.ART

Image above: “Self-portrait” by Van Gogh
Elena Kazanina via Facebook (Izo-Izolyatsya)

As people around the world stay inside to contain the spread of coronavirus, they are having to come up with creative ways to remain sane (and entertained). This has led to the latest international internet craze: recreating works of art with household objects. The Getty Museum, Metropolitan Museum, Rijksmuseum, and Hermitage museum challenged their followers to recreate famous works from their collections. The challenge was inspired by an Instagram account from Amsterdam, @tussenkunstenquarantaine  – which translates as “between art and quarantine” from Dutch. 

While museums remain closed to the public, institutions are keen to keep the art-loving community engaged during this difficult time. Challenging people to create their favorite works of art with objects at home is the perfect way to do this and museums have reposted some of the community’s best variations. 

This is what museums asked of their audiences:

1) Choose your favourite painting⠀

2) Find whatever relevant things may be lying around your house,

3) Recreate the painting with said attributes.

The Getty Museum posted the challenge via the museum’s Twitter page, urging people to get creative during their time of self-isolation. The museum’s social media lead, Sarah Waldorf, mentioned that the museum’s direct messages have been “flooded” ever since. Annelisa Stephan, assistant director of digital and user experience design, says that the museum’s “vision is to use digital to uplift, to inspire, and to create community through art”.

Russians, too, have embraced this theme in the Facebook group Izo-Izolyatsya (or, in English, Art Studio Isolation) with great flair. This challenge serves as evidence that creativity does indeed flourish under constraints.