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A Silly But Accurate Guide On How To Recognize Famous Painters By Their Art (19 Pics)
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.
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#1
If Everyone – Including The Women – Looks Like Putin, Then It’s Van Eyck
Jan van Eyck
Bill 6 years ago
That was just a phase that most vampires go through during their second century
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Molly A. Block 6 years ago
I am really digging that wall hanging-- it's a mirror? And there seems to be writing above it, like those decals we can now buy to put on our walls that have a quirky saying. Anyone notice those painful shoes on the floor? No toe strap either.
Joann Casey 6 years ago
The writing translates to "Jan van Eyck was here 1434", the tiny circles around the mirror depict scenes in the life of Christ.
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muthu kumar 2 years ago
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#2
If It’s Something You Saw On Your Acid Trip Last Night, It’s Dali
Salvador Dalí
Hugo Raible 6 years ago
How many micrograms of acid do you need for such effects? Asking for a friend.
XxRayne CloudxX 3 years ago
If you zoom into the closest castle looking thingy or whatever you can see a naked woman ♀️
#3
If Everyone Looks Like Hobos Illuminated Only By A Dim Streetlamp, It’s Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
Ulla Untermaier 6 years ago
Caravaggios paintings have sharper lining for me, it's not that blurred. They look clearer.
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Claudia Leon 6 years ago
That was true until they started cleaning up his paintings. The "real" Rembrandt is quite light and cheerful - well, maybe not cheerful 😎
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.
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
Hieronymus Bosch
Joseph rick 3 years ago
Lets never ever forget this artist painted when the christian church had for the preceeding 1000 years slaughtered anyone they deemed to be a non believer heratic etc it was a crime to paint from your imagination and they only way Bosch avoided certain death was to lie that the images came from his dreams. Dreams were deemed to be god given. Consider also that Boschs fellow renaissance painters only ever painted staid acceptable portraits Mona lisa etc, This master of arts was painting directly from his imagination hundreds of years before Dali, none of your posed copied objects from real life. No accident extreme religion and its attendant Realism and ultra realism art is back again in these times of extreme conservatism and catastrophic change.
Weezie Ray 6 years ago
Hey, no reason it can't be both. It's very meaningful crazy b******t. (And I'm a big fan of Bosch.)
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#5
If Everybody Has Some Sort Of Body Malfunction, Then It’s Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso
Peko 6 years ago
And it's a painting of his mistress. Make of that what you will.
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Petra Hagenreiner 6 years ago
Thats not really true. He changed his style over the years. As a teen/young man he used to paint realistic pictures For example: https://images.app.goo.gl/MhAQsG8JybfcubM59
Ed Souza 6 years ago
I know taste is subjective... but damn, I don't know why anyone would like these paintings.
Joseph rick 3 years ago
Picasso the child prodigy could by the age of 7 draw anything to absolute super realism photographic like a lot of todays art. What he's doing here is revolutionary a myriad of things he's experimenting with away from ultra realism. For instance the split 2D images are 3d representations and the use of a straight line with juxtaposed curves all contributing to his greatest gift to the creative and thinking world and with the human shape in particular but all shapes, reducing them down to their barest essential elements... and if you know anything at all about all the creative elements of our existence on this planet you would know/recognise this in an instance.
onize osho 3 years ago
I under stand all that but for me, a lot of Picasso's paintings aren't aesthetically pleasing. I do know he was trying to make a political point with some though.
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#6
Lord Of The Rings Landscapes With Weird Blue Mist And The Same Wavy-Haired Aristocratic-Nose Madonna, It’s Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Grumble O'Pug 6 years ago
He's contemplating his death, his reason for his birth, he has a lot on his mind.
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Tiny Dynamine 6 years ago
He should be known as Leonardo. Da Vinci was not his surname, it means "from Vinci", the town where he was born.
tuzdayschild 6 years ago
The Giant was not a surname. Andre was just a big guy.
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Robert Youdontneedit 6 years ago
"...It’s Da Vinci" *sigh* His name wasn't "Da Vinci"; it was "Leonardo". The use of "da Vinci" (note the proper capitalization) was sometimes appended simply to differentiate him from other Leonardos, such as Leonardo da Pisa. Leonardo came from the town of Vinci, and "da Vinci" simply means "of Vinci" or "from Vinci". No one called Leonardo "da Vinci" in his lifetime, anywhere, ever. And anyone who does so today sounds like a philistine.
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
Edgar Degas
Souma Spiritus 2 years ago
The ballerina in the second image is possibly contemplating on consuming my soul.
