This quiz is brought to you in collaboration with Art UK, the online home for the UK’s public art collections, showing art from more than 3,000 venues and by 45,000 artists. Each day, a different collection on Art UK will set the questions.
Today, our questions are set by the National Galleries of Scotland, which comprises three galleries in Edinburgh: the Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Together, they are home to one of the finest collections of art in the world, ranging from the early Renaissance to the 21st century, including masterpieces from Raphael, Velázquez, Titian and Vermeer to Van Gogh, Monet and Gauguin. The questions to the quiz are based around the collection of modern and contemporary art, which includes a world-class collection of dadaism and surrealism.
You can see more about the collection of modern and contemporary art from National Galleries of Scotland on Art UK here. Find out more about the National Galleries of Scotland on its website here.
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Which surrealist artist gave a lecture wearing full diving gear at the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition in London, the first exhibition of surrealist work in the country?
René Magritte
Frida Kahlo
Max Ernst
Salvador Dalí
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The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is split between two 19th-century neoclassical buildings. What were they originally built to contain?
Private residences
A school and an orphanage
They have always been galleries
Hunting lodges
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In which city did Joan Eardley (1921–63) paint the local children?
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Aberdeen
Dundee
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Different artworks require different methods of conservation. Which work in the collection requires, as part of its conservation, the use of a hawk?
Reclining Figure by Henry Moore
Fish Circus by Eileen Agar
Landform by Charles Jencks
Landscape of the Brown Fungus, Paul Nash
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What family link connects these two artists in our collection: Mabel Pryde and Winifred Nicholson?
Mother and daughter
Cousins
Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law
Aunt and niece
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Which artwork on the facade of Modern One could be a rallying call for our times?
Never Again by Yves Tanguy
Threatening Weather by René Magritte
Please Touch by Marcel Duchamp
Everything Is Going to Be Alright by Martin Creed
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An important 17th-century painting by a Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) focuses on an everyday cooking activity. How old was the artist when he painted this scene?
32
14 to 15
18 to 19
25
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More than 370 years later, which contemporary British artist made a rather more unconventional use of fried eggs in their self-portrait?
Grayson Perry
Rachel Whiteread
Damien Hirst
Sarah Lucas
Solutions
1:D - He wore a diving suit when lecturing: it was meant to represent the descent into his subconscious, a vital activity for surrealist artists and writers. Unfortunately, he began to suffocate and had to be rescued with either a spanner or a pool cue, depending who you ask. This picture comes from the National Galleries of Scotland's archive, which has a wealth of material relating to surrealism. Image: Salvador Dalí in Diving Suit at the International Surrealist Exhibition 1936, by unknown photographer, National Galleries of Scotland, 2:B - Modern One used to be the home of the John Watson’s Institution. Founded by John Watson in 1762 as a charitable trust for fatherless children in Edinburgh, the school building on Belford Road was designed by William Burn in 1825. The building was used as a school until 1975, and opened as the new home of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 1984. Modern Two, across the road from Modern One, used to be an orphanage. Originally built as the Dean Orphan Hospital by Thomas Hamilton in 1833, the building was converted into a gallery by Terry Farrell and Partners. It opened in 1999 to display our dada and surrealist art and work by the sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi. Image: Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, design for the Dean Orphanage by Thomas Hamilton (1784–1858), courtesy of National Galleries of Scotland, 3:A - After completing her studies at the Glasgow School of Art in 1949, Eardley decided to remain and work in Glasgow. She took up a studio space in the Townhead area of the city, just east of the town centre. At that time, Townhead was overcrowded and reeling from the second world war. Eardley took an interest in the children playing together on the street and would regularly sketch them at play. The children were equally interested in Eardley and would sit for portraits in her studio. By the 60s, most of the tenement buildings had been torn down. The gallery is home to many of Eardley’s works, sketches and her archives. Image: Joan Eardley at Her Easel, Audrey Walker, © the artist, National Galleries of Scotland, 4:C - Created by the American architect, architectural historical and artist Charles Jencks, Landform is a combination of sculpture, garden and land art situated in the grounds of Mod One. It is composed of sculpted grass banks, steps and water, and birds of prey are employed weekly to scare off the numerous seagulls that threaten to take up residence on the work. The organic shapes of Landform are inspired by patterns derived from nature, such as waves, clouds and geological formations. In summer, the work becomes a viewing platform for the gallery’s outdoor sculpture collection. Landform won the Gulbenkian prize for museum of the year in 2004. Image: Landform, 2001, Charles Jencks (1939–2019), © the artist’s estate, National Galleries of Scotland, 5:C - Winifred Roberts married artist Ben Nicholson in 1920; sadly this was two years after his mother Mabel Nicholson (nee Pryde) had died at the age of 47 during the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918. In this 1907 painting by William Orpen, Mabel can be seen standing by the door. Her husband, William Nicholson, sits in profile. Image: A Bloomsbury Family, 1907, William Orpen (1878–1931), National Galleries of Scotland, 6:D - This work is balanced by a work in the grounds of Mod Two by fellow Scots artist, Nathan Coley, a 6m tall work in light which reads, There will be no Miracles Here, 2007-9. This originates from a project in which Coley posted a series of public announcements around the town of Stirling. One included these words, taken from a 17th-century royal proclamation made in a French town believed to have been the frequent site of miracles. Situated in front of a panoramic view of Edinburgh, the city of the Enlightenment, the work can be read as a positive assertion of belief in man’s own power of reason above faith and superstition. Image: Work No 975 Everything Is Going to Be Alright, 2008, Martin Creed, © Martin Creed, all rights reserved. DACS, London 2020, 7:C - Velázquez was 18 or 19 when he painted this remarkable picture. It clearly demonstrates his flair for painting people and everyday objects directly from life. At the start of his career, Velázquez painted a number of these kitchen or tavern scenes, called 'bodegones' in Spanish. Image: An Old Woman Cooking Eggs, 1618, Diego Velázquez (1599–1660), National Galleries of Scotland, 8:D - A YBA (Young British Artist), Lucas’s series, Self-Portraits 1990-1998, play with fluid notions of gender and identity, subverting ideas of power, control and sexuality with her deadpan deployment of two strategically placed fried eggs. Image: Self-Portrait With Fried Eggs, 1996, Sarah Lucas (b 1962), from a portfolio of 12 iris prints, Self-Portraits 1990-1998, 1999 © the artist, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London (GMA 4679), National Galleries of Scotland
Scores
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6 and above.
Magnificent - you certainly know your Caledonian culture.
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0 and above.
Given that there were at least two sitters in this quiz, that's terrible.
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3 and above.
A decent effort which will be enhanced when you manage to see these works in the flesh.
