bizarre art facts you may not know

Auguste Rodin, a French sculptor born in 1840, created a statue called "The Age of Bronze" that was so realistic it caused people to actually believe he sacrificed a real person inside the cast.

Photo: cantorfoundation.org

Vincent Van Gogh had a history of mental illness, and shortly after the breakdown that caused him to cut off his own ear, he was admitted into Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, a psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy. This is where he created his most notable and famous painting, "Starry Night".

Photo: vangoghgallery.com

Salvador Dali's famous "Persistence of Memory" painting was inspired by melted cheese Dali noticed after a dinner party that was held at his home.

Photo: wikiart.org

Before Mary Barnes became a well-known English artist, she was a patient in Kingsley Hall, a mental health center for schizophrenics. During therapy she was encouraged to regress to a child-like state, during which she began painting the walls with her feces. They gave her paint to use instead, and this lead to the discovery that she was quite a talented painter.

Photo: wikipedia.org