From the argument over whether "The Girl With a Pearl Earring" truly has an earring in her ear to the million-dollar view from an asylum window, here are some intriguing insights into 10 of the world's most renowned artworks.

'The Scream' by Edward Munch

In 1893, Norwegian artist Edvard Munch created the painting, which came to symbolize the human condition's anguish, trauma, and loneliness. What is less well known is that the figure in the painting's foreground is not the one screaming. They are, instead, reacting to the cry.

In his journal, Munch wrote about how “one evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord — the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream.”

The crimson sky in "The Scream" was also generated by the aftermath of the Krakatoa volcano explosion in 1883.

'Girl with a pearl earring' by Johannes Vermeer

The 1665 work has come to symbolize the Dutch Golden Age and has inspired a book and a film.

The art world has long questioned whether the girl in the picture is wearing an earring or if it is just reflected light since careful study reveals the "earring" is not linked to her ear.

Vermeer did not name his painting "Girl With a Pearl Earring;" rather, the Royal Mauritshuis Gallery chose it for the Vermeer exhibition in Washington in 1995.

Some art historians believe the piece was one of two labeled Two Tronies in Turkish Style (two portraits-fantasies) from an inventory of the artist's work, due to the girl's non-European headgear.

'American Gothic' by Grant Wood

Grant's art, like Munch's, has been misinterpreted over the years, most likely due to the glum expressions on his figures' faces.

Despite the pair's faces, which are really father and daughter rather than man and wife, Grant meant the 1930 painting to be a positive reflection of rural American ideals in the wake of the Great Depression.

For the image, Wood utilized his sister and his dentist as models.

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'Starry Night' by Vincent Van Gogh

The picture of The Starry Night, painted in 1889, is a vista from the Saint-Paul de Mausole institution, where the Dutch painter had willingly admitted himself following his breakdown in December 1888, when he mutilated his left ear.

The view is from his east-facing window in the French town of Saint-Remy-de-Provence, however, the place is purely fictitious.

Venus (The Morning Star), which was visible at the time, is the brightest star in the center.

'Mona Lisa' by Leonardo Da Vinci

Because her face is so famous, the context of Da Vinci's masterwork is sometimes neglected, although it has sparked as many discussions and debates as her enigmatic lips.

The scene is clearly asymmetrical, with the left half of the backdrop substantially lower than the right, and art historians have argued whether it was genuine or made up by the artist for centuries.

Carlo Starnazzi, a paleontologist at the University of Florence, released a paper in 1995 claiming that the lake on the left is Lake Chiana and that the curving road is actually a canal connecting the lake to the Arno River. He points to the Burgiano Bridge, which spans the Arno River in Tuscany.

'Sleeping Lady with Black Vase' by Robert Bereny

The art world may thank the 1999 film Stuart Little for the re-emergence of a work of art that had been lost since 1928.

Art historian Gergely Barki recognized the artwork hanging above the Littles' mantelpiece while viewing the video with his daughter and realized it was the lost work of avant-garde artist Robert Bereny.

The painting was sold in 1928 and was thought to be destroyed after WWII. Barki tracked down the film's set designer, who had purchased the artwork at an antique shop in California, after two years.

It was finally auctioned off to a private collector in 2014 for $285,700.

'Arnolfini Portrait' by Jan van Eyck

It’s a graffiti tag recognized globally. One is seen on walls in every city featuring the graffiti artist’s name, followed by “was here” and the date.

But while a spray-painted scrawl on a city wall might not hold much cachet in the art world (unless it’s by Banksy), the appearance of such a tag in a work of art has only enhanced its value.

Van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait, painted in 1434, of the Italian merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, features a very notable tag on the wall behind the couple. The Latin script reads: “Johannes de eyck fuit hic 1434″ which translates to “Jan van Eyck was here in 1434.”

'The Last Supper' by Leonardo Da Vinci

It is one of the world's most renowned paintings. While visitors to the Louvre are typically taken aback by how little the Mona Lisa is, tourists to Milan's Santa Maria delle Grazie are usually taken away by the magnitude of Da Vinci's The Last Supper.

The painting, which measures 4.6 meters by 8.8 meters and was painted between 1495 and 1498, represents the moment Jesus warned his disciples that one of them would betray him the next day.

One of the numerous symbolic references in the artwork is a jar of spilled salt beside Judas' arm, which was thought to be a terrible omen.

'David' by Michelangelo

Michelangelo's David, at 5.2 meters tall, is one of the world's most famous sculptures. When it was initially displayed on September 8, 1504, it was located outside the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence's seat of civic administration. It is now kept at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence.

Although acclaimed for its depiction of youth and beauty, Michelangelo also included a political commentary in David.

The statue's look is really a cautionary glare from Florence, pointed at Rome, which was also a city-state at the time and was not yet the Italian capital, as a warning against attacking the city.

'The Weeping Woman' by Pablo Picasso

Back in 1986, one of Picasso's Weeping Woman (one of four versions painted by the artist in 1937) was stolen and was missing for three weeks before being recovered — but no one knows who took it.

In August 1986, the sculpture was stolen from the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.

The thieves, calling themselves Australian Cultural Terrorists (ACT), promptly published a list of demands in order to ensure the safe return of the artwork.

These included a 10% boost in cultural spending and the establishment of a A$25,000 yearly art prize to be known as The Picasso Ransom. If their demands were not satisfied, the group threatened to destroy the artwork in seven days.

The government declined to bargain, and three weeks later, authorities obtained information that the artwork was in locker 227 at the Spencer Street train station.

"The Weeping Woman" was found, but the members of ACT were never identified or located.