Amanda Hunter 6 years ago
I had a dress made of the fabric with the same design as the lower picture, it was beautiful.
#8
Dappled Light And Unhappy Party-Time People, Then It’s Manet
Édouard Manet
Kaisu 6 years ago
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
Joann Casey 6 years ago
She looks like she might poke him in the nuts with that umbrella
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Melissa Spray 6 years ago
I'd have said for Manet, it would be his tendency to have the subjects of the painting staring boldy right at you, more than anything else. This example is more the exception, than the rule. It isn't really unhappy party time, it's more of a "Why don't you rest here for a while, and I'll go have a smoke...or I can stay here, if you'd rather." She looks exhausted...Probably after the long promenade in walking gown and corset, around the conservatory (think extensive botanical gardens, more than just greenhouse, as we thing a conservatory is today.) and he looks a little worried, to me.
Lorraine R 6 years ago
"Unhappy party-time people"?? What about "The Dead Toreador"? What about "The Old Musician"?
#9
If Everyone Is Beautiful, Naked, And Stacked, It’s Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
Kaisu 6 years ago
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 😊
Jessica Strickland 6 years ago
In my generation, the word queer went from meaning strange or odd to being a derogatory term used to insult. So, I assume there are people not closely associated with the LGBTQ community that still considers it rude. Personally, I still tense up at the word for a few seconds, assuming someone will take offense until I remember the LGBT community "took it back".
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Tina Hugh 6 years ago
Um. Kaisu’s queer. They explain the word very nicely above. It’s become neutral. /p/ I get that you’re angry because you remember when ‘queer’ was really insulting, but let’s err on the side of kindness? And I’m directing that to myself too. It’s not easy to do
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Linda Janssen 6 years ago
also when the women look like men with incorrect boobs put on them, it's Michelangelo.
Moe Lewis 6 years ago
Funny fact - during the time period, small penises were associated with intelligence and rationale, whereas larger genitalia was associated with brutishness and a lack of intelligence. What Michelangelo is saying here is that Adam is beautiful, stacked, and if we're taking into account his size, an absolute Einstein.
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Max Mustermann 6 years ago
More like: When guys look beefy and manly and the women look beefy and manly
Kathy Baylis 6 years ago (edited)
Stacked? Maybe the women, but the men are pretty much all meat and no potatoes...
Kim Savant 6 years ago
I always found his figures to have a strange combination of "fit" and "baby fat". Also, I don't find the men's hair very flattering. Makes me wonder what kind of hair style were popular back then.
Raine 6 years ago
Ignoring all of the below comments about being gay.. Before i read those i was about to ask if thats a man hand he is reaching for, and perhaps suggest he might have been gay. Either way its about the art that made him famous .. not his sexuality.
Blue Cicada 6 years ago
This is a depiction of Adam, and he is reaching for the hand of God.
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Annie F 6 years ago
Michelangelo's figures were once described as looking like "a condom stuffed with walnuts", and I've never been able to get that image out of my mind!
Clare E 6 years ago
Afraid that was Clive James's description of Arnold Schwarzenegger and nothing to do with Michelangelo.
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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
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Starbelly Eleven 6 years ago
When I studied this painting, we learned that everyone in it is looking longingly at someone else. All the way down to the girl with the dog who isn't looking at anyone.
Dario Tijerino 3 years ago
They look like my fathers with the homies after they sent me to slepp
#11
Dappled Light But No Figures, It’s Monet
Claude Monet
Molly A. Block 6 years ago
Being that I've been legally blind my whole life, this is the one artists I DO GET.
Melissa Spray 6 years ago
Monet painted what he saw, pretty exactly. I know, because I'm nearsighted, and that's what I see without my glasses!
#12
If The Images Have A Dark Background And Everyone Has Tortured Expressions On Their Faces, It’s Titian
Tiziano Vecelli
Madelyn Jeffords 3 years ago
This comment HAS been deleted, you’re right!
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M Dream 6 years ago
right, it's not pain, it's irritation, feeling uncomfortable.. maybe the model was too bored. (shame on me)
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Natalie KS 6 years ago (edited)
I'd would also have a tortured expression if I had a bunch of arrows stuck in me!
Kerri Albertson 6 years ago
They look like exasperated teenagers. Moooo-ooooom! Don't paint my picture!
Parmeisan 6 years ago
I was going to ask if it's Titian or Tiziano, but then I realized I could look it up pretty easily and it turns out it's either. Also Vecellio. Huh.
Monika Soffronow 6 years ago
"Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio, known in English as Titian"
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Matthew Terry 6 years ago
The one on the lower right looks like Michael Cera, with the usual tortured expression.
