50 Pics Of ‘Accidental Masterpieces’ That Happened With No Intention To Make Art (New Pics)
God is in the details, they say, and they’re not wrong. If you take a closer look, you may find something very surprising… for example, that you are quite an artist.
Today, we take a look at what happens when thanks to pure coincidence, some luck, and a little je ne sais quoi (“I don’t know what” in French), people come up with impressive pieces of unintentional art, from a paint stain that looks like a magic forest which would leave Rembrandt in awe to an accidental drop of paint that probably turned out better than an actual painting ever would.
So below we wrapped up some of the most interesting unintentional “art masterpieces” that are neither quite art nor quite a masterpiece, yet still very impressive. Upvote your favorites as you scroll!
Psst! Don't forget to check out our previous feature with more accidental art.
This post may include affiliate links.
The Wear And Scuff Marks On This Boat Look Like An Island In The Sea
To me, that is artwork rather than freak of accident scuffing, just too neat, just my opinion.
Agreed. It's far too perfect. Let's see the other side.
Load More Replies...Islands in the stream That is what we are No one in between How can we be wrong Sail away with me To another world And we rely on each other, huhn hah
The boat is stored on a driveway opposite Poole Harbour in the Uk. It is algae and lichen
My Windshield Looked Like A Watercolour
Anything rain touches is art (Edit: that wasn’t meant to be so poetic but thanks lol)
What a gorgeous comment. While I love sunshine and warmth, there is something quite beautiful about a rainy spring morning.
Load More Replies...A Rock-Created, Bird-Shaped Window Art On My Car
Ikr! If that was my car, I would never ask for it to get repaird
Load More Replies...Most Insurance companies won't help unless it's cracked all the way through... I work in the auto glass industry and can tell you filling divits in your windshield with resin does nothing to help stop it from turning into a crack...
Load More Replies...Omg i thought i was looking at a real bird for a sec there, kept wondering where the art was... lol
Interestingly, accidental art is not a new concept born on online forums and cultivated by various subreddits. The idea that art can stem from something completely unintentional can be traced back to Leonardo Da Vinci, who, scientists claim, gave some interesting advice to an artist struggling from creative block.
Christopher Turner, a British writer and art historian, quotes Da Vinci in an essay published on Tate: “If you look upon an old wall covered with dirt, or the odd appearance of some streaked stones, you may discover several things like landscapes, battles, clouds, uncommon attitudes, humorous faces, draperies, etc. Out of this confused mass of objects, the mind will be furnished with an abundance of designs and subjects perfectly new.”
Broken Plate
I guess the boys will understand his excitement.
Load More Replies...Rust Formed On This Old Spool Of Wire In One Of The Coolest Ways I've Ever Seen
This Paint I Was Mixing Looked Like A Little Forest Planet
It's amazing that Fractals are Nature's 'go to' chemical reaction structure.
Load More Replies...This fresh idea proposed by Da Vinci, Turner argues, encouraged the viewer to search for hidden meaning in chaos. “It referred back to myths about the origin of art in accidental shapes. In De Statua, Leon Battista Alberti supposed that artistic imitation emerged when our ancestors came across a gnarled tree trunk or a piece of clay, whose contours ‘needed only a slight change’ to look strikingly like something else.”
I Took A Picture Of This Strange Lighting Under A Bridge At The San Antonio River Walk
Omg I used to live in SanAntonio, and I don’t miss much but the RIVER WALK uhggggg
I miss the River Walk. Used to work downtown, and date night involved walking from the office to the river and eating dinner, then grabbing coffee and walking back.
God I miss riverwalk!! My fiancée, and I whethered out hurricane Harvey there when wr firar met. We lived in Corpus used to drive up from some weekends, for romantic weekends! We've moved to TN, and all the places in Texas I miss Riverwalk the most :'(
The Way This Car Froze
When this happened on our windows my grandmother would say, "Jack Frost has been here!"
