The best trivia games for learning art and music
Quick answer: The best games for learning art and music are picture quizzes of famous paintings by movement, instrument recognition quizzes by family, and matching games that pair artworks with their artists.
Paintings
Guessing famous paintings teaches artists and movements, from the Renaissance to Expressionism.
Instruments
Learn strings, woodwind, brass, percussion and keyboards, plus world instruments like the oud and sitar.
Art movements in one table
A quick guide to the movements that appear most in quizzes:
| Movement | Period | Famous artists |
|---|---|---|
| Renaissance | 1400s–1500s | Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael |
| Baroque | 1600s | Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer |
| Impressionism | 1870s–1880s | Monet, Renoir, Degas |
| Post-Impressionism | 1880s–1900s | Van Gogh, Cézanne, Gauguin |
| Cubism | 1907–1920s | Picasso, Braque |
| Surrealism | 1920s–1940s | Dalí, Magritte |
Instrument families
Most quizzes group instruments into five families: strings (violin, oud, sitar), woodwind (flute, ney, clarinet), brass (trumpet, trombone, tuba), percussion (darbuka, djembe, timpani) and keyboards (piano, organ, accordion). Learning the family first makes it easier to identify an instrument you have never seen.
How to practise
Play a picture quiz of paintings once a week and try to name the movement as well as the title. For music, listen to a recording of each instrument after you see it in a quiz.
Arabic music legends
Umm Kulthum, Fairuz, Abdel Halim Hafez and Mohammed Abdel Wahab are among the most celebrated voices of Arabic music, and their songs appear often in music quizzes.
Frequently asked questions
How can I learn about art quickly?
Start with the 20 most famous paintings and the movements they belong to.
What are the families of instruments?
Strings, woodwind, brass, percussion and keyboards.
What is the most famous painting in the world?
The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, in the Louvre in Paris.
What are the five instrument families?
Strings, woodwind, brass, percussion and keyboards.
Who was Umm Kulthum?
An Egyptian singer, one of the most famous voices of the 20th century.