with, he also suffered from delusions and psychotic attacks as well as very possibly being bi-polar.
Re: interesting facts about artists
Another interesting fact about Van Gogh is that he didn’t start painting until he was 27, having spent his life before that failing as an art dealer and immersing himself in religion (failing also as a minister). Eventually he decided to teach himself to draw and started out by painting generally dark and depressing pictures of peasants and peasant life, the most famous of these paintings is The Potato Eaters. It wasn’t until he moved to Paris in 1886 and met other famous Impressionist artists (such as Claude Monet), combined with his new love for Japanese art, that he began experimenting with a more colourful palette
Re: interesting facts about artists
Vincent Van Gogh died in 1890 after shooting himself in the chest. He was overcome with despair and hopelessness, feeling like a burden to his brother Theo who had been there with him through all the torrid times with his mental illnesses over the last few years. The suicide attempt didn’t kill him immediately, and it took two days until he finally died, feeling as though he’d failed at everything he had put his mind to (including committing suicide). Theo Van Gogh had collected the majority of his work after he died and then when Theo died six months later, his wife took the collection and Van Gogh's letters and had them all published. If only he had known how popular his work would become.
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Leonardo da Vinci left fewer than 30 paintings, and these aren’t even all finished.
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Mona Lisa has no eyebrows in Leonardo da Vinci's painting because during that time, a woman was considered more beautiful if she shaved her eyebrows
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Leonardo became a vegetarian out of pity for animals and was even known to purchase birds at the market and set them free
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Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who painted in the Impressionist style. Renoir’s paintings portray the beauty and color of life and the sensuality of women.
Earlier in his career, Renoir, like many painters, hired models to pose. However, after his marriage, he often used his wife and children as the models for his paintings. His paintings that reflect the occurrences of daily life were taken from his own experiences with his family
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Later in life, Renoir developed arthritis. This illness severely limited his movement, including the movement of his hands and shoulder. Thus he had to adapt his painting technique. As the paralysis worsened, he would paint by having his brush strapped to his bandaged hands
Re: interesting facts about artists
During Renaissance and particularly in 1500s artistic painting was not considered a suitable occupation for a gentleman. Since painting involved working with hands, artists were considered craftsmen and were given the same social standing as tailors or shoemakers.
Re: interesting facts about artists
Michelangelo Buonarroti's father Lodovico was horrified when he found out that Michelangelo decided to become an artist. Michelangelo was often beaten
by his father and uncles when he first began to draw. Lodovico was proud of his ancestry and he worried that an artist in the family will bring the family a disgrace
Re: interesting facts about artists
The Renaissance masterpiece "The Pieta" is the only work that Michelangelo Buonarroti ever signed. He later regretted what he considered outburst of pride and vowed to never sign another work again. The Pieta is housed at St. Peter Basilica in Vatican City.
Re: interesting facts about artists
can we cover Meera and Veena Malik under artists? They got many funny facts 
Re: interesting facts about artists
Lolz which arts ;)
Re: interesting facts about artists
Meera is lauching her music album this eid, she is a poet too. 