I've never seen anything like it 😯 & where I live 5 months of the year it's Winter ❄
Load More Replies...Pigeon Poops Portrait Of Itself On A Leaf
My immediate question is... what made you pick up a poop covered leaf? :')
The newest from Mo Willems..."Don't Let the Pigeon Poop Art!"
The artists were mesmerized by the idea that natural artifacts and nature as a whole can be full of artistic readymades, “if only you are patient enough to look for them."
Throughout the years, for artists and historians alike, accidental artistic gestures like stains or blots offered a new mode of interpretation. “The meaningless stain, which invites the universal urge to project meaning, is the humble stage on which all arguments about art are rehearsed,” Turner concludes.
I Snapped A Photo Of My Dog Through A Window Screen That Looks Like An Old Painting
And so is your tie. Sorry I just had to point your profile pic out. It's cute!
Load More Replies...One of the old masters. The dog can hear their voice.
Load More Replies...It took me several minutes to realize the dog is inside and the human is outside.
I would crop it and blow it up and hang this picture on the wall . ❤
Yeah, when crop out the window frame, it REALLY looks like a painting!
Load More Replies...Old One From When I Worked At Lowe’s
I dunno, If the egg looks like that, it would probably not a good idea.
Load More Replies...From the day we arrive on the planet And, blinking, step into the sun.....
Load More Replies...I had a coworker at Lowe’s that always took pictures of her paint can art bd posted them fit us in fb. She no longer works there and Tbh I kinda miss seeing them
The Way My Cup Broke
It would be the best thing the 'sculptor' mom from Beetlejuice ever created, fer sure.
Load More Replies...Picture Of My Cat Through A Screen Door Makes It Look Like He's Painted On Canvas
Came here to say that. This would be a really c**p quality canvas.
Load More Replies...I would print this out and frame it and tell everyone I painted it!
These Clouds Look Like A Child’s Drawing Of Waves
Makes me think it's Mary Poppins! Just hasn't got her umbrella out yet.
Load More Replies...I've never seen anything like that before. It is indeed very cool!
Load More Replies...I Took A Picture Of Sidewalk Chalk On A Tire
"I scared a bunch of kids in the park with my bad driving today" - alt title
Now I want a tattoo of a black tree with colorfull leaves or flowers on it….
100% I would have that printed on metal and hang on the wall. Or get a metallic print and frame it!
The Way The Oil And Rain Created This Electric Masterpiece
Neat and crocs may never be used in one sentence. Unless it's "I threw my crocs in that neat dumpster."
Load More Replies...How many times we pass by such slicks; we all need to pause and contemplate a little.
The Reflection Of These Sticks Makes Interesting Shapes
I just used the Rosetta stone to translate it to English, and it says, No photos allowed here.
At First, I Thought This Was Mosaic Tile Until I Got Closer And Found It Has Been In The Sun Too Long
It's a piece of the famous Chinese artist "Sun Too Long" (I'll see myself out …}
This Rusty Lock Gate Looks Like A Painting
That’s interesting, I thought it looked like Wyoming.
Load More Replies...Scroll until just at the base of the water squirts. Then squint and together with the side panels it looks like an agricultural field with a U-shaped piece of farm equipment in foreground.
Eye See You
I don't want to think about a sad Quokka🥺🙁 They are usually so happy!
Load More Replies...It's actually his cousin. He's constantly being compared to Sauron. "Why can't you be in management like Sauron? Ño, you had to throw your life away and get into art..."
Load More Replies...I summon the all seeing eye, to tear a hole into the sky, reveal to me what has been hidden, unveil to me al that's forbidden... sorry if i got the words wrong
Load More Replies...Does anyboby else see an optical illusion effect? Like the iris is rotating a bit?
For me it looks like the larger blue ring rises up and then has a depression at the top where the dark blue is, kinda like a perfectly formed blue volcano with a perfectly round and centered lake.
Load More Replies...Ok I’m gonna need paint mixers at Lowe’s to start putting a piece of heavy paper on to the surface of these to try and lift the images
These paint mixers are kinda like those baristas who make art on top of cappuccinos
Load More Replies...Accidentally Created A Porcupine By Pouring Instant Coffee Over An Americano
Porcupine cute but am weeping for you making Americanos with instant coffee. (Actually, instant coffee has improved a LOT since the 60s but I still have a bias against it)
No they added instant to already existent coffee which is somehow worse
Load More Replies...The hedgehog is cool but the spoon is the coolest part!
