So you want to impress your friends at the art gallery but you have no clue about different art movements and styles. What do you do? There are thousands of guides available online, but who’s got the time to go through all of that?
Melbourne-based art historian and video content creator Mary McGillivray has come up with a series of humorous tips that’ll help you identify a particular work of art, and the artist or movement it belongs to. She uses visual characteristics of the art style and shares a hilarious analogy to describe it.
For example, if everyone in the painting looks unreasonably jacked, including the women, it’s a Michelangelo. If it looks like a really satisfying game of Tetris , it’s a Mondrian (referring to the geometric, rectangular shapes). If it’s got cute babies, it’s Baroque.
Mary began creating TikTok videos after the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. She decided to use her degree in art history and her video editing skills to create entertaining content that made art history accessible to the next generation. Her videos soon went viral and she now has over 344,000 followers and 7.2 million likes on her TikTok account @_theiconoclass. Check out some of her tips below.
1. “If everyone in the painting looks unreasonably jacked, including the women, it’s a Michelangelo”
2. “If she’s blonde and has this exact face, it’s a Botticelli”
3. “If it looks like you need your glasses prescription updated, then it’s Impressionism”
4. “If it looks like a Tupperware drawer, then it’s Cubism”
5. “If it’s got cute babies, it’s Baroque”
6. “If it’s unfinished, it’s probably a Leonardo”
7. “If it looks like a really satisfying game of Tetris, it’s A Mondrian”
8. “If it looks like the chaos after a blackout where everyone is stumbling around in the dark under one solitary emergency light, it’s a Caravaggio”
9. “If it’s a portrait of Rembrandt, it’s a Rembrandt”
10. “If it’s got rich people frolicking outdoors, then it’s Rococo”
11. “If it looks like a nightmare you once had about being stranded in the desert, then it’s Surrealism”
12. “If it’s got palpable female rage and/or vengeance, it’s an Artemisia”
13. “If there’s at least one person looking to the camera like they’re on The Office, it’s Diego Velázquez”
14. “If it looks like angsty male ego, then it’s German Romanticism”
15. “If it looks like an amateur theatre production, then its Neo-Classical”
16. “If it looks like … it’s an O’Keeffe”
17. “If it looks like a scene from Madaline, it’s a Jean Dufy”
18. “If it looks like a school nativity play where everyone’s made a toga out of different colored bedsheets, it’s a Giotto”
19. “If it looks like a Cottagecore pin-up girl, then its Art Nouveau”
20. “If it’s got more flesh than a nudist beach, it’s a Rubens”
21. “If it’s got sad peasants, it’s 19th Century Realism”
22. “If there’s a room with some nice furniture, a window, and some women just going about their everyday business, it’s a Vermeer”
23. “If it looks like the artistic equivalent of a nicotine addiction, it’s an Egon Schiele”
24. “If it’s got ugly babies, it’s Medieval”
25. “If the people look way too long, then it’s Mannerism”
26. “If it’s got a happy presence, it’s a Dutch Genre Painting”
27. “If it looks like a low-res JPEG blown up, its Pointillism”
28. “If it’s just got nice trees, it’s a Claude Lorrain”
29. “If it looks like a really stressful game of Tetris, it’s a George Braque”
30. “If it’s homoerotic and painted on a wall or a ceiling, then it’s High Renaissance”
31. “If you’re not sure if it is art, then it’s Dada”
32. “If she’s blonde and got thicc thighs, it’s a Titian”
33. “If it looks like a trendy collage artist’s Instagram, then it’s Constructivism”
34. “If it looks like the first kid at school who learnt how to draw in 3D and would not shut up about it, it’s a Massaccio”
35. “If it’s got nice trees but boring figures, it’s a Poussin”
36. “If it looks like a Gorman Puffer Jacket, it’s a Matisse”
@_theiconoclassWant a part two? ?? #arthistorytiktok #arthistorymajor #learnontiktok♬ Rasputin (Single Version) – Boney M.
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