Spanish Artist Reinvents Classic Paintings By Removing The Characters
All of the paintings below may seem familiar to you, but they lack a certain something… In his “Hidden spaces“ (Espacios occultos) image series, Spanish artist José Manuel Ballester removes the people from classical paintings, revealing unnoticed hidden spaces (hence the name) and objects.
Combining modern technologies with classical art, he invites viewers to look at these masterpieces from a new angle and reinterpret the stories we think we already know. The removal of people creates a different effect in each painting – in some, you can see the traces of a tragedy or the aftermath of a drama in the objects left behind, while others simply leave you wondering where everybody’s gone. Each new-found empty space is open for interpretations and discoveries.
For more information about his artwork, check out Jose Manuel Ballester’s interview with Bored Panda below!
More info: josemanuelballester.com | guggenheim-bilbao.es (via: BoredPanda.es)
The Birth of Venus (Sandro Botticelli, c.1486)
“At first sight the whole series can inspire some humour, but after a deeper look it’s not difficult to find transcendence and the multiple possible interpretations, both as new images and as related to their original counterparts,” Juan Manuel Ballester told Bored Panda.
The Raft of Medusa (Théodore Géricault, 1819)
“One of the clearest aspects in this series is the way we can understand art from the point of view of each period, which has an unique way of looking and understanding reality shared by artists, who develop their creativity inside those period’s values and connect with ideas and universal precepts extended in time”
The Third of May 1808 (Francisco Goya, 1814)
“About the series, for now I reached even Paul Strand, so it’s not only about paintings, but also photography”
The Last Supper (Leonardo da Vinci, 1498)
Christ Crucified (Diego Velázquez,1632)
Las Meninas (Diego Velázquez,1656)
The Allegory of Painting (Jan Vermeer, 1668)
Guernica (Pablo Picasso, 1937)
Thank you for answering our questions, Jose. Your exploration of art is truly eye-opening!
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And when they finally show up the students ask: - From where, do we have money for all that food. Jesus: - Judas, sold something.
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Removing characters give another aspect, a new atmosphere to this paintings. I love it !
what's the point of art? there's no point. it's just art.
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it would have been even better if he had left out the characters in background paintings in the Las Meninas painting
i think that it s very intereting view only the stages. the artist made a great work with this pictures, i love it.
The curtain has not fallen, but the actors left the scene. Exciting point of view.
What it looks like after the excitement is over... the emptiness...
The two about Christ actually make me think about what comes next in the Story, and ache inside.
THE GOYA THIRD OF MAY IS EVEN MORE POWERFUL!! LOTS OF SUBTEXTUAL READINGS. GREAT!!! WERE THEY PAINTED OR DIGITALLY REFORMED?
They are actually more powerful with out the chaos of the characters
on dirait qu'il y a eu une alarme incendie et que tout le monde est parti d'un coup... c'est si vide !
I think the point is when you take the characters out it shows you another scene of the story for the painting and makes you notice things.
Meh. Could be worse. At least they're not modified to portray "realistic body images".
Las Meninas should be a black paint. There's still somebody in the room here: the king or the queen! (Except that now they're vampires!)
Well painted, but why not place the Third of May in a modern urban setting, or 13 having a Last Supper in McDonalds, those from Medusa found
because that wasn't the point of this artist's project. And other people have made "modern versions" of classics. This is different.
Load More Replies... Why fiddle around with something that's perfect - and we know that the great artists had their background and in-depth perspective right ..
Oh yeah, that depth perspective sure is importable.
Load More Replies...
This is pointless. The main interest of the paintures are the characters, otherwise is just an empty space with some collours in it.
And when they finally show up the students ask: - From where, do we have money for all that food. Jesus: - Judas, sold something.
Load More Replies... Removing characters give another aspect, a new atmosphere to this paintings. I love it !
what's the point of art? there's no point. it's just art.
Load More Replies... it would have been even better if he had left out the characters in background paintings in the Las Meninas painting
i think that it s very intereting view only the stages. the artist made a great work with this pictures, i love it.
The curtain has not fallen, but the actors left the scene. Exciting point of view.
What it looks like after the excitement is over... the emptiness...
The two about Christ actually make me think about what comes next in the Story, and ache inside.
THE GOYA THIRD OF MAY IS EVEN MORE POWERFUL!! LOTS OF SUBTEXTUAL READINGS. GREAT!!! WERE THEY PAINTED OR DIGITALLY REFORMED?
They are actually more powerful with out the chaos of the characters
on dirait qu'il y a eu une alarme incendie et que tout le monde est parti d'un coup... c'est si vide !
I think the point is when you take the characters out it shows you another scene of the story for the painting and makes you notice things.
Meh. Could be worse. At least they're not modified to portray "realistic body images".
Las Meninas should be a black paint. There's still somebody in the room here: the king or the queen! (Except that now they're vampires!)
Well painted, but why not place the Third of May in a modern urban setting, or 13 having a Last Supper in McDonalds, those from Medusa found
because that wasn't the point of this artist's project. And other people have made "modern versions" of classics. This is different.
Load More Replies... Why fiddle around with something that's perfect - and we know that the great artists had their background and in-depth perspective right ..
Oh yeah, that depth perspective sure is importable.
Load More Replies... This is pointless. The main interest of the paintures are the characters, otherwise is just an empty space with some collours in it.
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