30 Times People Snapped A Pic And Realized It’s “Accidental Renaissance” (New Pics)

Bored Panda spoke to Lisa Yaszek, a Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech who shared some very interesting interpretations of the Accidental Renaissance concept that has gained almost a cult-like following online. Yaszek specializes in researching and teaching science fiction as a global language crossing centuries, continents, and cultures.

We asked Yaszek why is Accidental Renaissance, the idea that photos are just like classical paintings, so appealing? “People are fascinated with photos that look like classic art because they allow us to connect some of the most prosaic moments of everyday modern life with the greater sweep of history. When we think about “Great Art,” we think of it as something removed from us in time and space—a “masterpiece” created long ago and far away that was and still is cherished by entire societies,” the professor explained.

Moreover, “when we think of ‘Great Artists,’ we tend to think of people who differ from ourselves and our friends in terms of talent, training, and time to be creative. By way of contrast, we tend to think of our own photography – especially in the era of smartphones, which can record thousands of images with a simple click of the button – as relatively amateur and disposable,” Yaszek told Bored Panda.

The Accidental Renaissance community on Reddit was born 8 years ago. The subreddit was inspired by an original post shared in August 2014 that showed a photograph of a fight in the Ukrainian Parliament.

According to the professor, “Sometimes we are lucky, or we practice, or we show a flash of skill, and we take photos that look every bit as provocative and beautiful as the images we see in art galleries and museums!” Yaszek argues that “it’s an exciting moment that connects us to history and that reminds us we can be creators as well as consumers of culture.”

“In fact, when people post their photos to the ‘Accidental Renaissance’ subreddit, they allow others to connect to history and to be creative as well! It’s fun to read the various comments for each photo, as different posters show off their knowledge of 14th-19th century European art by analyzing various images in terms of color, composition, theme, and lighting,” Yaszek explained.

The appeal of Accidental Renaissance has to do with the fact that it reminds us that art is not just something made by trained professionals for a few select members of society, but that art is something that can be created, studied, and communally shared by all, the professor argues. And this is the endearing beauty of it.

“It’s interesting to note that the most popular images on the Accidental Renaissance subreddit come in one of two forms: they tend to be either highly saturated, dramatically lit crowds of people, animals, or architecture or highly saturated, dramatically lit scenes of politicians and celebrities. The former are fairly easy to explain: people, animals, and architecture have long been the subject of art!”