ADVERTISEMENT

Art history can be an incredibly complicated topic and a really tough nut to crack for anyone who hasn’t spent years upon years learning the various intricacies and subtleties needed to master the subject.

Luckily for all art lovers who just haven’t got the time to understand all the ins and outs of art history, the internet has provided some hilarious and easy-to-grasp tips on how to recognize the work of famous painters. Here is a list of the funniest and most accurate advice, so that you can impress your friends and family the next time you go to a museum or want to talk about something impressive at the dinner table. Scroll down, upvote your favorites, and leave us a comment with your views about art, classical paintings and what you thought of these tips.

#1

If Everyone – Including The Women – Looks Like Putin, Then It’s Van Eyck

If Everyone – Including The Women – Looks Like Putin, Then It’s Van Eyck

Jan van Eyck

flickerdart Report

RELATED:
    #2

    If It’s Something You Saw On Your Acid Trip Last Night, It’s Dali

    If It’s Something You Saw On Your Acid Trip Last Night, It’s Dali

    Salvador Dalí

    flickerdart Report

    #3

    If Everyone Looks Like Hobos Illuminated Only By A Dim Streetlamp, It’s Rembrandt

    If Everyone Looks Like Hobos Illuminated Only By A Dim Streetlamp, It’s Rembrandt

    Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

    flickerdart Report

    Chancey
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This description is priceless!!!! LMAO

    View more comments

    The person behind most of the art tips is Redditor DontTacoBoutIt. Unfortunately, their account now appears to be dead, but Bored Panda tried reaching out to them for an interview nonetheless. The tips have seen widespread success online, with over 8,800 upvotes and more than 1.17 million views on Imgur.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    The Redditor’s explanations about how well-known artists can be recognized at a single glance are as informative as they are blunt and funny. For example, you can know almost for sure that a painting was done by Peter Paul Rubens if everyone’s naked and they all have very large derrières (‘butts’, the word means ‘butts’). And if everyone in a painting looks a bit like Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin, then you can bet your hat that it’s probably Jan van Eyck’s work.

    #4

    If The Paintings Have Lots Of Little People In Them But Also Have A Ton Of Crazy Bulls#%t, It’s Bosch

    If The Paintings Have Lots Of Little People In Them But Also Have A Ton Of Crazy Bulls#%t, It’s Bosch

    Hieronymus Bosch

    flickerdart Report

    ADVERTISEMENT
    #5

    If Everybody Has Some Sort Of Body Malfunction, Then It’s Picasso

    If Everybody Has Some Sort Of Body Malfunction, Then It’s Picasso

    Pablo Ruiz Picasso 

    flickerdart Report

    Gabi X.
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The first one is literally a dickface

    View more comments
    ADVERTISEMENT
    #6

    Lord Of The Rings Landscapes With Weird Blue Mist And The Same Wavy-Haired Aristocratic-Nose Madonna, It’s Da Vinci

    Lord Of The Rings Landscapes With Weird Blue Mist And The Same Wavy-Haired Aristocratic-Nose Madonna, It’s Da Vinci

    Leonardo da Vinci

    flickerdart Report

    My O My
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The little boy on her lap looks so bored

    View more comments

    So you can show off to your pals even more at your next soirée, here are some more facts to drop about Rubens and van Eyck (besides talking about butts and Putin of course).

    A Flemish painter born sometime around 1380-1390, van Eyck is known as one of the early innovators of Early Netherlandish painting and one of the most important representatives of what’s known as Early Northern Renaissance art. As a master painter, he was employed by John III the Pitiless, the ruler of Holland and Hainaut, as well as Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy. Van Eyck wasn’t just a painter, he also acted as a diplomat for Philip. 

