The Getty Museum is challenging people to recreate famous artworks at home

With the world still on coronavirus lockdown, people are having to get creative with their free time. This includes museums – which have all been forced to close amid the pandemic – like LA’s The Getty, whose challenge to recreate famous artworks has gone viral.

Posting on Twitter last week (March 25), the museum asked its followers to “recreate a work of art with objects (and people) in your home”. The Getty then shared four variations on artworks, created with clothes, Trader Joe’s bags, and dirty dishes.

People quickly began sharing their own variations; one user recreated the famous HMV dog image with her own dog and an iPod Classic, another accurately depicted “The Astronomer” by Johannes Vermeer, while one man turned his son into a coyote to recreate a 16th century Nahuan illustration from The Florentine Codex. 

The Getty’s challenge isn’t the first to recreate famous artworks in quarantine. Four roommates from Connecticut have set up an Instagram account called Covid Classics, which sees them use whatever they have in their apartment as props to reimagine some of the most recognised pieces of art in history, including “The Old Guitarist” by Picasso and “The Son of Man” by René Magritte.

Speaking to Dazed yesterday (April 1), the group said: “We started with our favourite paintings and those that seemed famous and ‘doable’. We’ve had a lot of people tell us it buoys their spirit to see people stuck together making the most of it, being creative, expressing themselves. I hope our DIY style inspires other people to make the most of this time and be creative.”

The Getty has been closed since March 14, and will remain closed until further notice. See some of the best responses to the museum’s challenge below.