Load More Replies...Reflection Of Ceiling Lights In My Coffee
I don’t want to sound offensive, but I legitimately want to know, what is tripophobia?
Load More Replies...my faint Trypophobia almost bubbled to the surface, it actually looks nice once i got a grip on it
The Window Of This House I Rented Looks Like A Painting
Once while attending a convention in Salt Lake City, I wondered if I would be able to see the LDS Temple. It was framed like a fairy palace in my window. (This is before I had a cell phone and I did not bring a camera.)
I Found A Cat On My Paint Palette
Must not be a cat person, I didn't know it was paint at first, I just saw the cat lol
Load More Replies...The cat is the white blob in the bottom of the middle red bit. This reminds me of those hidden object puzzles in the Highlight magazines.
I saw the cat once I scrolled down far enough. If I'd taken that photo, I would've cropped out the top of the picture.
Load More Replies...A Clock In A Server Room Where I Work Is Accidental Modern Art
The artist is trying to say something heavy about, like, the meaningless of time, man, yeah. Groovy, I can dig it.
The Way The Soap Bubbles Look Floating Over A Wire Basket
It’s like those science videos that show you your cells but they’re disco balls
There is just so very much in front of us but we are just too blind to see!
Can Of Unstirred Paint
I thought it looked like a simpson character ate dynamite.
Load More Replies...I always LOVED mixing paint, every can was different, & quite a few were mesmerizing!
The Way The Mud Froze On My Truck Looks Like A Painting Of The Forest
Work Of Art Created By A Small Overnight Leak Of Insulating Foam
It reminds me of the vapor trail in this shuttle liftoff picture from the ISS: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/123497214761242515/
Almost Art
Funny...that makes me want spaghetti, heavy with meat sauce and sprinkled with cheese..😃
Countless Hours Of Wind Moved The Chains To Get This Piece Of Art
Here is a haiku about this photo: The wind-blown chain, tells of its own endurance, by marking the paint.
Winds of time, move the chains of life, and remind us, some time is linear, and some time, exists in a loop, swinging back and forth, back and forth…
The Ceiling Light Reflections In This Cup Of Tea
I don't know if this is the case here, but I use southern style Lipton Iced T kcups and it always looks like this... I threw the first 2 out because I thought I didn't rinse my cup from all the soap suds 🤦🏼♀️🤣
Load More Replies...People need to stop it with these virus looking coffee bubbles... I'm just trying to enjoy my coffee, not be reminded of the various creepy light forms living in the bubble cells
I Dropped Some Coffee And It Looks Like A Bird
My Dirty Coffee Cup Looks Like A Pine Forest
Poured Out An Old Can Of Paint
"This incredibly moving abstract piece depicts the unpredictability of the ocean. After much consideration I thought the best way to create such an artwork was to chuck and old paint can on to my delicate canvas (a cardboard box). Since this took years of dedication I will be selling it for $9999,0000"
Load More Replies...The new artist’s trick: after buying paint, wait a few years. Then, splash it all over a canvas!
omg, how many times can my head quietly wonder, "coooooool" on a single thread....
See, this is how modern artists make money, they spill something, take a picture, it blows up, boom 14m/j
How The Sunlight Reflects Off The Wall From The Vase
Looks like a map of an old European city. Maybe there's a spot to mark a hidden treasure. :-)
I think this time the treasure is the map itself
Load More Replies...Kinda looks like how a drought makes the land, very dry and cracked dirt, maybe even a part of a desert maybe
Natural Shell That Looks Like Someone Sketched A Mountain Range On It
This is a conus. Please be aware that it's highly venomous (if it's alive, of course).
Not only that, but it delivers its venom in a way I'd never heard of before I learned about it. It shoots harpoons.
