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Ever wonder what a fine art-themed episode of The Simpsons would be like? One Ontario, Canada-based artist has, and they’ve shared their vision through funny mash-ups between famous paintings and Simpsons characters. Known simply as @fine_art_simpsons on Instagram, the artist replaces historic figures in fine art paintings with beloved characters like Homer Simpson, Ned Flanders, Edna Krabappel, and Milhouse Van Houten. Suddenly, Bart is Jackson Pollock spilling paint everywhere, Grandpa and Mona are their own version of the iconic American Gothic, and Kent Brockman is the Norman Rockwell-esque “undecided voter” stuck choosing between Kang and Kodos.
The artist began creating the aptly titled Fine Art Simpsons series in 2020. “I thought it would be funny to combine Klimt’s The Kiss and Hokusai’s Great Wave with familiar scenes from The Simpsons,” the artist tells My Modern Met. “A friend saw them and convinced me to create an account to show them off. Since then, I’ve learned more about fine art than I ever did in my years at ‘art school' and continue to have a really good time finding visual and thematic similarities between classic art and my favorite cartoon.”
Each scene is a brilliant mix of art history and an astute knowledge of The Simpsons, making it very clear that the artist is a super fan. The Instagram account is the perfect spot for those that sit in the middle of a Simpsons and art history Venn diagram as it gives a nod to both in clever ways. For instance, the artist takes David Hockey’s swimming pool scene in A Bigger Splash and adds a tiny Bart peering through the window in the back. For keen Simpsons fans, this is a clear reference to the Bart of Darkness episode, in which Bart breaks his leg and starts spying on neighbors from his room. On the art history side, Vincent van Gogh’s Night Café, Salvador Dalí’s surreal dreamscapes, and Edward Hopper's Nighthawks make appearances amongst a long list of other masterpieces.
Scroll down to see some of the best mashups from the Fine Art Simpsons series below and find even more on Instagram.
The funny Fine Art Simpsons series combines famous paintings from art history with beloved characters from The Simpsons.
Nicolas Poussin – Et in Graffittia ego
Gustav Klimt – The Kiss (… The Baby Looked at Me)
Hokusai – The Great Wave (of Real Acid)
Each funny mashup digitally merges the two worlds almost seamlessly.
Edward Hopper – Night Jass
Grant Wood – Springfield Gothic
Andrew Wyeth – Bartholomew’s World
And for super fans, many of the combined scenes are absolutely brilliant nods to both the show and art history.
John William Waterhouse – The Lizard Queen of Shalott
Edgar Degas – Three Dancers on a Stage
Jackson Pollock – Four: Number 6, 1992
René Magritte – The Art of Sweet and Tasty Living
Edgar Degas – La Bière
Titian – Venus Requests a Ride to the Libarry
Edgar Degas – Portrait of Mr. Snrub at the Stock Exchange
Édouard Manet – Argenteuil, Plain and Tall
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec – Guy Incognito at the Moulin Rouge
Paul Cézanne – Secrets of a Successful Still Life
Jacques-Louis David – The Death of Seymour Skinner
François Boucher – Allegory of Ringo
Salvador Dalí – Marge at a Window
David Hockney – Isolated & Weird
Emanuel de Witt – The Courtyard of the Old Stock Exchange in Springfield
Norman Rockwell – Which One? (Undecided Voter)
Jean-Léon Gérôme – Bonaparte Before the Sphinx
Fine Art Simpsons: Instagram | Redbubble
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Fine Art Simpsons.
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