One Rockin’ Art Quiz

Artists are inspired by all kinds of things: music, nature, stories, politics, maybe they have a muse (or a bunch of muses!) I’m no artist, but if I need to get my creative juices flowing, one thing never fails me.

Rocks.

The place we visit in northern Michigan is on the best rocky shoreline I’ve ever seen. The beach is covered with stones of all shapes, sizes, and color combinations. We spend hours out there every summer finding our favorites. This past Labor Day was no exception. Some of the rocks remind me of a particular artist, and using that (very subjective) basis, I designed a quiz, because who doesn’t love a quiz?! A while back there was this one on finding your art hero, and this one for determining your Enneagram/Art match, but nothing lately! We’re due for some quizzy fun.

Pick your favorite of these rocks. Then read below to see which famous (dead!) artist you are most drawn to. As always, this is one hundred percent accurate, no re-takes or re-dos. If the rock determines you love Edgar Degas, then Edgar Degas must be your favorite painter for all of eternity. Now, let’s rock and roll:

Don’t overthink it! There is no right or wrong answer. Just imagine walking down the beach… which of these beauties do you just have to pick up for a closer look?

Did you pick your favorite? Read on to learn who your new favorite artist is!

If you picked number ONE as you favorite: You must love Donatello! He worked with such marbley stone all the time, after all. This light swirly rock is reminiscent of the sculptures Donatello is so famous for. His David isn’t as famous as Michelangelo’s, but it’s nothing to sneeze at. He also sculpted St. Mark and St. John, the Evangelist. Rock #1 is probably thousands of years old and just now getting discovered, but Donatello was already famous by the time he was twenty. He was like the Taylor Swift of sculpting.

  • The lesser known, more clothed of the David sculptures.
  • In real life, I hear the veins on St. Mark’s hands are visible!
If you picked rock number TWO as your favorite: You are obviously a huge fan of Piet Mondrian. The first thing to know about Piet is that he had a fantastic moustache. The second thing to know is that his range of skill was incredible! I think you’ll agree- this rock looks like someone colored it with leftover paint from Trees Along a River. Mondrian was also a pioneer of the abstract movement, and if you ask me this rock has an abstract vibe inasmuch as a rock can. In addition to loving Piet Mondrian, it is safe to say if you liked this rock, you also love sunsets and raspberry sorbet.
His paintings of trees, are what made me fall in love with Piet Mondrian.

If you like rock number THREE the best: You are into rebel artist and shadow master, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. If you’ve been reading Nice and Easel for a while, you know Caravaggio comes up a lot in my posts. He’s the bad boy of Baroque painting. He died after a brawl (not his first), at the tender age of thirty-six, but his legacy lived on in artists that admired and studied his techniques. Guys like Vermeer and Rembrandt. Fun fact: Caravaggio and I share a birthday! No surprise since we are both wild renegades.

  • How many variations of light and dark are in Conversion on the Way to Damascus?!
  • Supper at Emmaus. The guy in the top left corner is Caravaggio!

If you picked rock number FOUR: Remember when I said there are no right or wrong answers? I lied! This is the right answer! Congratulations! You have better taste than everybody else! Just kidding. Maybe. This is a Petoskey stone- my favorite rock. (It’s normal to have a favorite rock, right?) Probably all Michiganders would pick this as the favorite. We have a thing for Petoskeys. If you liked this one best, you are a lover of fine things and obviously will only settle for the very best when it comes to art: Leonardo da Vinci. The King of the Renaissance. Maybe the King of Art, period. Like a Petoskey, da Vinci was unique and refined. He’s of course known for his paintings, but was a master drawer too. Here is some of his work with the same color palette as our beloved Petoskeys.

  • Why so serious?
  • This is an unfinished work, but it looks pretty good to me.
If you picked rock number FIVE: Isn’t this just the most romantic rock you ever did see? I love how soft and lovely it is. Which is why it corresponds with the famous Degas. His ballerina paintings in particular. His dancers might seem soft as the light pink in this rock, but they’re tough and solid. Just like… you know, a rock. Despite his disapproval of the label, Degas was a founding father of Impressionism. Over half his artwork featured dancers, the rest is a blur of racehorses, female nudes, and portraits. Degas mocked his colleagues, who enjoyed painting outside. He is for sure rolling in his grave that a rock I found out of doors would remind me of his work.
  • One of my favorite Degas paintings. That blue! I’m swooning.
  • Tell me this doesn’t resemble rock #5 at least a little bit!

Last, but not least, if you picked rock number SIX: Isn’t this one so fun and funky? Are you a wild child like painter Jackson Pollock? Pollock was controversial, but even his critics were fascinated by him. He made active painting a “thing” by painting on the floor, moving all around the canvas, and splattering paint strategically. If he wasn’t the first artist to do all this, he was certainly the most famous. This rock looks like it could have been on the floor of Pollock’s studio when he was working on Autumn Rhythm (Number 30).

  • This looks a lot like my 2020 calendar. Ha.

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That concludes our gravely quiz! Rock on, friends!

Posted in: art

2 thoughts on “One Rockin’ Art Quiz”

  1. cw says:
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    Oh my gosh! I couldn’t love this more! You wild renegade you. I really struggled picking a favorite and settled for three…one of which was Caravaggio – no surprise. : )

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