Question 1

True or false: Koons' 'Puppy' sculpture at the Guggenheim Bilbao is made of thousands of living flowers.

Accepted Answer

True. 'Puppy' is a 40-foot-tall West Highland White Terrier covered with over 60,000 flowering plants, irrigated internally.

Question 2

True or false: Koons' 'Balloon Dog (Orange)' is made entirely from hand-blown glass, not metal.

Accepted Answer

False. It's actually fabricated from mirror-polished stainless steel with a transparent color coating, not glass at all.

Question 3

True or false: Koons holds the record for the most expensive sculpture by a living artist sold at auction.

Accepted Answer

True. His 'Rabbit' (1986) sold for $91.1 million in 2019, the highest for a living artist's sculpture at auction.

Question 4

True or false: Koons' wife was a famous Italian porn star and politician, Ilona Staller.

Accepted Answer

True. He married Ilona Staller (aka Cicciolina) in 1991; they collaborated on the 'Made in Heaven' series.

Question 5

True or false: Koons' 'Michael Jackson and Bubbles' was cast in solid 24-karat gold.

Accepted Answer

False. The sculpture is painted porcelain, not gold. A gold version would be impractically heavy and costly.

Question 6

True or false: Koons never attended art school; he is entirely self-taught.

Accepted Answer

False. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Maryland Institute College of Art, earning a BFA.

Question 7

True or false: Jeff Koons once worked as a commodities broker on Wall Street before becoming an artist.

Accepted Answer

True. Before his art career, Koons was a securities broker on Wall Street, which influenced his later themes of commerce and consumerism.

Question 8

True or false: Koons designed a train for a German railway company as a public art project.

Accepted Answer

True. In 1997, he designed a locomotive and passenger cars for the German railway DB, decorated with colorful patterns.

Jeff Koons Trivia Questions