The classical art memes account we're covering here has been going strong on Instagram since 2018. Today, it has over 300k ardent followers who like their humor, in the words of the great bard Harry Styles, mixed with a bit of intellect. The goal of the creator is simple: "I put modern day captions on classical paintings to make you laugh," the page's bio reads.
Back in 2022, when we covered the Instagram page for the first time, the creator told Bored Panda that art history was their hobby for quite some time before they decided to start this page. "I always used to come across these paintings that looked like they were exactly made for a meme," the creator told us back then.
The creator of the page told us in a previous interview that they believe the key to the success of this page is its relatability. The captions are all about relationship problems, reflections on today's politics and religion, and, of course, some meta Internet stuff. "Even though the paintings are hundreds of years old, their expressions and captions make it seem they are one of us," the creator said.
Some say that pages like these make classical art more accessible to younger generations: making it funny, easier to understand, and more relatable. The creator of the meme page believes that tech in general helps make art and art history more accessible. "More and more people have started appreciating art after seeing them on their feeds and then trying to learn more about their backgrounds. Technology has made its interpretation and access inclusive."
One reason why classical art memes work so well is that they're captioned with modern-day takes. Classical art meme creators put two things that seemingly shouldn't work together, but they do. It's what makes them funny, actually. It might seem bizarre to draw similarities between meme culture and classical art, but it's that juxtaposition that makes it so funny.
Some say that Marcel Duchamp's famous "L.H.O.O.Q." repainting of the Mona Lisa can be considered a sort of classical art meme as well. Duchamp repainted Da Vinci's masterpiece and added a mustache and a goatee on the subject's face. The piece's title, "L.H.O.O.Q." translates into a vulgar French saying, "complimenting" the woman's behind.
Art historians say that we can call Duchamp's painting a sort of a meme because there's text on the replicated image, there's a humorous intention, and it's Duchamp's way of critiquing society. It became a symbol of the Dada movement, based on rebelling on everything that art represented.
What about those who say that playing with classical art pieces to make memes is equal to desecrating them? Ross Carver-Carter has an answer: "Comical captions make art far more appealing and wide-reaching than they were sequestered away in temples of culture which shrouded works behind indecipherable jargon," he writes in his Medium.
