Can you tell which century a painting was made in?
One painting, four centuries, one answer. Look at the picture and place it in the century it was made. Each correct answer extends your streak and brings up the next work; one mistake ends the run. There is no timer, so take as long as you like with each painting.
How to play
- A painting fills the board. Choose the century it was made in from the four answers at the bottom.
- A correct answer is revealed, adds one to your streak and brings up the next round automatically.
- One wrong answer ends the run, and the right answer is highlighted. There is no timer; press Finish to end a run early.
- The four centuries sit close together on the timeline, and the right answer is drawn evenly from the centuries in play, so always picking the most common one will not carry a streak.
- Your result is saved in this browser. Once enough people have played a game, the results also show how your score ranks, and you can copy or share an image of your result, or replay.
Tips for playing
Read the paint before the subject. Look for several clues together: the depth of the scene, the treatment of light, visible brushwork, clothing, and everyday objects. Styles overlap and can be revived, so no single feature proves a century.
The 6 centuries in the game
Show all 6 centuries
| Century | Paintings | Most represented |
|---|---|---|
| 15th century | 22 | Giovanni di Paolo, Sandro Botticelli, Apollonio di Giovanni |
| 16th century | 24 | Domenico Theotokópoulos, called El Greco, Lucas Cranach the Elder, After Cornelis Cort |
| 17th century | 47 | Peter Paul Rubens, David Teniers the Younger, Diego Velázquez |
| 18th century | 38 | Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Hubert Robert, Henry Fuseli |
| 19th century | 223 | Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Édouard Manet |
| 20th century | 32 | Claude Monet, Vasily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse |
A painting belongs to the century in which its recorded date begins. Centuries with too few paintings to be a fair option are left out.
Frequently asked questions
How is a painting’s century decided?
By the start of the date the museum records. A painting dated 1884–86 counts as 19th century, because 1884 falls in the 19th century.
Can I just pick the most common century?
Not for long. The right answer is drawn evenly from the centuries in play, even though the collection holds far more 19th-century paintings than any other.
Which centuries can come up?
The 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Each is equally likely to be the answer.
Which century has the most paintings?
The 19th century, with 223 paintings in the game.
Look for several clues, not one art-history shortcut
Start with how space is built: do figures look flat against the background, or do they occupy a deep room or landscape? Then inspect light, brushwork, clothing and everyday objects. A cluster of clues is more useful than a single colour or subject.
Styles overlap, artists revive older approaches, and paintings can depict events from much earlier periods. A historical costume dates the subject more easily than it dates the canvas. Treat visual clues as probabilities, then use the revealed museum date to refine your next guess.
How this measure is defined
The century comes from the start of the date the museum records for the work. Only centuries the collection represents well enough to be a fair option are offered, and the four choices sit close together on the timeline, so the answer is rarely obvious by elimination.
Sources
Source: Art Institute of Chicago · Data period: 2026 · Collected: (UTC)
Paintings the Art Institute of Chicago releases as public domain, taken in the museum’s own order of prominence. Each record is re-checked against the museum’s public domain flag before it is used.
The collection date tells you when we retrieved the source, not when every underlying observation was made. A failed refresh does not advance that date. For comparisons, the snapshot loaded for your run supplies the answers.
Found an incorrect answer or a source that needs updating? Send a correction with the game name and a reference.