Art might be hundreds of years old, but sometimes it feels surprisingly modern. From paintings that look like movie stills to portraits that could easily pass as memes today, people online have been sharing artworks that seem way ahead of their time. And honestly, some of them might just make you do a double take.
A recent Reddit thread on r/ArtHistory invited people to share old paintings that feel modern or ahead of their time. It didn’t take long for the discussion to go viral, with history and art enthusiasts flooding the comments with mind-blowing examples from different centuries. Some of these pieces really make you feel like you’re looking at something created today.
You might be surprised too, so don’t waste any more time – scroll down to check out some of the most fascinating finds from the thread we picked just for you.
#43 "Portrait Of A Youth" By Sandro Botticelli, Painted Around 1482-1485
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9points
#44 "The Great Red Dragon And The Woman Clothed In Sun," CA. 1803–1805
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#45 “Stormtroopers Advancing Under Gas,” 1924, By Otto Dix, Who Himself Served In WW1
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8points
#46 "The Torment Of Saint Anthony" By Michelangelo, 1487
"The Torment of Saint Anthony" by Michelangelo in 1487 (when he was 12 years old, apparently!). I saw this a few months ago and thought the monsters looked like they could be from some Dungeons and Dragons quest book from the early '80s or something.
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8points
#50 "Self-Portrait" By Johannes Gumpp, 1646
Johannes Gumpp’s self-portrait from 1646 just seemed like such a meta piece for its time.
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#52 A Caricature From A 1780 Japanese Art Book Titled "Ehon Mizu Ya Sora"
‘Ehon mizu ya sora’ (“Picture Book of Water and Sky”), published in 1780 and illustrated by the Osaka artist known as Nichōsai. The book caricatures famous kabuki actors from Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo (Tokyo), depicting them on stage in a minimalist and humorous manner exemplary of the ‘toba-e’ style.
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#53 Fra Angelico's "Christ Crowned With Thorns" Looks Like A Weird Metal Album Cover From The '70s But It's From 1420
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#54 "The Ancient Of Days" By William Blake, 1794
Anything by William Blake. All of it looks like it should be from the 20th century. This is from 1794, somehow.
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#56 This Piece Of Paleoart By William D. Berry Made Around The 60s
This painting was made in a time in which we still thought about dinosaurs as slow, dumb animals that dragged their tails on the ground btw.
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7points
#59 “Daruma (Bodhidharma)” By Kawanabe KYösai (1831-1889), Japan, Meiji Period, 1888
When I saw this in the LA Museum of Art, I could not stop admiring it. And then I read the description: 1888!
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#60 The Artwork Of Mary Blair Done In The 1940s And ’50s For Disney Feels So Contemporary
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