Famous Artworks Recreated with Household Items

By Ammar Haziq  •  in Design
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source: Between Art and Quarantine (Instagram)

The coronavirus pandemic has forced museums around the world to shut their doors. To counter this, some museums have gone digital, offering virtual tours that can be enjoyed from anywhere. Recently, a particular museum found a way to engage the public with a social media challenge.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, USA tweeted a challenge to individuals self-isolating to recreate their favourite pieces of artwork. The catch is, they can only use everyday household items (and fellow co-habitants) to create their masterpiece. The Getty challenge was inspired by a similar challenge put out earlier this month by Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam based on an idea from Instagram account Between Art and Quarantine.

Practically trapped at home, the challenge was more than welcomed. Participants shared their personalised remakes of artworks from the likes of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Paul Cezzane, Johannes Vermeer and more.

Irises, 1889, Vincent Van Gogh. Oil on canvas, 29 1/4 × 37 1/8 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 90.PA.20. Re-creation via Twitter DM by Cara Jo O’Connell and family using Play Doh, carrot slices, and wooden beads

“There’s a really great one where a woman took an ancient Greek sculpture and recreated it to a tee by posing with a canister vacuum,” said Annelisa Stephan, the Getty’s assistant director for digital content strategy. “There have been thousands of amazing ones… Some of them are brilliant artistically, but they’re all just really funny.”

With props ranging from toilet paper to coffee filters and pets to toys, here are some of the submissions that caught our eye…

#1

source: Getty Museum

#2

source: Getty Museum

#3

source: Getty Museum

#4

source: Rijksmuseum

#5

source: Rijksmuseum

#6

source: Getty Museum

“The heartening part of this is not just the creations, but how generous and kind people are in the comment sections by holding each other up,” said Stephan. “When [the Getty] was thinking about what we could do during this time when so many museums are closed, it seemed to us that what art could really offer is a sense of community.

“Being at home, people are feeling isolated, so this has been a fun way to have a community not only with friends and family, but also with friendly strangers on the web. It’s really an attempt to build a community around art for people who love art and appreciate it, whether or not you’re an artist,” explained Stephan.

To help participants, the Getty gave the public access to its archive which contains two million images from the museum’s massive collection of paintings, drawings, photographs and sculptures. Getty also published a guide on how you can join the challenge with tips and tricks to recreate an artwork in the best possible way.

You can share your recreations on social media using the hashtags #betweenartandquarantine and #tussenkunstenquarataine.

Check out Getty Museum and Rijksmuseum for more information and inspiration.

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