Let's play a quick association game. When you hear "classical art," do you immediately think "funny"? Probably not, unless you're a connoisseur of fine art or an art historian. But I'm here to tell you that there are plenty of funny classical (and I'm using the term loosely here) painters who didn't shy away from acting like silly little geese.

Today, artist Joseph Ducreaux is famous for his witty self-portraits. He couldn't have guessed it at the time, but they're the perfect format for memes nowadays. Ducreaux was fascinated with physiognomy, the concept that our outer appearance reflects our character. Experts call his portraits anachronistic; they date back to the 1800s, yet the expressions seem so modern.

French painter and sculptor Marcel Duchamp is another great artist who had a pretty prominent funny bone. The quote "Humor is the only reason to live" is attributed to Duchamp, and he embodied it with most of his works, from reworking existing masterpieces to putting trash in an art gallery.

His works like "Fountain" (a toilet bowl signed with the pseudonym 'foo') and "Mona Lisa Revisited" (Gioconda with a silly mustache on her upper lip) are some of the most famous examples of Duchamp trolling other artists, his audience, and the art world in general.

If you were to Google Salvador Dali right this moment, you'd see that most of the photographs we have depict him in silly poses and making some kind of face. That alone and his silly but majestic mustache should tell you a thing or two about his sense of humor. Apparently, he used to get out of paying a restaurant bill by doodling on the other side of the check. The owner would never dare to cash out a piece of paper that might be worth thousands, if not millions, someday.

Perhaps a lesser-known humorous painter is Pieter Brueghel the Elder. In 1559, he did a painting "Dutch Proverbs," where he literally depicted a collection of just that: Dutch proverbs. The painting includes a knight with a knife in his mouth representing the "To be armed to the teeth" proverb and him trying to put a bell on a cat (representing the saying "To bell a cat," meaning to be indiscreet about secret plans). 

Jean-Leon Gerome also was into literal depictions of words on the canvas. His painting "Optician's Sign" used wordplay: the French word for "dog" is "chien," so, he made an optician's ad by depicting a dog with a monocle. Gerome's take on the verbal pun became an inspiration for surrealists many years later.

An attempt at a somewhat more subdued humor was Eugène Lepoittevin's "Approaching a Surprise" in 1852. In it, a reading priest is just about to turn a corner, but, unbeknownst to him, there's a pile of clothes clearly belonging to a woman who just stripped off to take a dip into the lake. And here's the suspense: will he raise his head from the book and see the surprise?

The artists in the 1900s liked to joke about their craft, too. Giovanni Battista Quadrone’s "Every Opportunity is Good" depicts a gentleman looking at a just-finished portrait and blowing his nose. Meanwhile, the artist is just behind his back with the presumed model who's also the gentleman's wife. Perhaps artists back then truly did seize every opportunity they could get.

In 1908, Pierre Bonnard finished "The Cherry Tart," a colorful and idyllic painting depicting a woman enjoying some sweets outside. Yet the focal point of the painting are the sneaky eyes of a dog who, it seems, would like nothing more than to have a little taste of the delicious-looking cherry tart.

Let's end our list of funny artists with a contemporary one: Maurizio Cattelan. The Italian visual artist's dark humor might not be everybody's cup of tea, but we still have to appreciate his originality. His works include the pope hit by a meteorite, a banana stuck to a wall (sold for 120,000 euros, nonetheless), and a sculpture titled L.O.V.E. of a giant middle finger in front of the Italian stock exchange.

So, what do you think, dear Pandas? Does classical art mix well with contemporary humor? Share some of your favorite humorous paintings or classical art memes in the comments! And if you want to see some more funnily captioned works of art, head over to our previous posts here, here, here, here, and here!