Teenage Koons 'knew nothing' about art

He may be the best-selling artist alive, but on his first day at art school Jeff Koons had a crushing realization: He "knew nothing" about the world he was about to join.

Today likened to the pop art icon Andy Warhol, the teenage Koons was lucky to survive the bolt that hit him as a 17-year-old newcomer to the Maryland Institute College of Art.

"We went on a bus to see a great cubism collection. I didn't know who Cezanne was, who Matisse was ... I didn't grow up with that background," the US mega-artist said ahead of a retrospective opening in Paris on Wednesday.