6 Interesting Facts You Didn't Know About Famous Artists

Sculpture history is full of exciting tales and fascinating figures, making it difficult to deduce the truth and fiction about artists.

Some of these tales endure since they make us recall the characteristics we link with artists. They're imaginative, non-conforming, and more than a little kook. However, in several cases, the fact is just as impressive as the painting they create.

Below are six incredible real facts about some of history's most interesting, rigging, popular artists.

Now widely respected as one of art history's extraordinary painters, Post-Impressionist Vincent van Gogh didn't encounter the achievement he merited. Instead, the artist only got to sell one painting during his lifespan.

He only sold one art, "The Red Vineyard at Arles," before perpetrating suicide in 1890. The proof is apparent in authenticated documentation indicating that he sold the art to colleague painter Anna Boch in early 1890.

However, he has challenged his long-lasting mythology, proposing that in 1888, Van Gogh's brother, Theo, sold one of the artist's self-portraits before the deal of "The Red Vineyard at Arles." Some theories would say Vincent van Gogh was a color blind artist, that one's certainly not true. He utilized vibrant green in many arts. The green color is a risky color for a colorblind individual since it lies right between yellow and blue, and to their awareness, it entirely grays out.

Furthermore, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam claims that the artist sold or traded many arts while alive, with letters written by Van Gogh indicating that he sold several works to relatives.

Pablo Picasso was several things during his creative career, sculptor, painter, playwright. However, there is one profession that historiographers don't mention: indicted art burglar.

On August 21, 1911, Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" was robbed from the Louvre. After eight days, a man known as Joseph Géry Pieret disclosed to the Paris-Journal that Picasso and his colleague, avant-garde poet Apollinaire, owned Iberian arts stolen properties. The accusation made Picasso one of the prime suspects in Leonardo's art.

Honestly, Pieret stole the sculptures and traded them to Picasso, who bought them even though the stamps on their undersides had a writing "Property of the Louvre Museum." 

Picasso handed over the sculptures to the Paris Journal; however, both he and Apollinaire were in court because of the location of the "Mona Lisa." But, no indication connected them to the robbery, and they were ultimately released.

In December 1913, to the consolation of Picasso, the "Mona Lisa" appeared in Florence, Italy. Surprisingly, it was a Louvre worker known as Vincenzo Peruggia who stole the art to return it to its aboriginal Italy.

The thought might not seem that unlikely when deeming the source is the notoriously odd Salvador Dalí. However, this was not something he barely contended to raise eyebrows for.

Dalí had a former brother, known as Salvador too. Coincidentally, he never met his older sibling. The reason being that nine months prior to Dalí's birth, his brother passed on from gastroenteritis.

When he was five years old, Dalí's parents took him to the tomb of his sibling and said to Dalí that he was the rebirth of his brother. He seemed to think of this as the truth and honestly acknowledged that he was his reincarnated brother. 

A few years later, Dalí made pictures of previous Salvador in various arts, encompassing "Portrait of My Dead Brother."

Leonardo da Vinci is certainly one of the most famous artists of all time. Ironically, one oddity that earned him such a genius was that he quickly diverted from his undertakings.

Despite being the exemplar of a "Renaissance man," Leonardo tended to abandon his unfinished works. The proof is vivid in the hundreds of notes and sketches he left behind for undertakings following his demise in 1519.

Two of his vastly outstanding works took a collective 17 years to complete. Leonardo worked on his powerful mural, "The Last Supper," for three years and later on consumed a whopping 14 years finalizing the famous "Mona Lisa." 

It's said that Leonardo only completed "The Last Supper" after his supporter finally threatened to stop his funds.

In 1763 and 1766, Goya sent entries to enroll at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. He did not make it twice.

Following these trials, Goya traveled to Italy in 1770 to improve his method. After coming back to Madrid in 1771, he befriended Francisco Bayeu, who transpired to have a membership at the Royal Academy. The valuable connections, in addition to Goya's rising achievement as an artist, eventually awarded him admission to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in 1780.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, one of the creators of the Impressionist movement, endured rheumatoid arthritis beginning in 1892. Surprisingly, Renoir began to paint for the last 20 years of his existence despite the pain and constraints he underwent.

In conclusion, as much as the above artists, at their time, were eccentrics, we can't ignore the fine sculptures they made. 

You will remember them for putting art in the limelight.