Famous paintings and the stories behind them

Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 7 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 15 of the arts course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · ★★ · right ✓

Your mate goes, "famous paintings are always massive, that's why they're famous." What is wrong?

1. Many are small; fame comes from history and stories too — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Famous paintings are always the smallest ones — no support
3. Nothing, every famous painting is huge — no support
4. Size is the only thing that matters — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★ · right ✓

Liam's cousin smirks that Van Gogh "must've been high" for the swirls. What would Van Gogh's letters show?

1. He never wrote a letter — score 5
2. He painted while fast asleep in the night — score 6
3. He chose the style on purpose to show feeling — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 18
4. He hated the colour blue and only used it by accident — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 18, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 15, line 3: «Artists choose their style on purpose: Van Gogh painted swirling skies to show feeling and movement, Munch showed fear, Picasso painted the horror of a bombed…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+7); the same thing acted on «feeling» (+5); the same action «show» (+3); the same doer «van» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★ · right ✓

A cartoon shows The Scream figure yelling at the viewer. What does the cartoon get wrong?

1. The figure is singing — score 8
2. The figure is laughing at a joke — score 8
3. Munch said the figure hears a scream and covers its ears — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 18
4. Nothing, the figure is clearly shouting at us — score 8

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 18, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 15, line 8: «Edvard Munch, from Norway, made several versions of The Scream from 1893; he said the figure hears a scream passing through nature and covers its ears.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same action «hear» (+4); the same doer «figure» (+4); the same thing acted on «scream» (+4). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★ · right ✓

Aoife's friend says, "It's just a wave, innit." What is closer to what experts say?

1. A huge storm wave at sea, with Mount Fuji behind — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
2. A tsunami hitting a city full of people — no support
3. A wave in a swimming pool with a mountain painted behind — score 6
4. A tiny ripple in a pond — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 15, line 10: «Most experts say the Great Wave shows a huge storm wave out at sea, not a tsunami; because it was printed, many cheap copies were sold.», reached through what was said in the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «great wave» (+4); the same property (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Ollie says sunflowers should only be painted fresh. What would have happened if Van Gogh had agreed?

1. He would have painted many more Starry Nights instead — ← Mova's choice · score 6
2. All flowers in the world would stop wilting — score 2
3. We would lose paintings showing life changing — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Nothing at all would change — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 6, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 15, line 11: «Van Gogh painted a series of sunflower paintings in 1888 and 1889, with flowers at every stage from fresh to wilting, to decorate a room for his friend the pai…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «paint» (+4); the same doer «van» (+4). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Jack asks if Bilokur's flowers are a photo. What does this show?

1. Bilokur used a camera — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Self-taught painters can reach amazing detail — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Only photos can show detail — no support
4. Folk painters cannot paint detail without going to a proper art school — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Zara says Guernica is "grim". What is true about art and grim things?

1. Art must always be pretty to be good — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Some great art shows terrible things so people remember — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Grim pictures are never put in museums or shown anywhere — no support
4. Picasso only painted happy pictures — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★ · right ✓

Tiana says the pearl earring film is "what really happened". What is wise?

1. Believe it, films about art are always true — no support
2. The film was made by Vermeer himself, long ago — no support
3. Enjoy it, but know the story is made up — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
4. The girl's real name is printed on the painting — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 15, line 15: «Johannes Vermeer painted Girl with a Pearl Earring around 1665 in the Netherlands; who the girl was is unknown, and a later novel and film invented a story abo…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «story» (+4); the same action «invent» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Viktor says Repin's painting shows exactly what happened. What is fairer?

1. It is a copy of a modern film about Cossacks and sultans — no support
2. It shows only made-up animals — ← Mova's choice · score 5
3. It shows a legend and the painter's imagination — ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. It is a photograph taken in 1891 — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 13, line 2: «Each paint soaks up part of the light, so mixing too many paints together soaks up almost everything and gives mud; picture Mia stirring her whole palette and…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «picture» (+3); the same doer «paint» (+2). The right option, 3, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★ · wrong ✗

What would happen if Ethan spent only two seconds on a Bruegel?

1. He would see everything at once — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. He would miss most of its little stories — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The painting would change — no support
4. He would find the fallen man straight away, without looking — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Which painting is almost 8 metres wide?

1. Girl with a Pearl Earring — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Guernica — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The Starry Night — no support
4. The Mona Lisa — no support

Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the principal circumstance, other than its artistic merit, which contributed to the celebrity of the Mona Lisa.

1. Its exceptional dimensions exceeding those of all other paintings — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Its exhibition upon national television in the course of the nineteenth century — no support
3. Its completion in the twentieth century — no support
4. Its theft from the Louvre in 1911 and recovery two years thereafter — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the composition of Guernica.

1. It depicts a peaceful festival in a Spanish village — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It was commissioned as a decoration for a nursery in a Spanish palace by the king — no support
3. It was executed by Van Gogh in 1889 in a French hospital — no support
4. It was executed by Picasso in 1937 following the bombing of a Spanish town — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the identity of the subject of Girl with a Pearl Earring?

1. Her identity is unknown, and later narratives concerning her are fictional — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. She is established to have been the instructor of Vermeer — no support
3. She is established to have been a queen of the Netherlands — no support
4. Her name is inscribed upon the canvas — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓

Ascertain the reason for which the work of Hokusai entitled The Great Wave reached a numerous public.

1. It was broadcast by television in the nineteenth century — no support
2. It was painted upon a celebrated public building — no support
3. It was displayed exclusively in a single private collection — no support
4. It was a woodblock print reproduced in many inexpensive copies — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 15, line 9: «The Great Wave off Kanagawa is a woodblock print by the Japanese artist Hokusai, made around 1831, showing a huge wave over small boats with Mount Fuji in the…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «woodblock print» (+4); the same doer «great wave» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/arts/15-famous-paintings-and-the-stories-behind-them/