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To mark the second annual Lexmark European Art Prize, Europe’s only pan European painting prize, Lexmark UK has commissioned a report to reveal the artistic brain of the country’s workforce.

Results in brief:

• IT managers know the most about old masters, identifying Leonardo da Vinci as the painter of the Mona Lisa (91%) – compared to 78% of Doctors and 69% of healthcare workers.
• IT workers also know that Michelangelo was a Renaissance painter (87%) beating builders (77%), retail workers (59%) and Doctors (85%).
• IT workers were the UK’s 2nd most artistic profession.
• Accountants are the UK’s most artistic profession.
• Retail assistants are the UK’s least artistically inclined.
• Builders know more about modern art than any other profession - 30% answered all the questions correctly.

IT-Arty
IT professionals - stereotyped as happier with a soldering iron than a paintbrush - did especially well.  IT was the top profession in stating Picasso’s nationality as Spanish (59%) and identifying Leonardo da Vinci as the painter of the Mona Lisa (91%). Over two thirds of all research respondents knew that Michelangelo was a Renaissance painter and half knew Monet was an impressionist. 

Damien who?
However, the research highlighted the ignorance of home-grown talent.  Only 7% of IT specialists, 6% of retail workers and 9% of accountants could recognise Damien Hirst’s ‘1000 years’, currently on exhibition in the Saatchi gallery.  Despite the controversy of his alter ego “Claire” less than a third of all professions knew that Grayson Perry was this year’s winner of the Turner Prize.

In the overall battle of the sexes men came out on top.  Men from the professions questioned knew more about Renaissance art, Picasso and the painter of the Mona Lisa than their female counterparts. 

Construction workers are tops for contemporary but its Accountants who paint by numbers.

While builders know more about modern art than any other profession questioned, overall, accountants are the UK’s most artistic profession.  Accountants knew their Mona Lisa from their Michelangelo, while Retail assistants were Britain’s least artistic profession, with over a third not able to answer any of the questions.

Britain’s brickies came out on top in the modern art stakes with over three quarters identifying Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans, compared to 46% of healthcare workers and 36% of retail assistants.  Nearly two thirds of builders correctly categorised Jackson Pollock as an Abstract Impressionist – more than any other profession (37% IT managers and 31% of accountants).

However, a massive 84% of accountants correctly answered that Van Gogh painted the Sunflowers and three quarters could identify Henry Moore as a sculptor.  47% of accountants knew that Munch painted the Scream; while over a fifth of healthcare workers thought it was Picasso, one third of retail assistants did not have a clue.

Confusion Consommé
Pop Artist Andy Warhol caused much confusion as 17% of healthcare workers stated he painted Heinz soup cans and 4% of IT workers thought Covent Garden Soup Company containers made up one of the most famous works of the 20th Century.  4% of healthcare workers thought that Rory Bremner not Monet was an impressionist painter. 

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