# Can you tell masterpieces from junk? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138 "2013-10-24T17:54:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_Simus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@Don\_Simus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Simus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/1 "2013-10-24T17:54:48Z")
Can you tell the best writer from the worst one, masterpieces of art from doodles, famous musicians from unknown ones, a genius from an idiot? Take these quizzes to find out: [http://reverent.org/quizzes.html](http://reverent.org/quizzes.html) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/2 "2013-10-24T18:16:04Z")
58% on real or fake 92% on known or unknown artist 100% on Pollock or birds 80% on Vermeer 75% on Michelangelo 60% on Mozart/Salieri (better than I thought) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/3 "2013-10-24T18:20:29Z")
I just tried one: true art or fake. Got 11/12. Didn’t recognize any of them explicitly, but I could tell who the artist was on three or four. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/4 "2013-10-24T18:27:36Z")
Apparently, I know a Mondrian and a Rothco when I see them, but not a Klee or a Kandinsky. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/5 "2013-10-24T18:27:42Z")
I did the Dickens or Bulwer-Lytton and the Great or Commercial writer, and scored 58% on both. Stephen King is kinda easy to spot. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/6 "2013-10-24T18:37:13Z")
**100% artist or ape?** It was fairly obvious. **100% Pollock or bird shit?** Also pretty obvious. **75% Donald Judd or cheap furniture?** A bit tougher. Mostly I recognize IKEA crap when I see it. **67% Abstract artist or animal?** Mostly just guessing. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/7 "2013-10-24T18:43:01Z")
I can’t even tell heaven from hell, blue skies from pain. So I don’t think I’d do well on those tests. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Simus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@Don\_Simus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Simus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/8 "2013-10-25T01:17:47Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > 60% on Mozart/Salieri (better than I thought) And how much did you expect? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/9 "2013-10-25T01:24:40Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > I can’t even tell heaven from hell, blue skies from pain. So I don’t think I’d do well on those tests. Pink from Floyd? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/10 "2013-10-25T01:51:08Z")
> [@Don\_Simus](#): > > And how much did you expect? Didn’t expect to crack 40%. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/11 "2013-10-25T02:05:13Z")
I see they categorize Adolph Hitler, Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower as unknown artists.:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/12 "2013-10-25T02:08:09Z")
I only got 67% on famous artist or unknown artist, but I got 100% on Jackson Pollock or bird droppings! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/13 "2013-10-25T13:38:25Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I see they categorize Adolph Hitler, Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower as unknown artists.:dubious: Because they’re mostly known for other things, like WWII. It was in all the papers. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/14 "2013-10-25T16:45:19Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I just tried one: true art or fake. Got 11/12. Didn’t recognize any of them explicitly, but I could tell who the artist was on three or four. Me too. The only one I missed was a kind of out-of-focus multicolor picture. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/15 "2013-10-25T16:50:25Z")
80% on Vermeer vs Meerhagen. One of them I had trouble forming an opinion on and ended up guessing wrong; mostly the rest felt obvious, though I was definitely fooled once. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/16 "2013-10-25T16:52:37Z")
I just feel it necessary to point out a quick fact: just because I can tell Pollack from bird droppings doesn’t mean they aren’t both crap. For example, I can tell the difference between bullshit and bird dropping, but not between bullshit and Pollack. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/17 "2013-10-25T16:57:04Z")
There are too many. If I started, I’d kill the morning. But I have to say that seeing “Machine Translation or Faulkner” cracked me up. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/18 "2013-10-25T18:33:08Z")
67% on real or fake 75% on known or unknown artist 83% ape or artist 100% on Pollock or birds At least I know bird shit. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Simus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@Don\_Simus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Simus)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/19 "2013-10-26T03:04:42Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Didn’t expect to crack 40%. Probably you got used to multiple choice tests with many possible answers. However, this test has only two choices. Thus simple random guessing gives 50%. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138/20 "2013-10-26T05:26:01Z")
Absurd tests. There is no difference between abstract art and ape shite spread on a canvas by ferrets. Without any meaningful structure all sense of value and meaning is created by the individual observer. And if many individuals derive value and meaning from a particular work of abstract art, that still does not mean it is not ape shite spread on a canvas by ferrets. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-masterpieces-from-junk/672138.md?page=2)