Load More Replies...IIRC, these shells work as 1-dimensional cellular automata (i.e. every row is made by applying a simple rule to the previous row).
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Seashell-patterns-left-is-real-right-generated-by-a-CA-Source-3_fig1_272359229
If you thought it looks like a mountain range then why not turn it the other way around?
The Pattern The Ice Left On My Grill
I Slipped And Fell Onto My Couch
No, Jordi, no he was not. (Edit: it’s velvet, the fabric shifts causing these effects)
Load More Replies...And a bit of Vicks, his nose might be blocked from crying, could have been sore.
Load More Replies...Reminds me of another pic where a woman left a print of her face in make up behind on the head rest of a car.
Pattern On This Tree Stump Looks Kinda Like The "Starry Night" Painting
Starry, starry night. Paint your palette blue and grey, Look out on a summer's day,
Look out on a summers day, With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Load More Replies...Pretty now, but also what that burl can become in the hands of a skilled craftsperson
Yep, this is burl and is in especially high demand right now with home turners.
Load More Replies...This Smudge On My Glasses Looks Like A Mountain
Curious, have never seen a smudge even close to this on any lens...
That's cuz you clearly haven't eaten your fair share of whipped cream.
Load More Replies...Not just a mountain, looks like a Bob Ross mountain to me. I don't know why he put it right in the foreground today, but guess he's going to do a big sky in a minute.
Just the opposite. A devasting storm on the sea with 100 foot waves!!
The Way The Paint Dried In This Old Bottle Looks Like A Tidal Wave
The seal is the raccoon of the ocean. I don't know. I just wanted to say it. It's Friday let me have this.
Load More Replies...The Way This Glass Shattered
I’m not sure if I should be impressed with your imagination or scared that’s the first thing you thought of!
Load More Replies...Fireworks Reflection Off My Car
I thought a bird got explosive diarrhea for a second and I was like you have lot of cleaning to do...
Look great if it could stay like that. Just slide the windshield pattern onto the roof!
I'm surprised to see the fireworks reflection with all the city lights reflecting
This Happened When I Went To Spread Margarine On My Toast
Did you know that margarine is only one molecule away from plastic...??
Incorrect. https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/controversial-science-food-health/holistic-nutritional-rockstars-rocky-science#:~:text=In%20any%20case%2C%20being%20%E2%80%9Cone,but%20even%20this%20is%20meaningless.
Load More Replies...OP please treat yourself to something that actually tastes good to spread on your toast
Funny! Funny Sad Quokka. We use it now because butter is like $10 a pound.
I Accidentally Left A Bowl Of Beet Juice On The Counter And The Top Layer Rippled
Braaaaiiiiiiinnnnnnssssss... I mean what, no I'm not a zombie. I'm a perfectly normal human being...
Load More Replies...Accidental Art: Water, Chalk, LEGO Dried On A Table
Anyone else looking at this and subconsciously looking for a good drop spot? Or seeing where the Loadouts are?
now now. don't take all the credit. u may have some kids to thank for this artpiece.
Our Paint Can Broke Last Night And Dried In A Really Fun Way
My Suction-Packed Embroidery Thread Looks Like A Modern Art Piece
I see a boy sitting, an old lady wearing an apron, a brown dog looking at the boy, a goose, standing tall and beautiful multicolor flowers
Wait, is that a rat above the goose in front of the dog who is in front of a blue ball cap with the piñk visor? And is that the head of a bald eagle on the left eying the rat?
I Inadvertently Made A Duck While Tinting Paint At Work
A duck walked up to a lemonade stand and he said to the man, running the stand "Hey, got any grapes?"
The Snow Pattern On The Side Of US Bank Stadium Looks Like A Bob Ross Painting
Ooh, I love this thought! He's out there painting with clouds and ice crystals and such 😍
Load More Replies...Used Wick On My Candle Looks Like A Forest Scape
This Piece Of Metal At My Barn That Rusted Into A Nuclear Detonation
My Pen Broke And A Drop Of Ink Fell In My Paint And Gifted Me This
The Fossil In This Shell Looks Like A Van Gogh Painting
Christmas Lights Reflection On Fridge
How These Clouds Are Shaped Over My Campus. Like A Bob Ross Painting
“And here we have some happy little clouds!”
