There’s something particularly funny about seeing a character from a centuries-old painting having the kind of conversation you’d expect to find in a group chat. The clothes might be outdated, the setting might be unfamiliar, but the awkward situations and questionable decisions? Those still feel pretty relatable. That’s the idea behind Stupid Art, an Instagram page that gives classical paintings a modern twist by adding hilarious text conversations to them.
We’ve featured Stupid Art’s creations on Bored Panda before, and the page continues to find new ways to make old paintings entertaining. Of course, matching a joke to the right painting takes some work. The creator behind Stupid Art spends a lot of time browsing artworks, looking for expressions and situations that fit a particular idea. Sometimes the joke comes first, while other times, a painting provides all the inspiration needed. While making people laugh is the main goal, the artist has another reason for creating these memes. By presenting classical paintings in such an approachable way, they hope to get more people interested in the original artworks and the artists who created them. After all, someone who wouldn’t normally visit an art museum might still find themselves curious about the painting behind a particularly funny meme.
Bored Panda spoke with the creator of Stupid Art about the similarities between people past and present, the process of finding paintings that fit their jokes, and the unexpected reactions their posts sometimes receive. Read our conversation with the artist below, and enjoy another collection of classical art memes that prove old paintings still have plenty to say.