#13
Excel Sheet With Coloured Squares, It’s Mondrian
Piet Mondrian
Greg Hoggarth 6 years ago
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.
Ian Osmond 6 years ago
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 6 years ago
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.
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Elissa Korsakov 6 years ago
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 6 years ago
Looks more like when I make squares in "Paint" and fill em in..... :)
Cathelijne Van 2 years ago
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
Stannous Flouride 6 years ago
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 6 years ago
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
#14
If The Paintings Have Tons Of Little People In Them But Otherwise Seem Normal, It’s Bruegel
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Jenn Unicorn Popping 6 years ago
So... little naked people is Bosch, little clothed people is Bruegel, got it!!!
A. Sherlocat 6 years ago
Lots of little clothed people going about their normal business in their daily life: Bruegel. Lots of little naked people getting up to absolute insanity and all manner of disgusting bodily functions (often with the 'assistance' of random birds, beasts, and demons): Bosch.
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Valérie Le Plouhinec 6 years ago
Caution : the little clothed people may still occasionally poop through a window or show their butt.
Bert Debouwer 6 years ago
Hi, I'm Flemish, like Breugel and we write the name differently. It's written BrEUgel. And that's also how it should be pronounced. I have no idea how I should pronounce "Bruegel"; that's not Flemish: https://forvo.com/word/pieter_brueghel/
Dnelle1972 6 years ago
You obviously haven't seen Bruegel's Netherlandish proverbs. Weird. As. S**t. http://bruegel.analog.is
mst 2 years ago
It may "seem normal" in comparison to Bosch simply because everything is in a form like in reality rather than crazy dreams/drug trips, but this is a very violent, disturbing scene of soldiers raiding a village or perhaps coming in to deal with a village already out of control with crime against each other. Each little group is doing different terrible things, someone is killing a dog in the middle, on the left is a gang r...??? Ect
(((Sherlocat))) she/her 2 years ago
OMG, I feel so stupid - I WASN'T LOOKING CLOSELY ENOUGH!!! Holy s**t, you're right... Wow, that is really disturbing after all. This scene is supposed to be "normal"?? I think NOT!
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#15
If All The Men Look Like Cow-Eyed Curly-Haired Women, It’s Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
Patricia Stilwell 6 years ago
Don't you diss Caravaggio unless you can paint flesh that looks warm on the canvas
spirit wolf 6 years ago
It's usually either that or severed head and limp bodies.
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Bridget Gunnell 6 years ago
This looks exactly like Shrek when he drinks the potion and becomes handsome.
Valerie Page 6 years ago
The first time I saw a real one in Florence I was knocked out by the dirty finger nails. no-one with his reputation for debauchery could have painted so well so consistently imho
#16
If Everyone In The Paintings Has Enormous Asses, Then It’s Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens
Lizzie Borden 3 years ago
The butts are proportionate to the figures. So... I'd say thicc
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Kerridwen Parslow 6 years ago
Rubens was madly in love/lust with his younger wife, the very plump and rosy-cheeked Helene Fourment -- she was his standard of beauty and he painted her many times, mostly clothed (with her ample bosom front and center) but also, and famously, naked and wrapped in a fur rug. Being plump was a sign of prosperity and health back in the day for both men and women when many people starved. That's still true in many Third World countries.
Wendy Newton 6 years ago
It's to depict gods and goddesses as they were decadent and powerful, not like the mortal plebs they ruled over, plump equals wealth and beauty., skinny equals poor and unattractive. Oh and of course they have to be butt naked!
BusLady 6 years ago
So odd that today, unnaturally thin women are considered beautiful.
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Blue Jay 2 years ago
From now on if I'm having a bad body image day I'm going to replace "I'm fat" with "I'm Rubenesque!" 😘
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Ericka Hokkanen 6 years ago
Ummm, those are realistic asses. Just wait, yours is coming soon to your pants :) Enjoy!
Zeta Klk 6 years ago (edited)
Enormous asses? Really disappointed in you Bored Panda. Why haven't you commented on the tiny penises in Michelangelo? Is that comment by any chance touching a sensitive subject about men's bodies? This is clear cut sexism... very disappointed.
#17
If Every Painting Is The Face Of A Uni-Browed Woman, It’s Frida
Frida Kahlo
Molly A. Block 6 years ago
Description forgot to add that there must be monkeys present, and shadow mustaches.
Kaisu 6 years ago
It's not a shadow mustache, she actually had a mustache
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Grumble O'Pug 6 years ago
Part of her expression was self portraiture. Honestly what dipstick wrote this post?
