10 Curiosities And Statistics of Art During the COVID-19 Pandemic

10 Curiosidades & Estadísticas del Arte Durante la Pandemia de COVID-19 - KUADROS

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As the pandemic numbers improve in some countries and worsen in others, it is always refreshing to escape from reality by immersing yourself in the curious and enriching world of art.

Art is in itself a complete universe of vast information and evolutionary history of the human being, which is linked to our DNA from the first rock figures in the Altamira caves to Banksy's graffiti.

But there are ways to cheat the slow acquisition of knowledge, and this time Kuadros brings you a compendium of 10 fascinating statistics from the art world, with some data especially influenced by the COVID pandemic.

Some statistics are very predictable, such as, What is the most sought after painting on the planet? Here the fascination for La Gioconda does not let up. Other times, we are surprised by emerging movements like digital art and the new NFTs.

Let's get straight to the point and explore the 10 most curious statistics during the COVID-19 pandemic:

No.1 What are the 6 paintings most searched for by users?

The Mona Lisa , Leonardo Da Vinci: 10 million searches per year
The Creation of Adam , Michelangelo: 5 million searches
The Starry Night , Vincent Van Gogh: 3 million searches
Girl with a Pearl Earring , Johannes Vermeer: 1.5 million searches
The Scream , Eduard Munch: 500,000 searches
The Last Supper , Leonardo Da Vinci: 460,000 searches

Source: Google Arts

No. 02 What style of painting sells the most?

Abstract Paintings are the best-selling paintings

Since most abstract artworks do not have a recognizable subject or relate to anything external, viewers often interpret an abstract painting for themselves. So it makes sense that abstract paintings are always the best sellers in the art world.

Within abstract art, there are different themes, such as the geometric work of Piet Mondrian and the more fluid spontaneous paintings of Wassily Kandinsky or Jackson Pollock.

Learn a little more about the fascinating world of lyrical abstraction and its secrets .

Angel of the Last Judgment - Kandinsky

No. 03 What are the 10 most famous paintings in history?

The Mona Lisa , Leonardo Da Vinci
The Last Supper , Leonardo Da Vinci
The Starry Night , Vincent Van Gogh
The Scream , Edward Munch
Guernica , Pablo Picasso
The Kiss , Gustav Klimt
Girl with a Pearl Earring , Johannes Vermeer
The Birth of Venus , Sandro Botticeli
Las Meninas , Diego Velázquez
The Creation of Adam , Michelangelo

Source: CNN

The Birth of Venus - Botticelli

You can also see our complete list of the 100 most famous paintings in history .

No. 03 Who are the 10 most important painters in history?

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) Painter, scientist, inventor and limitless celebrity of the Renaissance. Da Vinci is one of the world's most famous painters for his iconic Mona Lisa and The Last Supper .
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Dutch post-impressionist painter. His famous paintings include; Los Girasoles , The Starry Night and Café Terraza At Night .
Rembrandt (1606–1669) Dutch master. One of the greatest painters in history, admired for his vivid realism. His famous paintings include The Jewish Bride And The Storm On The Sea Of Galilee .
Michelangelo (1475-1564) Renaissance sculptor, painter and architect. His famous paintings include his epic mural on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, which includes the famous Creation of Adam .
Claude Monet (1840-1926), French impressionist painter. His famous paintings include The Water Lilies , Women in the Garden , and Impression of the Rising Sun.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Spanish painter, modern "cubist". His famous works include Guernica and La Paloma de la Paz.
Raphael (1483-1520), Italian painter. Raphael, da Vinci and Michelangelo form the high Renaissance trinity. His famous paintings include Mond's Crucifixion and The Marriage of the Virgin .
Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) French painter, one of the early pioneers of Impressionism. Also influenced by the Italian Renaissance. Famous works include Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette and The Luncheon of the Rowers .
Johan Vermeer (1632–1675) Dutch painter specializing in genre painting: vivid depictions of still life. His famous paintings include View of Delft , Girl with a Pearl Earring , and The Milkmaid .
Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), French Post-Impressionist painter. His famous paintings include: The Card Players and The Large Bathers .

Crucifixion Mond - Raphael

No. 04 Which artist is the most searched on Google?

As art lovers around the world were forced to spend much of the past year without access to museums and galleries, 2020 was the year that keyboards and screens, rather than in-person visits, brought us closer to our Favourite artists.

Gareth Evans, a search engine optimization consultant at Ken Bromley Art Supplies, collected data from 199 countries taken from Google Keyword Planner, an analysis tool that ranks terms used by the autocomplete search bar feature.

Leonardo da Vinci was by far the most popular artist, topping searches in 84 countries (42%), including most of Eastern Europe, South Asia, and Eastern and Southern Africa. Interest in the artist was fueled by the large exhibitions (both virtual and physical) that opened in 2019, to commemorate the 500th. anniversary of his death, as well as the continuing stories surrounding the attribution of his famous painting, Salvator Mundi , the most expensive painting in history.

Salvator Mundi - Leonardo Da Vinci

Salvator Mundi

No. 05 Was the Mona Lisa a real person?

The writings of the time say that Lisa Gherardini, the real Mona Lisa , was a very beautiful woman.

We have always been fascinated by the painting of the famous Mona Lisa. It is a must visit every time we come to Paris. However, few know that the protagonist really existed and lived in Florence.

A new book on the subject suggests the Mona Lisa posed with a dark smile because she married a slave trader at just 15 years old.

Lisa Gherardini, the real-life model who posed for the iconic painting, was thrust into a wedding with wealthy Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo.

