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French Artist Adds Celebrities And Characters Into Classical Paintings, And The Results Are Quite Fitting (30 Pics)
People of status always dominated in portraits, not only because of their elevated social rank but also because it cost a fortune to commission a painting. Nowadays, however, there are millions of cheaper and faster ways to immortalize one's image, making portrait paintings a somewhat unnecessary medium. Just like the medium, the subjects of portraits have also changed: royalty and nobles don't have as much importance as they used to have, and they've slowly been exchanged for a modern version of people of status — celebrities. Instagram artist Kyès digitally recreates classical paintings by substituting people that were important back in the day with people who are considered to be important in pop culture nowadays. In short, this substitution works, probably because the classical painting style subconsciously elevates the subject of the painting onto a higher plane than just simply mundane. A modern analogy would be a "star," which also signifies this sort of specialness. In other words, classical paintings and celebrities are a match made in heaven. Check it out and judge for yourselves!
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Snoop Dogg
In these paintings, the artist portrays some of the most popular figures that are well-known to most of the world. There are portraits of superstars like Madonna, Rihanna, Billie Eilish, Mick Jagger, among others, and it could be argued that they're much more popular than the nobles in famous paintings. However, Kyès doesn't only focus on them. Among some of these portraits are talented and up-and-coming hip hop artists, rappers, and actors. Kyès also showcases some lesser-known musicians and actors, most of whom enjoy popularity in French-speaking countries.
Johnny Depp
Madonna
These paintings are described as classical, but the word classical often gets tossed around, and it might mean anything from "widely accepted" to "historically significant," and anything in between. The term classicism, which refers to classical art and culture, in its purest form is an aesthetic attitude based on cultural principles of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, which emphasizes simplicity, form, proportion, structure, clarity, and mostly appeals to the intellect. In Western culture, people have always tried to emulate this classical style, but it came into prominence after the Renaissance, which was viewed as the rebirth of the classical age.
Hayao Miyazaki
Rihanna
Though Kyès is one of the more mysterious artists out there on Instagram, there are a few interesting revelations about them. The digital artist has an alternative account where one can find cute children's illustrations. Also, the artist seems to love calligraphy and has done some really cool type works. Overall, the artist has over 60k followers on Instagram, but wouldn't mind getting some more, so follow them if you like their work and support the artist!
Jimi Hendrix
Queen Latifah
If you loved this post about celebrities and characters in classical art, Bored Panda has much more similar stuff to offer. If you love classical art, you'll probably love classical art memes (2) too! If you love how artists try to interpret these paintings, you'll probably like how Carlos Gromo recreated them in Disney style, or how this woman recreates classical paintings on her own. And if you liked this post because of the celebrities, we have good news for you: the stars aren't as inaccessible as their title might suggest, and here's a post about how regular people meet celebrities.
Mark Hamill
Carrie Fisher
Mick Jagger
Björk
Forest Whitaker
I would have liked to see him dressed up more. This is still really great though.
Katy Perry
Eminem
Debbie Harry
Ice Cube
Sean Connery
Adele
Sade
Billie Eilish
Donald Glover (Childish Gambino)
Amy Winehouse
Michael Jackson
Kurt Cobain
Daft Punk
Erykah Badu
André 3000
Al Pacino (Tony Montana)
Anya Taylor-Joy
Jay-Z & Beyonce
Nice project just one question! Who are these people? I recognise maybe 20 from the 100 something....
Most are musicians and very good ones at that.
Load More Replies...For once, the blending between photo and painting is really nicely done.
Never heard of most of these people, specially those that go by a single name only.
These are well done. I didn't recognize many of the people, but the portraits are beautiful. I don't know the people in the original paintings, either, and I still like those, why should this modern spin be any different?
I loved these, but the orchestra nerd in me was mad a #4 because thats not how you play a violin/viola
Nice project just one question! Who are these people? I recognise maybe 20 from the 100 something....
Most are musicians and very good ones at that.
Load More Replies...For once, the blending between photo and painting is really nicely done.
Never heard of most of these people, specially those that go by a single name only.
These are well done. I didn't recognize many of the people, but the portraits are beautiful. I don't know the people in the original paintings, either, and I still like those, why should this modern spin be any different?
I loved these, but the orchestra nerd in me was mad a #4 because thats not how you play a violin/viola