    #7

    If You See A Ballerina, It’s Degas

    If You See A Ballerina, It’s Degas

    Edgar Degas

    flickerdart Report

    ADVERTISEMENT
    #8

    Dappled Light And Unhappy Party-Time People, Then It’s Manet

    Dappled Light And Unhappy Party-Time People, Then It’s Manet

    Édouard Manet 

    flickerdart Report

    Kaisu
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I would be unhappy too if I was trying to sit on the bench and enjoy my alone time and some random guy started hitting on me

    View more comments
    ADVERTISEMENT
    #9

    If Everyone Is Beautiful, Naked, And Stacked, It’s Michelangelo

    If Everyone Is Beautiful, Naked, And Stacked, It’s Michelangelo

    Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

    flickerdart Report

    Kaisu
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don't know why my comment was down voted? I'm a queer woman myself, queer is a perfectly normal academic word to use (there's queer studies, queer literature studies, queer film studies). Queer is simply an umbrella term like the LGBT, only queer encompasses only sexualities while LGBT encompasses gender identities as well. I'm a queer woman and I'm attracted to women. Michelangelo was a queer man and he was attracted to men. The reason I don't use the word homosexual is because he never specified his sexuality and I don't feel comfortable assigning a specific sexuality for someone unless they have specified it themselves. Hopefully this clears it up for some of you 😊

    View more comments

    Meanwhile, Rubens (who was also a Flemish painter) was born in 1577 and is thought to be the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens was a specialist in making portraits, landscapes, altarpieces, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. Rubens was also a scholar and a diplomat who was knighted by Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England.

    #10

    Dappled Light And Happy Party-Time People, It’s Renoir

    Dappled Light And Happy Party-Time People, It’s Renoir

    Pierre-Auguste Renoir

    flickerdart Report

    M Dream
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Manet, after some glasses of wine

    View more comments
    ADVERTISEMENT
    #11

    Dappled Light But No Figures, It’s Monet

    Dappled Light But No Figures, It’s Monet

    Claude Monet 

    flickerdart Report

    #12

    If The Images Have A Dark Background And Everyone Has Tortured Expressions On Their Faces, It’s Titian

    If The Images Have A Dark Background And Everyone Has Tortured Expressions On Their Faces, It’s Titian

    Tiziano Vecelli

    flickerdart Report

    M Dream
    Community Member
    6 years ago

    This comment has been deleted.

    View more comments
    ADVERTISEMENT
    See Also on Bored Panda
    #13

    Excel Sheet With Coloured Squares, It’s Mondrian

    Excel Sheet With Coloured Squares, It’s Mondrian

    Piet Mondrian

    flickerdart Report

    Greg Hoggarth
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Imagine being able to come up with something so simple to execute as this and convincing everyone it is great art worth lots of money.

    Kristy P
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If it reminds you of the Partridge Family bus, it's Mondrian.

    Ian Osmond
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I totally get people going "What? This is ART?" But the thing is -- if you see it in person, and then you see other people doing what looks like the same style, you can tell that Mondrian is better. I can't explain it. But I was at a gallery that had Mondrians and other people doing the same thing, and so I deliberately didn't pay attention to which ones were the originals and which ones were copies -- and you could tell. I can't explain it. But Mondrian was genuinely better. And so there's something actually there. It's not just... I dunno ... faking it or something? There's an actual quality that you can see, to the point that I could tell the originals from people doing the same thing, without looking at the little cards saying which ones were which.

    Lorraine R
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That is the artist's soul shining through the work. As cliche as it sounds, it's the difference between something created to make money and something created because it is an expression of love for the work itself.

    Load More Replies...
    Elissa Korsakov
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Contemporary art can be difficult for people to understand because "it's so simple" or "I could do that". Well ya didn't. They did. They thought of it first and did it first. It's hanging in a museum or gallery and worth more than you'll ever make so sit back down and relax and try to see the beauty in a simple and beautiful idea turned into an image to last a lifetime

    Jenn Unicorn Popping
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Looks more like when I make squares in "Paint" and fill em in..... :)

    Cathelijne Van
    Community Member
    2 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Ok. But does nobody know the story behind this??? Mondriaan did not wake up one day and painted this from scratch. It is a process of years in which you can see his work becoming more and more abstract until the basic colors remain. I see people say that he has no painting skills? I went to an exhibition long time ago and you could see he started with painting a tree and striped it to the bare essence. When you see the works together it all makes sense. Here's an (incomplete) overview of his works: https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lijst_van_werken_van_Piet_Mondriaan

    LB
    Community Member
    3 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He's from my hometown. Like Picasso, he had really great realistic painting skills, and then gradually went more abstract. Knowing it's done on purpose and not because a lack of skill really changed my view on it. Somehow more meaningful, I guess.

    Stannous Flouride
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Interesting aside: Alexander Calder said that he created his first mobiles in an attempt to create 3D versions of Mondrian's "Studies in Color" series.

