Le Quiz Pour You

 

Allo mes amis. Aujourd'hui I 'ave a quiz for you to work out zee little grey cells in your 'ead. N'est ce pas?

Zee first one is eazy to getting you started.

Who painted zees painting in blue? A clue: Zere was a song zat started "Starry, starry night. Paint your palette blue and gray ..." by Don ze McLean about zees artist.

Now anozer zee quiz for you:

OK ... zee grey cells are doing zee working. 'Ere is another question:
 

What eez zees a photo of? Anee idea? A clue ... I took zees photograph zees morning when I waking up ... 

No idea? Eet eez a close-up photo of my ginger cat. Veree close up!

OK ... an eazy one zees time. Write down what do you see in zees picture.

Can you spot ten differences between zees two pictures?

Anozer puzzle to keep zee grey cells zee working ...

Come on people ... do zee thinking ... more thinking in zee interlude ...

Alors mes amis ... you do not know zee answer? Zen stand on your 'ead!

If you got it right, you deserve a banana.

Here is the algebra for those of you more clever than me:

R+C+D=X
R+C=10
R+D=20
D+C=24

D=24-C
R+24-C=20 

R+4=C
R+C=10 

C=10-R

R+4=10-R
2R=6 

R=3

C=10-3=7
D=20-3=17

D+C+R=X
17+7+3=27 KG!

And now a final one to keep the brain working:

Look at zee bus above for a minute or so. Imagine zees bus arrives at a bus stop empty. Once eet eez zere 6 passengers get on. A little later zee bus stops again. 4 passengers get on and 3 get off. Later still zee bus stops and 8 passengers get on and 2 get off. A while further zee bus stops and 6 passengers get on and 1 gets off.

What is the name of the driver?

What's this Van Gogh?

When first I started my series of critiques of oil paintings the intention was to find "odd" or unusual paintings thereupon one can see the humourous side behind the unintended original reason for undertaking the painting itself.

Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd say, or write, without a shot or two of whisky. I'd better read it again and see if it makes sense to me. Hmmm ... yes it does. It means that at first I was trying to be a little funny about odd paintings like the nude woman in Manet's having a picnic with two fully dressed men.

But then I discovered more serious paintings like the beautiful Murillo I spoke of yesterday; and I asked you, my readers, (both of you), to suggest some "interesting" paintings for me to research. 

I am very grateful to Lulu  who suggested Van Gogh's Starry Night.

Now try as I might, I find it very difficult to say something funny about Van Gogh or this oil on canvas painted in June 1889.

The artist in question had a very difficult life and this particular painting shows the view from the east-facing window of the asylum room where Van Gogh was staying at the time after the ear cutting incident.

I HEAR YA - says one of the regular visitors to this Blog.

Basically, what happened is that on 23 December 1888 Van Gogh had a breakdown and self-mutilated his  left ear. He voluntarily admitted himself to a lunatic asylum, as they were called at the time, on 8 May 1889, where he set up a painting studio and painted this scene from his barred window.

As most of you know, Don McLean sang a beautiful song about this particular painting and this artist. Before I let you enjoy it, (the video is great, I assure you), please remember to suggest some more "odd/interesting" paintings for me to review in this series. Thank you Lulu.

Enjoy!