Yehudit Hannah Cohn 6 years ago
Forgot to mention that these are self-portraits, so naturally, the women look alike.
ichabod crane 3 years ago
i dont understand the recent fascination with frida kahlo. her pictures always seem so amateurish to me. like something you might do for your gcse art
#18
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")
Cindy Snow 6 years ago
Good observation. Jesus has pretty hands for an outdoor living former carpenter.
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Clarsa McElhaney 6 years ago
El Greco stretched the neck-o. Literally how I learned it in college.
Mary Kavanagh 6 years ago
I doubt after what Jesus went through that his hands were in such good shape! Also, the white balance is a little off...
Silver Grin 6 years ago
I was going to say "if it looks like everyone has marfan syndrome, it's greco"
#19
If The Painting Could Easily Have A Few Chubby Cupids Or Sheep Added (Or Already Has Them), It’s Boucher
François Boucher
Mimi M 6 years ago
I knew all of these except for Boucher. And yeah, the writer is accurate. Handy dandy, indeed.
Marie-Louise Chenois 6 years ago
He's my fav painter with Nattier (same era) i'm a fan of rococo :p
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Erin 3 years ago
Of course not, they are sisters of course! Or just really close friends! Roommates even! This is definitely platonic love happening and nothing gay could possibly be taking place. /s
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DotC 6 years ago
If the light and color are similar to Boucher, but there are 18th Century clothes and possibly a swing, Its Fragonard.
Lorraine R 6 years ago
I thought this was Fragonard until I saw the caption.
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HalfShelli 6 years ago (edited)
Are his paintings always this… Sapphic? (NO complaints from me!!)
Ken Patterson 5 years ago
Interesting post, though I am not sure I can distinguish the subtlety of Manet's vs. Renoir's partyers, nor the characterization of the people in Bosch vs. Bruegel. I can, of course, recognize a Bruegel, but am less familiar with Bosch.
rhyan lumilay 6 years ago
My Gosh that baby under her leg! I don't know if she kicked it or saving it by clutching it in her legs.
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RoseTheMad 6 years ago
Here's some more, from an ex art student: If it has wavy and pronounced brushstrokes, it's probably Van Gogh If there's lots of little people with thin "matchstick" legs it's Lowry If there's a lot of bright hippie-like patchwork color, it's likely Gustav Klimt If it looks like an acid trip, it's Kandinsky If it looks like it's been painted made with individual spots/dabs of paint, it's Seurat. If it looks like someone spilt paint everywhere, then it's Pollock. If they have no or barely visible eyebrows, it's Da Vinci.
Sanne H. 6 years ago
And if the painting is a landscape with snowy mountain tops and happy little (pine) trees, it's Bob Ross.... :-)
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Bored Moogle 6 years ago
If the painting is a landscape painting featuring gardens, Christmas, cottages, warm lights and a sweet sense of nostalgia, it's Thomas Kinkade.
Terry Butler 3 years ago
My husband said if I bought a Thomas Kinkade, he'd buy a velvet Elvis. Stalemate.
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Tùng Hoàng 6 years ago
If everything happens in a room, light from window, awesome details and perspective, it's Vermeer
John Louis 6 years ago
Now I can up my game as a pretentious art scholar who knows more than you.
RoseTheMad 6 years ago
Here's some more, from an ex art student: If it has wavy and pronounced brushstrokes, it's probably Van Gogh If there's lots of little people with thin "matchstick" legs it's Lowry If there's a lot of bright hippie-like patchwork color, it's likely Gustav Klimt If it looks like an acid trip, it's Kandinsky If it looks like it's been painted made with individual spots/dabs of paint, it's Seurat. If it looks like someone spilt paint everywhere, then it's Pollock. If they have no or barely visible eyebrows, it's Da Vinci.
Sanne H. 6 years ago
And if the painting is a landscape with snowy mountain tops and happy little (pine) trees, it's Bob Ross.... :-)
Load More Replies... Bored Moogle 6 years ago
If the painting is a landscape painting featuring gardens, Christmas, cottages, warm lights and a sweet sense of nostalgia, it's Thomas Kinkade.
Terry Butler 3 years ago
My husband said if I bought a Thomas Kinkade, he'd buy a velvet Elvis. Stalemate.
Load More Replies... Tùng Hoàng 6 years ago
If everything happens in a room, light from window, awesome details and perspective, it's Vermeer
John Louis 6 years ago
Now I can up my game as a pretentious art scholar who knows more than you.
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