My fiancée says I'm handsome…like a Japanese woodblock print. Here's to the Getty Museum Challenge from r/pics
Like many cultural institutions, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is closed due to the spread of the coronavirus. But during this challenging time, the Getty has found a way to keep people engaged with their art—even though they can't see it in person. They've challenged their social media followers to “recreate a work of art with objects (and people)” from the comfort of their own homes. And the internet did not disappoint.
After the museum shared some examples of this art challenge with its own staff, Twitter users began replying to the Getty with their artistic recreations. Some used their pets as stand-ins for the human subjects in art history, and everyone had to get creative about how they saw everyday items. One person used a dustpan to represent a blue house found in a Chagall painting, while another used half a dozen rolls of toilet paper to mimic the poofy shape of a powdered wig in an 18th-century Parisian painting. These types of recreations will make you laugh, and then they'll have you looking around your own home to see what you could conjure up for a masterpiece from history.
The Getty isn’t the only account that's promoting this type of creative challenge, but it has become so popular that it's now known as the “Getty Museum Challenge.” The institution, however, got the idea from Tussen Kunst & Quarantaine, a Dutch Instagram whose name means “between art and quarantine.” They have been sharing homemade recreations for months now, as has Covid Classics—a popular Instagram featuring “four roommates who love art… and are indefinitely quarantined.” The Getty Challenge has even found its way into wildly popular Facebook groups in Russia and Spain where people are continuing to share themselves as famous paintings.
Scroll down to see what people have come up with while in their homes.
A unique art history project, known as the “Getty Museum Challenge” has people recreating iconic paintings with anything they can find at home while self-isolating.
My son enters the Getty Museum Challenge with his take on a popular one from r/pics
Our take on the Getty Museum Challenge – “Judith with the Head of Holofernes” by Lucas Cranach from r/pics
My attempt at the Getty Museum Challenge – “Christina's World” by Andrew Wyeth from r/pics
My husband & son recreated Ilya Repin’s “Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan” Getty Museum Challenge from r/pics
The Way They Nailed Getty Museum Challenge from r/nextfuckinglevel
My contribution to the Getty Museum challenge.. also I'm a female and this is makeup from r/pics
“The Milkmaid” Johannes Vermeer. Right: A recreation submitted by Alex Woollard (@Woollards) from r/GettyMuseumChallenge
My friend and I recreated this abstract peice with items in our kitchen/living room from r/GettyMuseumChallenge
I recreated “Woman In A Fish Hat” by Picasso for Getty Museum's Recreation Contest from r/pics
My sister in-law's Getty Museum challenge. Innocence by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. from r/pics
Artemisia Gentileschi, Mary Magdalene as Melancholy from r/GettyMuseumChallenge
Love this challenge. I live by myself so I had to set set a 10s timer and run into position. from r/pics
You'll be surprised at how faithful these recreations are—especially as people work with limited (and often precious) resources.
Lady 1-Ply, Keeper of Non-Perishables and Protector of the Soap. from r/funny
My Dad's Getty Museum Challenge; Saturn devouring his son by Goya from r/pics
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The Getty Museum, while not the first to think of this project, helped it grow in popularity by posing the creative challenge to their followers.
We challenge you to recreate a work of art with objects (and people) in your home.
Choose your favorite artwork
Find three things lying around your house⠀
Recreate the artwork with those itemsAnd share with us. pic.twitter.com/9BNq35HY2V
— Getty (@GettyMuseum) March 25, 2020
We stan.https://t.co/K3JVGpFPAJ pic.twitter.com/rIqXzr5hIK
— Getty (@GettyMuseum) March 25, 2020
The black and white filter takes this to another level.https://t.co/tA6fG0ylfo pic.twitter.com/agRCtgovLY
— Getty (@GettyMuseum) March 25, 2020
Madonna and child.https://t.co/ZbnVeToUPE pic.twitter.com/7Vkl91CF6D
— Getty (@GettyMuseum) March 25, 2020
@GettyMuseum – Mirabelle (1990) by Helen Frankenthaler pic.twitter.com/YvFzGa3TxH
— Linda G. Hatton (@LindaGHatton) March 29, 2020
Not quite Monet! pic.twitter.com/6Ejk0ayzCk
— Jenpiumarta (@JenniferPiumar1) March 28, 2020
“Triple Self Portrait” by Norman Rockwell pic.twitter.com/LEr2e2bl7x
— Robert Etheredge (@BobEtheredge) March 28, 2020
Chagall's “Blue House” pic.twitter.com/5HO8js8Kus
— Embee (@Embee355) March 29, 2020
Anyone can do the art history challenge; these four roommates have been keeping themselves busy by recreating artworks and sharing them as Covid Classics.
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This article has been edited and updated.
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