Classical art and humor pair up incredibly well. They’re such a powerful combination, and the internet has been in love with it for years. And not just professional artists and art historians, mind you!
Digital creator Varkey (@_varkey) runs a very popular Instagram account where he features some of the wittiest, funniest, and most relatable memes that use classical art as a template.
We’ve collected some of the very best, amusing, and sarcastic ones to share with you. Scroll down to take a look, and remember to upvote your favorite ones!
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Varkey, who is widely known on Instagram, blends insights from contemporary life with classical paintings on his account. At the time of writing, his project has 104k dedicated fans from all over the world.
Some of the most well-known classical artists include geniuses like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Gustav Klimt, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Rembrandt. Others that you’ve likely heard of include Claude Monet, Johannes Vermeer, Francisco Goya, Jacques-Louis David, Frida Kahlo, and Eugène Delacroix.
The very terms classical or classic art first started becoming widespread in the 17th century. In the West, during the Renaissance and later periods, classicism in art mainly focuses on classical myths and legends, as well as gods and heroes. From the mid-18th and 19th centuries, the aesthetic is referred to as Neoclassical.
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It’s easy to instinctively understand the appeal of the classical art meme genre. Classical paintings have incredible energy, fantastic details, and feature very expressive characters. On the one hand, they’re a perfect fit for the comments about modern life. No matter how much time passes and how much technology advances, human beings still deal with similar fundamental issues in their daily lives.
On the other hand, there’s also a delightfully playful contrast between the epic scenes in the background of these paintings and the little mundane scenarios being played out on top of them. Humor is, essentially, found in the unexpected and the surprising. And classical art memes capture this essence very well by throwing a curveball every time.
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There’s also the fact that these memes are so incredibly relatable to consider. Any good meme, no matter the type, needs to be relatable at least on some level. That’s how you connect your thoughts (as a digital creator) with those of your audience (anyone browsing social media).
Classical art memes connect with internet users by linking up to their internal monologue and touching on their everyday struggles, both large and small.
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During a previous interview with Bored Panda, Varkey shared a bit about himself and his relationship with art.
He shared that he’s a safety engineer with a passion for classical art, history, and geography. “I don't have any background as a creator or artist but I have always loved classical art,” he said.
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According to Varkey, he got the inspiration to make humorous classical art edits at the beginning of 2020, as the major Covid-19 lockdowns started happening. “I came across the posters by the ministry of culture of Ukraine about the Covid precautions in which they had put masks and gloves on characters in some famous classical paintings. I fell in love with this idea instantly and I wanted to do something like that,” he told us earlier.
“Whenever I see a painting, I try to imagine how the painting would look if it was painted in the 21st century. I also try to correlate it with pop culture,” Varkey told Bored Panda.
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Back then, he admitted that he does sometimes face creative block. “Sometimes it is difficult, it depends on your mood or if you are busy with something. But classical art always brightens up my mood. I am an aesthete, I like looking at beautiful things, and what is more beautiful than a classical painting by Bouguereau or Carl Bloch or Vida Gabor? I have some friends who are very funny and are extremely sarcastic, so I also get ideas when I talk to them,” he opened up.
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One of Varkey’s biggest inspirations is creator, artist, and designer Mehmet Geren. “I love all his works,” he said.
“It is difficult to develop a unique and distinct style nowadays but I guess it doesn’t matter because there is an audience for all of us. I don't think about it much because I do it mainly for my satisfaction, whenever I create something I feel content, and yes, whenever people appreciate what I do, it makes me want to keep doing it. If there is a market, I would like to sell my works as merchandise or prints in the future,” Varkey said.
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As we’ve mentioned before, the classical art meme genre is incredibly well-known on the internet. There are numerous social media accounts, groups, and projects dedicated entirely to creating and (re)sharing this sort of content. Recently, the founder of the ‘Classic Art Memes (Humor)’ Facebook group told Bored Panda that people enjoy this sort of content because they create “an unexpected, humorous contrast between the perceived formality of classical art and modern jokes.”
He added: "These works are detached from specifics of our modern world and modern situations in a way that lets people poke fun at the timeless aspects of the human condition."
From his perspective, the very best memes are educational, not just entertaining. “They make you view a piece of art in a new way, noticing something about who or what is portrayed in the work or about the artist themselves that you may have missed otherwise."
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Meanwhile, a moderator who helps run the ‘Classic Art Memes (Humor)’ project had some practical tips to share with all digital creators out there. She urged them to look for clear, beautiful, interesting, and off-copyright art to use as the basis for the memes.
She added that it’s important that the witty and relatable text that you add has no grammar errors, and that the artists are credited properly.
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Which of the memes that we’ve featured in this list did you enjoy the most? Which situations did you find to be the most relatable?
When was the first time that you came into contact with classical art memes on the internet, dear Pandas? We’re always happy to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments.
