The life, work and heritage of great people are filled with a mass of stories that seem incredible to us. In this collection we have collected 10 of the most amazing and interesting facts, stories from the life of artists that will help you better understand their work and reveal their personalities from an unusual perspective.
10. The full name of Picasso consists of 23 words
The full name of the artist consists of 23 words and has a length of 103 characters. He was named after various saints and relatives. He took the surname of his mother, Picasso, because he considered her the most suitable. His name was completely Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Sipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruiz Picasso.
9. Renoir in his youth was a tailor
Unlike Mane and Degas, who were from wealthy families, Renoir was the son of a tailor and seamstress and at one time also worked as a tailor. In addition, at the age of 13 he had to get a job at a porcelain factory.
One of Renoir's earliest recollections was observing a father sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by fabric, scissors, patterns, and velvet pillows. He also regularly painted on the floor with chalk, with which his father marked the cut.
8. Dali's body is walled up in the floor at the museum named after him, and then exhumed
Salvador Dali, who died in 1989, during his lifetime wanted people to walk along his grave, so he indicated this rather strange point in his will.
The artist’s will was fulfilled and his body was placed under the floor in the museum of Figueres. There she lay quietly until 2017, until Maria Pilar Abel Martinez, a woman who claimed to be Dali's daughter, applied to a Spanish court. Since there were no DNA samples, the court ordered an exhumation. The analysis showed that the woman is not the daughter of the artist, so everything was in vain.
He did not have children, so a special fund manages the entire inheritance, but if Maria really turned out to be a child of El Salvador, then she could claim huge amounts of money and assets.
It is noteworthy that, according to experts who conducted the exhumation, the famous mustache is perfectly preserved, despite the fact that the body lay underground for almost 28 years.
7. The design of the Chupa Chups wrapper was invented by Dali
"Chupa-Chups" was a popular brand of 20th century candy, although the name is now well known. It, by the way, comes from the Spanish verb chupar which means "suck".
The company was founded by Enric Bernat as a jam factory called Granja Asturias in the early 1950s in Spain, and in 1958 began producing sweets designed specifically for children. The company noticed that when eating sweets, hands often become sticky and decided to play on it. The “Chupa Chups” candy was on a wooden stick, which made it ideal for children and their parents.
A key marketing tactic invented by Enric Bernat was that shopkeepers put lollipops at the counter and placed them at a lower height so that children could see them.
It was a hit, and Chupa Chups became extremely popular in Spain in the 1960s. It was decided to enter the international market and this required a recognizable logo. Dali at that time lived in the United States for 10 years, increasing his fame and creating work for Lavin Chocolate, Braniff International Airlines, as well as television shows, perfume brands and other advertising.
Bernat instructed Dali to develop a logo for them, which was ready in 1969: Its bright yellow and red color palette caught the attention of children, but still paid tribute to the roots of business, reflecting the colors of the Spanish flag.
An important component - unclear whether it was Dali or Bernat's idea - was to place the logo on top of the candy, not on the side. Branding was a hit, Chupa Chups expanded worldwide in the 1970s and achieved the same success as decades ago in Spain.
6. Gauguin worked on the construction of the Panama Canal
Fans of Gauguin’s work know that in 1891, disappointed by the lack of recognition at home and deprived of finances, he sailed into the tropics to escape from European civilization andall that is artificial and ordinary ”.
However, not everyone knows that this was not the first such trip: before that, he had made several attempts to find a tropical paradise where he could "live on fish and fruit»And draw in his increasingly primitive style.
In one of these trips he ended up in Martinique and worked as a simple worker on the construction of the Panama Canal. However, he was fired from work after two weeks.
5. A picture of Pollock was bought for $ 5, and sold for 50 million
Teri Horton was a trucker from California and in 1992 bought a painting for $ 5 (the seller wanted 8, but she knocked down the price) as a gift to cheer up her friend. She thought that such an absurdity would definitely lift that mood, but her friend did not like the picture. Then Teri decided to sell it at a flea market, but her friend noted that the picture can be expensive, since it is similar to the works of Pollock.
Teri had no idea who she was, but decided to hire an expert to evaluate, who came to the conclusion that the picture was indeed the original Pollock. Nevertheless, connoisseurs of art are not fully convinced of the authenticity of the canvas and therefore there is still a debate about it.
Teri Horton rejected offers of $ 2 million and $ 9 million for the picture. She claims that she is not "greedy" and just wants a "fair price." Her story formed the basis of the documentary "Who is Jackson Pollock? ”. Much later, in 2008, a woman exposed her for $ 50 million, and a buyer was found.
4. Dali appeared at the exhibition in a diving suit
In 1936, Dali entered a diving shop in England to learn about a deep-sea wetsuit. The reason for this is that he tried to convey surrealism to the inhabitants of England, who did not completely go beyond the typical classical art forms.
Known for fond of attracting attention in the strangest way Dali decided that giving a lecture in a wetsuit was a great idea. While he was buying a suit, the store owner asked him where he planned to go diving. The answer was "in the subconscious of the human mind».
3. Picasso stoked the stove with his own paintings
The renowned artist did this not because of the creative crisis or the desire for shocking, but because of simple poverty. At first in Paris he lived so poorly that he could not afford to buy firewood.
2. Munch's Scream painting is the most expensive painting ever sold.
The 1895 pastel was bought by an anonymous buyer at Sotheby’s auction in New York. Bidding lasted 12 minutes. The work is one of four in the series of the Norwegian expressionist artist and was the only one still in private ownership.
Proceeds from the sale went to the creation of a new museum, hotel and art center in Norway. Seven applicants fought for the work, the starting price was $ 40 million.
1. Warhol wore a gray wig
Many identify Andy Warhol by his signature wig, from gray to silver, which restlessly sat on his head.. And he sat rather uncomfortably, without pretending to seem like real hair.
The ubiquitous hairstyle was not just a fashionable thing, but rather a fundamental idea for creating Andy Warhol's mythologized personality, which ultimately makes him look like a brand.
Warhol began wearing wigs in the 1950s to cover up his early male pattern baldness and gradually graying hair. The first wig was brown, then yellowish brown, then platinum, and eventually settled on shades of gray / silver.
Warhol stopped at gray, because if you always look old, no one knows how old you really are.