Red shoes, a pair of woolen mittens, a yellow box of tikka masala and a wooden figurine of a house — a collection of unassuming household objects, made for an ingenious recreation of expressionist artist Edward Munch’s 1893 masterpiece ‘The Scream’, in Twitter user TheBee’s wall. She was one of the many art aficionados, currently in self-isolation, who took up an online challenge posed by Getty Museum head on to recreate artworks with objects at home. The results hilarious, unexpected and creative.
Interestingly, the challenge was inspired by an Instagram account of the name Tussen Kunst & Quarantaine (@tussenkunstenquarantaine, translates to ‘between art and quarantine’) which grabbed eyeballs after a Dutch woman, Anneloes Officier and her roommates recreated Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl With a Pearl Earring’ — And how did she do it? By using a towel, placemat and a clove of garlic. Soon messages started flooding in, as more and more people did the same by tagging the page. The rules are simple: her Instagram bio says, “1. Pick your artwork; 2.Use 3 items in your home; 3. Share via the page. For everyone at home who needs some relief.”
A recreation of ‘Seated Nude’ by Jacob Collins | Photo Credit: @tussenkunstenquarantaine
It was not long before the page shot to fame with over 160,000 followers. Infact, Amsterdam’s Rjisksmuseum shared the attempt on their Facebook page. Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Louvre, Paris too showed their support by liking the posts. Some recreations are quite topical — The Death of Marat, a 1793 painting by artist Jacques-Louis David of the murdered French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat, has been reinterpreted many times. One of them showcases a man who has fallen asleep in his bathtub with a tablet in front of him and a phone beside; a witty take on the work-from-home culture. Jacob Collins ‘Seated Nude’ on the other hand, has been interpreted by Instagram user Huensun_ana as a nude woman crouching to look at a screen, on which is NETFLIX written in bold.
Los Angeles’ Getty Museum took it a step further by challenging their patrons to do the same, except they are encouraged to bring in their pets into the mix. Edible art also counts: “Photograph, then eat it,” says its Instagram page.