Van Gogh sold almost nothing in his lifetime. The myth says "a single work" but reality is only slightly better: he is estimated to have sold between 1 and 4 paintings during his ten active years as an artist, out of more than 2,000 works he produced. He died in 1890 practically in poverty. In 1990, his "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" sold for 82.5 million dollars. The same painting.
Picasso's full name has 23 words. He was called: Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Crispiniano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso. The names came from saints and relatives, per Spanish custom. He used "Picasso" — his mother's surname — because it was more unusual than Ruiz.
Art was in the Olympic Games between 1912 and 1948. Seriously. There were competitions in painting, sculpture, architecture, literature and music, all with medals. The only condition was that the work be "inspired by sport". The category was dropped because several competitors were professional artists, which violated the amateur principle of the Games.
A very popular pigment in Europe between the 16th and 19th centuries was called "mummy brown". It was obtained, literally, from ground Egyptian mummies mixed with oil. The color was a warm, transparent brown much prized for glazes. When Victorian artists found out what it was made of, many held improvised funerals for their paint tubes.
The Mona Lisa was missing for two years. It was stolen from the Louvre in August 1911 by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian who had worked at the museum and simply carried it out under his coat. The theft wasn't discovered until the next day. Peruggia kept it in his Paris apartment for more than two years before trying to sell it in Florence. He was arrested in 1913.
The Scream is not a single painting. Edvard Munch created at least five versions between 1893 and 1910: two oil paintings, two pastels and a drawing. The best-known is in the National Gallery of Oslo. In 2012, a pastel version sold at Sotheby's for 119.9 million dollars.
There is a museum devoted entirely to forgeries. The Museum of Art Fakes in Vienna exhibits copies and forgeries of famous works, not as fraud but as a reflection on authenticity, value and perception in art.
Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel standing, not lying down. The image of the artist on his back is a popular myth. Historical records and his own poetry confirm he worked standing, neck bent upward, for four years. He developed a lasting vision problem that forced him to read with paper held above his head.
The most viewed image in the world is in no art museum. It's the default Windows XP desktop wallpaper — a photograph of a green hill in Sonoma, California, called "Bliss". Charles O'Rear took it in 1996. It's estimated to have been seen by more than a billion people.
Rembrandt signed his works with only his first name. At a time when artists used full surnames, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn decided "Rembrandt" was enough. He took it from the great Italian masters he knew — Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo — who also went by a single name.
The oldest artwork with a known artist's name is more than 4,500 years old. It's called "Iri-hor" and is a graffito on a rock in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. Before that, art was anonymous by definition — the work mattered, not who made it.