Art-E-Facts: 5 Random Art Facts

1. The term Impressionism originated from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant). Critic Louis Leroy coined the term in a satiric review published in Le Charivari in the 1860s.

2. The colour yellow, when seen from a distance or when used with a dark background, is easiest to see, but when used alone, it is the most difficult color for eyes to process. Research has shown that people lose their tempers more often in yellow rooms and infants cry more when surrounded by yellow.

3. In 1961, Matisse’s Le Bateau (The Boat) hung upside-down for 47 days in the Museum of Modern Art, New York – none of the 116,000 visitors had noticed, including the art dealer Pierre Matisse, the artist’s own son.

4. The first permanent colour photograph, was conceived by James Clerk Maxwell in 1861. Thomas Sutton, inventor of the single-lens reflex camera, photographed a tartan ribbon three times, each time with a different colour filter over the lens.

5. The Louvre was originally constructed as the fortress of Philippe Auguste in 1190. Charles V oversaw the first modernisation process in the 1300s which resulted in what was to be the beginnings of one of the largest palace complexes in the world. Located on the right bank of the Seine River in Paris, the Louvre is the most visited Museum in the world.