Who Stole The Artwork? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mount Fuji

Created around 1831 by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" is part of his famous series entitled "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji". Though often referred to as a painting, it is actually a color woodblock print created through a multi-step process. Hokusai first drew the design on paper, which carvers glued onto cherry wood blocks to cut separate raised patterns for each individual color, allowing publishers to ink and press thousands of paper copies for everyday buyers.

Visually, the piece plays with perspective by placing Japan's sacred Mount Fuji small and calm in the center background, framed dramatically beneath a large rogue wave that threatens to swallow three thin, long fishing boats At its core, the print is intended to capture the tension between human vulnerability and nature's raw power.

Answer: The Louvre Museum

Painted in the early 16th century by Italian Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, the "Mona Lisa" is believed to depict Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine silk merchant. Unlike traditional portraits of the era, Leonardo created the painting over several years using oil paint applied in translucent glazing layers on a thin poplar wood panel rather than canvas. He used groundbreaking techniques like sfumato, the soft blending of light and shadow without harsh outlines, which gives her that famous expression of hers.

Set against a backdrop of winding rivers and mountains, the artwork broke new ground by portraying a woman three-quarters turned toward the viewer with her hands resting casually, creating a sense of psychological depth, inner life, and intimate human connection. Today, it resides permanently in the Louvre Museum in Paris and is property of the French State. It is kept inside a climate-controlled, bulletproof glass enclosure to protect its fragile, warping wood panel.

Answer: "The Divine Comedy" by Dante

Conceived in 1880 by French sculptor Auguste Rodin, "The Thinker" was originally titled "The Poet" and created as a small element for a massive decorative doorway called "The Gates of Hell". The sculpture meant to represent Dante Alighieri contemplating his monumental poem, the "Inferno". To bring the figure to life on a larger scale, Rodin sculpted a detailed clay model before collaborating with foundry workers to cast the large version in bronze using the lost-wax casting process, leaving the rough surface textures intact to catch light and convey human energy.

Visually, Rodin broke away from classical, heroic statues by depicting a muscular, nude figure hunched forward on a rock with his right elbow resting on his left thigh, toes gripping the pedestal, and jaw pressed firmly against his knuckles. Unlike unique museum paintings, dozens of authorized bronze casts of "The Thinker" exist around the world because Rodin encouraged plaster molds of his work to be reproduced during his lifetime and preserved for public display globally.

Answer: An asylum

Painted in June 1889 by Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, "The Starry Night" depicts the view from his asylum window (facing east) in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France, just before sunrise. This was blended with an idealized village remembered from his homeland. Van Gogh created the masterpiece using oil paint on canvas, applying cobalt blue, French ultramarine, and yellow pigments with a technique called impasto. This is layering thick, heavy brushstrokes directly onto the canvas with short and rhytmic movements.

Visually dominated by swirling clouds, a crescent moon, glowing stars, and a dark tree in the foreground, the painting bridges the gap between observation and intense emotion, serving as a powerful reflection of Van Gogh's tumultuous mental state. The painting resides permanently in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, where it was acquired in 1941 and remains one of the most celebrated icons of modern art.

Answer: Pocket watches

Painted in 1931 by Spanish artist Salvador Dali, "The Persistence of Memory" is a surprisingly small oil-on-canvas masterpiece that depicts a dreamlike landscape inspired by the coastal cliffs of his hometown, Port Lligat. Dali created the piece using what he called his "paranoiac-critical method", which is a technique where he induced self-rendered hallucinatory states to access his unconscious mind.

The Surrealistic artwork is famous for its iconic melting pocket watches draped over a dead olive branch, a fleshy creature, and a wooden block, which together symbolize the fluid, relative nature of time, decay, and the collapse of rational order within dreams. Since 1934, the painting has resided permanently in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, after an anonymous donor gifted it to the museum shortly after its sensational American debut.

Answer: The Sistine Chapel

Painted around 1511 by Italian High Renaissance artist Michelangelo, "The Creation of Adam" is a monumental ceiling fresco located inside the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in Rome. Michelangelo, who considered himself a sculptor rather than a painter, created the masterpiece over roughly sixteen days by applying ground pigments directly onto fresh, wet lime plaster while working overhead on high scaffolding commissioned by Pope Julius II.

Visually, the composition illustrates the Biblical narrative from Genesis, depicting a powerful, wind-swept God floating inside a billowing red cloak surrounded by celestial figures, extending His arm toward a fully formed Adam lounging on a grassy landscape. At its center, the fresco captures the precise second before God's index finger touches Adam's limp hand, symbolizing the spark of divine life, intellect, and soul passing to humanity.

Answer: Marble

Sculpted between 1501 and 1504, "David" is a 17 foot (5 m) tall marble statue depicting the Biblical hero before his epic battle with Goliath. Michelangelo took on the task of carving the figure from a single, flawed block of Carrara marble that had been abandoned by two previous sculptors thirty years prior. He carefully used a hammer and chisels to reveal the form before hand-sanding the marble to a smooth, polished finish.

Visually breaking away from traditional depictions that showed David triumphant over Goliath's severed head, the artist portrayed the young man in a tense, watchful moment. David is seen standing in a classical stance with veins bulging in his hands, sling slung over his shoulder, and a fierce, focused glare turned toward his unseen rival. The sculpture was originally meant to be one of a series of statues that were to be placed along the roof-line of a cathedral but after the impressive unveiling in 1504, it was placed in a public square for years before being moved to a museum.

Answer: Blue and yellow turban

Painted around 1665 by Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer, "Girl with a Pearl Earring" is an oil painting that depicts a young, unidentified woman dressed in an exotic turban and a striking, tear-shaped pearl earring. Vermeer created the masterpiece using fine brushes and rare, expensive pigments. Most notably lapis lazuli was used to achieve the vibrant ultramarine blue of her headscarf.

Rather than a formal portrait, the work is categorized as a tronie (a popular Dutch genre study of a character or stylized facial expression) capturing a fleeting, intimate moment as the girl turns over her shoulder to look directly at the viewer against a dark backdrop. Today, the painting resides permanently in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, where it has been housed since 1902 after being willed to the nation by a private collector.

Answer: Campbell's Soup cans

When Andy Warhol unveiled his "Campbell's Soup Cans" at Los Angeles's Ferus Gallery in July 1962, he revolutionized the modern art world by elevating an everyday grocery staple into a milestone of Pop Art. The installation consisted of 32 individual synthetic polymer paint canvases. There was one for every flavor of soup Campbell's offered at the time, ranging from tomato to clam chowder. Instead of traditional gallery hanging, gallery director Irving Blum displayed the uniform canvases side-by-side in a single row on narrow shelves to intentionally mimic the visual layout of products sitting in a supermarket aisle.

Though the images appeared mechanical and mass-produced at first glance, Warhol actually painted each canvas by hand, using a projector to trace the lettering and hand-stamping the gold fleur-de-lis pattern near the bottom of each can. When asked why he chose the mundane subject, Warhol famously replied that he drank Campbell's soup for lunch every day for twenty years.

Answer: Barb Wire

All of the suspects gave statements about where they were at the time. They all talked about an art work they were involved with during the crime. One of them, however, gave invalid information. Barb Wire said she was in Rome in front of Michelangelo's statue "David". The statue is located in Florence, Italy and not Rome. It is in the Galleria dell'Accademia, while a full-scale marble replica stands outdoors at the statue's original historic site outside the Palazzo Vecchio.

You successfully arrest Barb and are satisfied you will be able to return the stolen painting back to the owner. Another great job capturing whoddunit!