In Art History, we were required to know the artist just by the style of the painting. While most of us can tell a Monet by his voluminous brush strokes and cool color palette, some artists can be quite difficult to differentiate. Take Braque and Picasso for example. The two painted side by side in the early 1900′s and the results can be hauntingly identical. None the less, we eventually learned to the tell the slight differences between Braque’s color palette and Picasso’s lines.

As classes became more advanced, recognizing the artist became second nature. Recently, however, I learned about a game Thomas Hoving, late director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art would play to keep his mind quick: Instead of guessing the artist by looking at the painting’s entirety, he would view only a small section (which he published into a book for our own amusement). The “game” has captured the attention of art lovers and visual-learners alike – so much so there’s now even an app for it (iPad and iPhone compatible).

This Fine Art Friday, I’m giving you the opportunity to feel the same sense of satisfaction that comes with learning an artist’s unique approach to the canvas. It’s up to you to guess the artist and next week I’ll show the paintings in full.

One more thing, each of these are currently on view at the Centre Pompidou (except for the Pollock above which is at MoMA). If you’re in Paris, why not head over there to take a closer look for yourself? I bet you’ll be delighed!

Can you tell who the artist is for each of the images below? Share your answers below!

Painting 1

Painting 2

Painting 3

Painting 4

Painting 5

Painting 6

Painting 7

So what do you think? Any guesses?

Tagged as: Artists, Museums, Paris, Pompidou, Series: Fine Art Fridays