The painting recognition quiz
Guess the Painter is a free online art quiz built around a single, deceptively simple question: who painted this? A canvas appears on screen, four artist names below it, and you have one chance to read the brushwork, the palette, the gesture and the period before committing to an answer. There is no signup, no paywall, and no advertising — just 1,200+ paintings spanning the Italian Renaissance, the Dutch Golden Age, Romanticism, Impressionism, the historical avant-gardes, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art and contemporary practice.
How the game works
Three game modes are available. Solo is the default: unlimited rounds, three lives, three single-use wildcards (50/50, Skip, Hint), and a streak counter that rewards consecutive correct answers. Duel is a pass-and-play head-to-head for two players on the same device, each with their own name, lives and turn. Learn flips the format on its head — the painting comes with full context first, and the quiz only follows when you decide you are ready.
What you learn
Behind each correct answer is a short essay on the artist's hand: the recurring motifs, the historical context, the technical choices that make a Vermeer unmistakable from a Pieter de Hooch, or a Pollock from a Kline. The end of every round opens an optional accordion with a style note, the painting's story, and a "how to identify it next time" callout written specifically to make the next encounter easier.
Artists and movements covered
The catalogue covers 70+ master painters from Giotto to Basquiat — Caravaggio, Velázquez, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Goya, Turner, Monet, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Klimt, Picasso, Matisse, Kahlo, Pollock, Warhol, Banksy, and dozens more — organised across 22 art-historical movements. Browse the Artists index or the Movements timeline for a structured tour, or jump straight into a Solo round.