4 unbelievable facts from the world of modern art

News from art world generally involves incidents of auctions houses and museums, the stories of artwork and life of artists. Everyone is aware about Van Gogh’s mental illness, of Da Vinci ‘s scientific and futuristic mind and many more. But that is not all, there is much more to modern art than auction houses and museum events! Today Delhi’s new generation artist Shantala Palat shares some of the cool things you might not have known.

1. There was once a sculpture so small that its artist accidentally inhaled it

Willard Wigan is an English sculptor from Ashmore Park Estate, Waynesfield, England, who is famous for his microscopic art. His sculptures are typically placed in the eye of a needle or on the head of a pin. A single sculpture can be as small as 0.005 mm (0.0002 in).

Once Willard Wigan created a sculpture so tiny that he once inhaled it by accident, which is a shame for him, because just one of his works will sell for about $40,000.

2. Art heists still happen

Thanks to the Internet, buying art is super easy now,. In fact, 71% of art collectors purchase art online. However, there are some pieces you simply can’t purchase, online or offline, that people just “have” to own it. In 2008, four paintings worth $162.5 million were stolen from the Foundation E.G. Buhrle Collection: a Cézanne, a Degas, a Monet, and a Van Gogh.

3. Picasso was once suspected of stealing the Mona Lisa

And speaking of art heists, the most expensive art heist happened in 1911 when the Mona Lisa was stolen. It turned up in Italy in 1913, but until then, investigators suspected Pablo Picasso. He was cleared and released after being arrested and questioned, of course.

4. Salvador Dali got kicked out of art school –

World famous artist Salvador Dali, perhaps best known for his 1931 painting The Persistence of Memory, showing melting clocks in a landscape setting and the most notorious figure of the Surrealist movement was a man of quirks. He believed that he was his dead brother’s reincarnation, who was also named Salvador. Considering the fact that he set his bedroom on fire and declared that his art professors were not good enough to grade his work, it’s no surprise that he got kicked out of art school in Madrid.