Load More Replies...Typical cirrus. It's snowing up really high and the snow gets blown by the wind into "mares tails" as it falls.
The Way My TV Cracked Into A Fibonacci Spiral
My Dirty Car Looks Like An Artistic Mountain Scene
I Reversed My Car Into A Rock And The Damage Looks Like A Hand-Painted Mountain Range
I'd want to cover it in a lacquer of some sort to keep the mountain range. It would definitely make the car one of a kind.
The Way This Can Of Spray Foam Exploded
Paper Jammed In My Scanner And I Accidentally Created Abstract Art
This Window Unintentionally Turned This Picture Into An Impressionistic Painting
Unintentional Frying Pan Galaxy Art
I'm guessing grease, water, and some washing up liquid.
Load More Replies...Looks like a bunch of blackholes eating each other up before they inevitably fall into the large blackhole they’re orbiting
Cut A Package Of Bacon In Half
*biblically accurate angel wings
Load More Replies...It's a piece of the paper insert. I cut my bacon this way too. ;)
Load More Replies...View From My Camper Looks Like A Painting
A Chocolate Tart I Neglected To Remember I Made
I think you'd have to scrape right through the plastic.
Load More Replies...Looks Like A Fish
Paint Shop Slops Tin
Accidentally Dropped M&M's Into The Water
that is beautiful as long as you can still eat the m&ms if the m&ms are no longer edible that is a travesty
You can’t eat them anymore. Imagine how soggy they’d be. Also, the delicious crispy shell will be as delicate as paper and be all ruined >:(
Load More Replies...all these accidents involving chocolate products are seriously worrying
I agree. That is definitely a waste of calories that would have went on my hips.
Load More Replies...60-Year-Old Dish Split Spontaneously, Alone On The Countertop In The Middle Of The Night, No Temperature Change Or Anything Striking It
Okay, but if this was made this way on purpose and somehow fixed in this position, it really would be a very cool piece. I'd sand the edges a bit and keep it just like this.
glass gets stresses over time. the way this bowl is made is not for this use. That stuff weighs a couple of pounds and the base is tiny. Where the weight sits has caused the weakness.
One Of The Old, Painted-Smudged, Scuffed Hinges On A Laundry Room Cupboard In My Parents’ Basement Looks Like An Old Greek God
Didn't see him until I read your comment! This image needs to be upvoted.
Load More Replies...The Last Thing Made By My Printer Before It Broke
The Way My Pasta Spilled
ah, I hear the sounds of that italian guy screaming again. (from the spilt spaghetti above)
Pouring Some White Paint On An Old Palette Yielded Unintentional Branches
Looks like you're walking through some weird open field full off grass and trees with a greyish sky
I Accidentally Turned My Block Of Cheese Into Geometrical Art
Would be a shame if anyone were to eat it…
Load More Replies...10-Month-Old iPhone. That Has Never Been Dropped Or Exposed To Extremes Of Temp. Suddenly Decides To Do This
There was a great old computer program called "heat.exe" that used to do this to your desktop. It ran on Windows 3.11.
Load More Replies...The phone lived a great live, may we salute and bow our heads.
My Huawei has been making different coloured screens for a couple of months now.
The Frost On This Roll-Up Door Looks Like A Bob Ross Painting
Is any of your artwork worth $95,000? I didn't think so...
Load More Replies...These Pine Needles Look Like An Impressionist Painting
This Reflection Of My Dish Soap
Bing & Grohndahl (?) Danish plate. I collect them but stopped at year 2000 so hadn't seen this one from 2017.
Load More Replies...After Cutting A Stick Of Butter, The Residue Looks Like A Winter Nature Scene, Stream And All
I Threw Out Some Ground Cinnamon At Work And It Spontaneously Created Art And Extra-Terrestrial Hieroglyphs
My Daughter Dumped Out Her Acrylics In The Sink
In the future, make her wipe the palette with a napkin first. Plumbers are notoriously expensive when you have to hire one to replace a clogged pipe.
