What visual art can my friends reenact?
April 18, 2018 3:43 PM Subscribe
This week, about twenty of my friends will head for a vacation together on an annual trip. We try to replicate a famous work of art or two while we have everyone together. Any ideas for good paintings/photographs or sculptures, once the easy candidates have been accomplished?
We've done the clear ones, like The Last Supper, Washington Crossing the Delaware, La Grand Jatte. Complicated backgrounds are tricky (makes Bosch hard), but there are a bunch of crafty nerds who could make top hats out of construction paper or something. It is a very silly tradition and we do not take ourselves too seriously. Thank you!
We've done the clear ones, like The Last Supper, Washington Crossing the Delaware, La Grand Jatte. Complicated backgrounds are tricky (makes Bosch hard), but there are a bunch of crafty nerds who could make top hats out of construction paper or something. It is a very silly tradition and we do not take ourselves too seriously. Thank you!
If I had friends who would do it, I would try for Guernica or the Bayeux tapestry.
posted by Tchad at 3:57 PM on April 18, 2018
posted by Tchad at 3:57 PM on April 18, 2018
I think Nude Decending a Staircase is just screaming for a group attempt.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:01 PM on April 18, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 4:01 PM on April 18, 2018 [6 favorites]
Album cover for Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
posted by FencingGal at 4:04 PM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by FencingGal at 4:04 PM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
Bal du moulin de la Galette
The Meagre Company has terrific fake-beard potential.
The Death of Socrates
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 4:07 PM on April 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
The Meagre Company has terrific fake-beard potential.
The Death of Socrates
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 4:07 PM on April 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
Degas and the Ballet. He's done many paintings of ballet dancers; maybe one of those.
Bonus - y'all can wear tutus!
posted by spinifex23 at 4:08 PM on April 18, 2018
Bonus - y'all can wear tutus!
posted by spinifex23 at 4:08 PM on April 18, 2018
If you guys are fans of the movie Amelie you could do the painting in that movie. (The Lunch Party? It might be called?)
posted by bleep at 4:09 PM on April 18, 2018
posted by bleep at 4:09 PM on April 18, 2018
The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt. You all can take turns being the cadaver.
posted by Elly Vortex at 4:18 PM on April 18, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Elly Vortex at 4:18 PM on April 18, 2018 [7 favorites]
And, if you're going somewhere with lots of ledges, Lunch atop a Skyscraper.
posted by Elly Vortex at 4:19 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Elly Vortex at 4:19 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
Another jinx
posted by FencingGal at 4:19 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by FencingGal at 4:19 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: We had a long felled tree one year and managed Lunch atop a Skyscraper! I will now be quiet again and pretend I'm not frantically figuring details for every one of these fantastic suggestions.
posted by lauranesson at 4:22 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by lauranesson at 4:22 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
If some of you could be a snake, then Laocoon and his sons.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:24 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:24 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.
posted by Jubey at 4:26 PM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Jubey at 4:26 PM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
If you haven't done Luncheon of the Boating Party yet, it might be fun! It also looks relatively straight forward to pull off.
(I believe it's also the painting from Amelie mentioned above!)
posted by chatongriffes at 4:32 PM on April 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
(I believe it's also the painting from Amelie mentioned above!)
posted by chatongriffes at 4:32 PM on April 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
The statue of the man being attacked by babies.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 4:38 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by J.K. Seazer at 4:38 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
What about an ancient Egyptian tomb painting? I don’t have a particular one in mind, but a google image search showed a lot of possibilities.
posted by FencingGal at 4:49 PM on April 18, 2018
posted by FencingGal at 4:49 PM on April 18, 2018
Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe seems to be popular
posted by sammyo at 5:02 PM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by sammyo at 5:02 PM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
At the Moulin Rouge, the Dance
Some of Toulouse-Lautrec’s other Moulin Rouge paintings could work too.