To properly understand the story of the Mona Lisa, it is important to investigate the relevance of the famous del Giocondo and its place in Tuscan society.

Francesco del Giocondo, born in 1465, was just 24 years old when he was elected in 1489 as Consul of the Silk Guild - 'L'Arte della Seta' - his ambition and business acumen were recognized from the start.

In the year 1472, Benedetto Dei, a chronicler and business agent for the Medici family, reported that there were eighty-three important silk workshops in Florence. The Silk Guild, also known as "Arte di Por San Maria", was one of the most powerful guilds in the city: it oversaw production and made sure that all silk fabrics made in the city adhered to strict standards. measurement and quality. Many types of silk fabrics and velvets were produced in Florence, but the most famous were the "auroserici", silk fabrics enhanced with gold thread, which dominated the world textile market during the Renaissance. Del Giocondo and his brothers owned two shops and rented an additional one in the Por Santa María area, which has been linked to the silk trade since the 14th century.

Francesco del Giocondo's coup in enlisting the services of the great Leonardo to paint a portrait of his wife was indeed an extraordinary achievement, considering the elevated environment in which the artist typically worked.

It should be noted that there is no record of Francesco del Giocondo making a payment to Da Vinci, nor is there any mention of the painting in his will. Such an important painting by the grand master would probably have been noticed and this is further proof that the grand master would not have handed over the unfinished Mona Lisa, but would have taken it with him when he left the Tuscan city.

Replica of the Mona Lisa made by Kuadros - Leonardo Da Vinci

No. 06 What art will sell the most in 2021-2022?

There are many factors that determine what art will sell best in specific markets.

Traditionally it has been thought that landscapes sold the strongest, followed by seascapes and still lifes, followed by figure, of which the male figure typically sold more slowly than the female figure.

Abstract work used to float somewhere in the middle. That state of affairs is no longer true. Geographic regions and cultural influences often determine which type of art will sell more than another.

In 2021, the phenomenon of NFTs (A Non-Fungible Token) exploded, or original art sold as a simple digital file. The beauty of NFTs for the buyer is knowing that they have purchased the original file of the artist, even though the image can be copied an infinite number of times. The explosion of NFTs in the market has been accompanied by the flourishing of the cryptocurrency market.

During the peak of the pandemic, an NFT by artist Beeple sold at Christie's for nearly $70 million, making it the most expensive NFT ever sold at auction.

Final sale price may increase as final bids are processed and auction fees are added, which could increase the auction total. But the sale capped two weeks of frenetic online bidding and ushered in a new era in collectibles, where prices for blockchain-based digital images now rival the prices paid for Picassos and Monets.

While the future of NFT pricing and its long-term role in the art world remains an open question, viewed by many as a speculative fad, the Beeple's eight-figure price tag has caused the art world to take note of the new trend.

The traded art of NFTs is expected to increase considerably in 2021-2022.

NFT sold by Beeple for $69 million

No. 07 What makes a painting valuable? 10 factors that make a painting cost what it costs

During the COVID pandemic, a Francis Bacon painting sold for $84 million at Sotheby's auction, making it one of the most expensive works of art ever sold at auction. But how can a paint-covered canvas be worth such a staggering sum, even in hard times?

These are the 10 factors that make a painting valuable:

Authenticity of the painting . The first element that distinguishes a cheap frame from an expensive one is, of course, its authenticity. A real Monet will always be worth more than a replica.
Origin of the painting . The provenance of a work of art, or the history of who it belonged to, is another determining factor of its value. For example, if a painting was once owned by a prominent collector or came from a respected gallery, it will automatically increase in value.
Condition of the work . This element is a bit obvious, but the condition of a painting is an important factor. If, for example, a piece of art has sun damage or a tear, that will negatively affect its price.
historical significance . The lover of a painting must ask: is this work an important player in the canon of art history? If so, several zeros can be added to the final price of it.
The popularity of the artist . Similarly, if the artist is hot at the moment, their artwork will sell for much more, regardless of whether the work has long-term staying power.
Recognition . If the artwork in question exhibits recognizable features of a famous artist, it will increase in value. For example, a Cubist painting by Picasso will usually cost more than one of his early landscapes, because people always associate Picasso with the Cubist movement.
Artist Background . If an artist has an interesting backstory, like an untimely death, for example, the price will go up. This is partly due to whether the painter produced fewer works, by virtue of dying young. If that is the case, the laws of supply and demand come into play an important role. Also the lives of artists tend to fascinate the public, so any captivating story of a painter will help sell his work for a higher price.
The medium of the work . Generally speaking, works on canvas will always outsell works on paper. Likewise, paintings will outsell a design sketch or of course a print.
The colour . Color also comes into play when determining a painting's value. Historically, paints that contain red, for example, always cost more.
The theme . Artworks of certain subjects tend to sell for more value than others. For example, paintings of beautiful women tend to be worth more than paintings of men, although there are, of course, exceptions to this rule. Sunny landscapes tend to trump dark ones, just like ships in calm seas over ships in a storm. However, it is worth noting that when we are talking about the work of a very famous painter, these rules do not tend to apply. For example, they do not apply to Rembrandt 's Storm on the Sea of Galilee .

Storm on the Sea of Galilee - Rembrandt

And to conclude, there is an intangible factor of great influence on the value of a painting, the "Power of the wall". Although difficult to quantify in words, the "Power of the Wall" of a work of art is perhaps the most important determining factor in estimating its ultimate value. If a work surprises and inspires the audience, it will help the final price of the work to skyrocket.