Load More Replies...This Broken Television Looks Like A Piece Of Art
This Door Was Left In The Rain Before It Was To Be Installed
If this was painted on it'd be kinda cool but... knowing its from mould etc. yikes. xP
Coffee Grounds Remain At The Bottom Of A Cup That Looks Like A Painting Of Foggy Forests After Rain
The Paint Primer I Accidentally Got On A Lighter Formed Snowy Mountains
The Mark It Left After Accidentally Dropping My Soy Sauce
At the latest hottest haute cuisine restaurant in town.
Load More Replies...The Tube On My Expanding Foam Can Cracked, Resulting In This Mess. The Glove Is Irremovable
He's looking up his arm, wondering when it will stop expanding!
Load More Replies...Local Habitat For Humanity Store Display. Excellent Use Of Color And Light
Accidental Psychedelic Art
Something to do with misaligned magnet in the screen maybe
Load More Replies...The Metal Staining On This Faucet Looks Like A Bob Ross Forest Scene
While Trying To Fix 3 Loose Pins, I Accidentally Dropped This Pin Impression Toy While It Was Unscrewed, Resulting In This Fun Art Piece
the fun is immediately over when you realise that somehow, you've got to tidy this up.
Wisps Of Clouds
Spaghetti Art
Must have ate it all. Left over sauce dried up like that.
Load More Replies...Beakless Pigeon
It has wings, a head, little feet, what are you not seeing?
Load More Replies...My Margin Trowel Rusted And Turned Into Art
Dropped The Spaghetti
I love how nature repeats itself over and over again. Waves, veins, trees, everything.
One of the nicest posts I've seen in a while! All new pics too! 👏 👏 👏
I almost agree, Mari, but there were a few I'd seen before. Coffee cup pine forest, for example.
Load More Replies...Tbh I wasn't expecting much before entering and viewing the post, however that was a GREAT one! They really were amazingly accidental art of nature
I wish I had a camera the day I saw a bunch of spilled Skittles on the ground in front of a store. Normally, that would look like a mess. But just as I noticed the candy, a woman in a dress walked in front of the mess. Her dress and shoes had the same colors as the candy. For a brief moment the woman and candy looked like they were purposely posed together. It was like I was looking at a beautiful tableau.
See, random fun posts like this instead of the constant reddit stuff is great. And as far as I can tell, I haven't seen any of this content before in other posts. More of this stuff plz! (lol, to clarify, I mean the reposts from r/aita and stuff like that, more fun pictures and art etc is definitely the way to go x3)
I think it's wonderful that these people were able to spot small things and take pics of them. So many people wonder about without seeing what they're looking at.
When I was a child I was always stopping and looking at things as I went past. Then I'd get in trouble because I was late.
Load More Replies...I love how nature repeats itself over and over again. Waves, veins, trees, everything.
One of the nicest posts I've seen in a while! All new pics too! 👏 👏 👏
I almost agree, Mari, but there were a few I'd seen before. Coffee cup pine forest, for example.
Load More Replies...Tbh I wasn't expecting much before entering and viewing the post, however that was a GREAT one! They really were amazingly accidental art of nature
I wish I had a camera the day I saw a bunch of spilled Skittles on the ground in front of a store. Normally, that would look like a mess. But just as I noticed the candy, a woman in a dress walked in front of the mess. Her dress and shoes had the same colors as the candy. For a brief moment the woman and candy looked like they were purposely posed together. It was like I was looking at a beautiful tableau.
See, random fun posts like this instead of the constant reddit stuff is great. And as far as I can tell, I haven't seen any of this content before in other posts. More of this stuff plz! (lol, to clarify, I mean the reposts from r/aita and stuff like that, more fun pictures and art etc is definitely the way to go x3)
I think it's wonderful that these people were able to spot small things and take pics of them. So many people wonder about without seeing what they're looking at.
When I was a child I was always stopping and looking at things as I went past. Then I'd get in trouble because I was late.
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