posted by FencingGal at 5:24 PM on April 18, 2018
Some of Toulouse-Lautrec’s other Moulin Rouge paintings could work too.
posted by FencingGal at 5:24 PM on April 18, 2018
A bit macabre but Goya's 3rd of May is a nice group composition.
posted by jomato at 5:37 PM on April 18, 2018
posted by jomato at 5:37 PM on April 18, 2018
The Peasant Wedding by Bruegel? He has a bunch of other largeish group scenes too.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:15 PM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:15 PM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
Hm. Maybe too similar thematically to Washington crossing the Delaware, but Trumbull's Declaration.of independence?
posted by gaspode at 8:14 PM on April 18, 2018
posted by gaspode at 8:14 PM on April 18, 2018
Response by poster: Oh, boy, it turns out that most of the group pictures are boys. We'll recast real hard.
posted by lauranesson at 9:52 PM on April 18, 2018
posted by lauranesson at 9:52 PM on April 18, 2018
I like Abe Lincoln with Gen. MacClellan and Allan Pinkerton.
You can find plenty of suffragette pictures, but I don't know of one that is particularly famous.
I suppose organizing two antique locomotives for a Golden Spike photo is out of the question.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:16 AM on April 19, 2018
You can find plenty of suffragette pictures, but I don't know of one that is particularly famous.
I suppose organizing two antique locomotives for a Golden Spike photo is out of the question.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:16 AM on April 19, 2018
How about As the Old Sing, So Pipe the Young?
Apelles Painting Campaspe embeds a lot of other works the same way Bazille's Studio does and has a better gender balance (but fewer famous artists to model).
posted by fedward at 8:08 AM on April 19, 2018
Apelles Painting Campaspe embeds a lot of other works the same way Bazille's Studio does and has a better gender balance (but fewer famous artists to model).
posted by fedward at 8:08 AM on April 19, 2018
A few more with women:
A Florentine Fete by Maxfield Parrish has some great poses
Birth of St. Mary in Santa Maria Novella in Firenze by Domenico Ghirlandaio
Mercado by Jose Cruz Herrera (I like the smirking girl with the braids)
Famigia di Musici by Carlo Amalfi
What fun! Is this something you feel comfortable sharing to MeFi Projects? :)
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 8:24 AM on April 19, 2018
A Florentine Fete by Maxfield Parrish has some great poses
Birth of St. Mary in Santa Maria Novella in Firenze by Domenico Ghirlandaio
Mercado by Jose Cruz Herrera (I like the smirking girl with the braids)
Famigia di Musici by Carlo Amalfi
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What fun! Is this something you feel comfortable sharing to MeFi Projects? :)
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 8:24 AM on April 19, 2018
Not the most famous but the bar scene oil painting by C. J. P. le Quidre.
Dinner at the House of the Pharisee” by Maria Felice Tibaldi Subleyras
posted by BlueHorse at 7:32 PM on April 19, 2018
Dinner at the House of the Pharisee” by Maria Felice Tibaldi Subleyras
posted by BlueHorse at 7:32 PM on April 19, 2018
Response by poster: Okay, you all are phenomenal and we will be reenacting these for years to come, inshallah. What ended up happening was we did the poker dogs for "A Friend in Need" and then someone brought an appropriate dress and everyone took turns (genders be damned) for "Christina's World." Next year, I'll plan so hard. Thank you.
posted by lauranesson at 1:04 PM on May 19, 2018
posted by lauranesson at 1:04 PM on May 19, 2018
Response by poster: I would also very much (earnestly) love to see how anyone could possibly do Nude Descending a Staircase as a group photo.
posted by lauranesson at 1:06 PM on May 19, 2018
posted by lauranesson at 1:06 PM on May 19, 2018
Everyone dresses in body-colored dance outfits and runs up and down a staircase blurrily?
posted by bleep at 8:01 PM on May 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by bleep at 8:01 PM on May 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by FencingGal at 3:50 PM on April 18, 2018 [3 favorites]