The famous and world-renowned artist Renoir was born in a poor family, and in his youth, he was engaged in far less creative professions than painting. He followed his father, who was a tailor, and sewed clothes and shoes, that is, he mastered the work of a tailor and a shoemaker. The first realization of his artistic gift was painting of dishes – Renoir painted porcelain plates. Fortunately, Renoir managed to achieve widespread fame and become one of the leading French artists even during his lifetime.

At one time, Maurits Escher made attempts to translate Bach's works into a graphic language. However, when musicians came to him with a request to illustrate the cover of their new album, he categorically refused. The same cold shoulder received the leader of The Rolling Stones Mick Jagger, who wished to decorate his plate with an engraving "Verbum". However, many musicians did not feel confused about the artist’s position, and they used Escher's drawings without permission, which disturbed him very much.

The American artist John Singer Sargent was friends with the famous London art dealer Asher Wertheimer, and had painted 14 portraits of his family members. The favourite artist’s model was the youngest daughter Ena Wertheimer, who was 13 years away from the romantic portraitist, moreover, they belonged to different social circles. On the eve of her wedding, the artist painted Ena’s portrait, as if she sailed away in the suit of a naval officer, leaving Whitman's poetry lines in his notebook: "O we can wait no longer, We too take ship O soul, Joyous we too launch out on trackless seas". After that, he officially declared that he is all over with custom-made portraits. The artist only made exceptions for his friends John Rockefeller, Henry James, Woodrow Wilson.

In the White House, they always treated painting with piety. So, during the war of 1812, Dolly Madison saved the portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stewart. Jacqueline Kennedy borrowed eight paintings by Cézanne from the permanent collection of one of the museums. Hillary Clinton withstood the abstract painting “Mountain at Bear Lake—Taos” by Georgia O'Keefe, while critics assured that the work will break the restrained elegance of the Green Room, created by the paintings of the XIX century. Laura Bush convinced the committee that oversees the art collection of the White House to accept the painting by her contemporary Andrew Wyeth as a gift, although it contradicted the rules: before getting to the White House, the painting must be aged for at least 25 years. Therefore, the collection of the residence contains the minimum number of works of living artists.

The idea of the main masterpiece of the legendary surrealist Méret Oppenheim was born by chance, during a visit to a Parisian cafe with Pablo Picasso. During the conversation, he noticed the bracelet on Oppenheim's hand, which she made of ordinary wire wrapped in fur. "You can cover anything with fur," he remarked. "Yes, even this cup and saucer," she replied. And in May 1936, at an exhibition of surreal objects in the Paris gallery of Charles Ratton, Oppenheim presented her "Breakfast in Fur" – a cup, a saucer and a spoon, their surface covered with the fur of Chinese gazelle.

One day, in the gallery of the collector spouses from New York Maya and Anatoly Bekkerman, the bell rang: the outfitter’s granddaughter offered them a picture, which Fyodor Chaliapin paid 100 years ago with ... for a tailcoat! The lady spelled the surname of the great singer as "Shatapkin", but the canvas was undoubtedly of Korovin's brush. The creators were friends, Korovin painted a portrait of Chaliapin’s daughters, so he had several works by the artist. Four of them were used to pay the merchant for the clothes.

The favorite place of residence of artists in Paris at the beginning of the last century was the subject of jokes. So, the artist Federer in difficult times loved to encourage his friend Amshey Nyurenberg:
"You have a magnificent workshop on Rue de la Santé, 32, next to the famous Santé prison". Above its entrance, at the top of the gate there is a historical revolutionary inscription: "Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood". Of course, you would say what an irony. Then," he added, "in front of your workshop, there is a nunnery. Every morning, in the open window at the gate, you see gentle female hands. A mug of milk is in one of them, a piece of white bread in the other. Here's your breakfast ready! And not far from the studio is the famous Parisian venereal Hospital Cochin. What do you want, my friend?”