Many of us enjoy art but are intimidated by the thought of talking about it. We don’t know our Monets from our Manets and we couldn’t tell you which artist with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle name painted which Renaissance masterpiece (hint: it’s never Donatello because he was a sculptor).

Think of this as a beginner’s guide to getting your bearings and not a hard-and-fast set of rules. After all, these artists’ talents and interests evolved over time, so work from their early years may look different from later pieces.

Below is a snarky but fairly accurate guide to identifying 30 of the most famous painters in Western history.