    Leslie Cully
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I remember having a dress when I was 6 or so (1968?) that was basically this painting made from cloth. I thought it was very cool. :D

    Jan Dunn
    Community Member
    3 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Now it's just some artists that I used to know.

    G. Sanggelorang
    Community Member
    3 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Is this the painting on "Man vs Bee" ?

    Clifta Frizzell
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Looks like the side of the Partridge Family bus

    Pat Gallaway
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Greg Hoggarth - couldn't have said it better!

    Elissa Korsakov
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He changed the spelling while living in France

    rhyan lumilay
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If I know that I could color the squares in Excel and would sold so much I would do it long ago.

    Demonic Darkness
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    What style? Draw boxes and make people think it's priceless? That's just a good salesman.

    Load More Replies...
    Claire Armstrong
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm sorry but I just cannot think of this as art ffs! But even worse, those blocks of colours from Mark Rothko! Or those squiggly things from Jackson Pollock - I used to make pictures like that as a kid! You had what looked like a record turntable, secured a piece of paper on it, made it spin and squirted paint on it! I'd be worth a fortune by now if I'd kept all them! And then there's Tracey Emin - need I say more ffs 🤢😵

    Sanne H.
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It's Mondriaan, with double 'a'

    Elissa Korsakov
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    He changed the spelling to one "a" while living in France.

    Load More Replies...
    Stephanie Osowiecki Danner
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Too funny. Modern artists seem to come from this category. Rather than squares it’s “let’s toss a random paint color and macaroni noodles on the canvas and call it a day”. Every starving artist will be famous with piece of modern art. I wanted to join the crowd so I made a Bob Ross painting with a cat box instead of a shed then threw cat litter on it. I call it “sadness of the box”

    View more comments
    #14

    If The Paintings Have Tons Of Little People In Them But Otherwise Seem Normal, It’s Bruegel

    If The Paintings Have Tons Of Little People In Them But Otherwise Seem Normal, It’s Bruegel

    Pieter Bruegel the Elder

    flickerdart Report

    Jenn Unicorn Popping
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    So... little naked people is Bosch, little clothed people is Bruegel, got it!!!

    View more comments
    ADVERTISEMENT
    See Also on Bored Panda
    #15

    If All The Men Look Like Cow-Eyed Curly-Haired Women, It’s Caravaggio

    If All The Men Look Like Cow-Eyed Curly-Haired Women, It’s Caravaggio

    Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

    flickerdart Report

    A B C
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    These descriptions are spot-on. :D

    View more comments
    #16

    If Everyone In The Paintings Has Enormous Asses, Then It’s Rubens

    If Everyone In The Paintings Has Enormous Asses, Then It’s Rubens

    Sir Peter Paul Rubens

    flickerdart Report

    natie marie
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    What butts have you seen? These are normal to small sized butts.

    View more comments
    ADVERTISEMENT
    See Also on Bored Panda
    #17

    If Every Painting Is The Face Of A Uni-Browed Woman, It’s Frida

    If Every Painting Is The Face Of A Uni-Browed Woman, It’s Frida

    Frida Kahlo

    flickerdart Report

    Molly A. Block
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Description forgot to add that there must be monkeys present, and shadow mustaches.

    View more comments
    ADVERTISEMENT
    See Also on Bored Panda
    #18

    If Everything Is Highly-Contrasted And Sharp, Sort Of Bluish, And Everyone Has Gaunt Bearded Faces, It’s El Greco

    If Everything Is Highly-Contrasted And Sharp, Sort Of Bluish, And Everyone Has Gaunt Bearded Faces, It’s El Greco

    Doménikos Theotokópoulos - El Greco ("The Greek")

    flickerdart Report

    Molly A. Block
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Not to mention very long fingers and manicured finger nails.

    View more comments
    #19

    If The Painting Could Easily Have A Few Chubby Cupids Or Sheep Added (Or Already Has Them), It’s Boucher

    If The Painting Could Easily Have A Few Chubby Cupids Or Sheep Added (Or Already Has Them), It’s Boucher

    François Boucher

    flickerdart Report

    Mimi M
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I knew all of these except for Boucher. And yeah, the writer is accurate. Handy dandy, indeed.

    View more comments