There’s something particularly funny about seeing a character from a centuries-old painting having the kind of conversation you’d expect to find in a group chat. The clothes might be outdated, the setting might be unfamiliar, but the awkward situations and questionable decisions? Those still feel pretty relatable. That’s the idea behind Stupid Art, an Instagram page that gives classical paintings a modern twist by adding hilarious text conversations to them.
We’ve featured Stupid Art’s creations on Bored Panda before, and the page continues to find new ways to make old paintings entertaining. Of course, matching a joke to the right painting takes some work. The creator behind Stupid Art spends a lot of time browsing artworks, looking for expressions and situations that fit a particular idea. Sometimes the joke comes first, while other times, a painting provides all the inspiration needed. While making people laugh is the main goal, the artist has another reason for creating these memes. By presenting classical paintings in such an approachable way, they hope to get more people interested in the original artworks and the artists who created them. After all, someone who wouldn’t normally visit an art museum might still find themselves curious about the painting behind a particularly funny meme.
Bored Panda spoke with the creator of Stupid Art about the similarities between people past and present, the process of finding paintings that fit their jokes, and the unexpected reactions their posts sometimes receive. Read our conversation with the artist below, and enjoy another collection of classical art memes that prove old paintings still have plenty to say.
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We first asked the creator what the surprisingly relatable characters in their memes might tell us about human nature, and whether people have really changed all that much over the centuries. “I don’t think we’ve changed that much, to be honest. The way we dress, communicate and live has changed, but our emotions, problems, relationships and personalities are still pretty much the same. People from centuries ago probably had the same arguments, insecurities and silly moments we have today. That’s what makes old paintings so interesting to me. Sometimes you look at a painting from 400 years ago and feel like the person in it could be someone you know.”
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We were also curious about how the artist matches their jokes with paintings, and whether the dialogue usually comes to mind right away or requires a closer look at the characters and their expressions: “It depends. Sometimes I see a painting and immediately have an idea. Other times, when a random idea pops into my head, the challenge is finding a painting that fits it. I spend quite a lot of time looking through paintings, paying attention to the characters, their expressions, body language and the way they’re looking at each other. I try to find something that matches the message as closely as possible, so the dialogue feels like it naturally belongs to the painting. Honestly, that’s probably the hardest part of doing this. Sometimes finding the right painting takes longer than coming up with the joke itself.”
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Next, we wanted to know whether the creator ever finds their own memes so funny that they can’t wait to share them, and whether followers sometimes interpret the jokes in ways they never expected: “Definitely! Sometimes I make something and laugh at it myself, especially the AI ones, and I just want to post it immediately. That’s one of my favorite parts of running this page. And yes, followers sometimes see things differently than I intended. Some notice details I completely missed, while others come up with their own explanations or even funnier ideas. Sometimes the comments are just as entertaining as the meme itself.”
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Finally, we asked what the artist hopes people take away from Stupid Art beyond a good laugh, particularly when it comes to discovering and appreciating classical art: “Of course. Making people laugh is one of the main ideas, but I also like sharing things people can relate to or sometimes even think about a little more deeply. Beyond that, I’d love for someone to discover an artist, a painting or even a whole period of art through one of my posts. I don’t expect everyone to become an art expert, but if someone sees a post, gets curious about the original painting and decides to look it up, that’s already something great.
I like the idea of making classical art feel less distant and more accessible to everyone.”
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