Great works of art are reused constantly as culture crawls forward, whether by direct reference, fad, or subliminal imitation. As images have become easier to create, store, and access, this process has accelerated.

Memes are one of the most effective modern forms of image recycling. Some say they are our age's folk art. They cut across niches and nations, and invite the masses to participate in the same joke, often founded on a single visual from the archive.

Sometimes, that image is a painting. When this happens, the work of art is recontextualized, and becomes part of a new aesthetic and conceptual object. Many viewers understand only vaguely (or not at all) that what they’re looking at was originally intended as fine art.

Meme images are selected for their evocative potential and flexibility. A painting’s use in a meme could, through this lens, be viewed as a testament to its power. Some, of course, see it as an insult, a degradation. You’ll have to decide for yourself. Here are a selection of paintings that became memes, with context about the original form, and analysis on the meme they became.

The Death of Socrates

Painted originally in 1787 by French neoclassicist Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Socrates is a well-studied retelling of one of philosophy’s earliest tragedies: Socrates, the Greek philosopher, chose death by hemlock over recounting his beliefs.

In the painting, Socrates, finger raised and defiant even in his last moment, is handed the cup of poison by a disciple who cannot bear to look on. Plato is depicted at the foot of the bed, which is drawn accurately thanks to David’s consultation with scholars of the period before painting the piece.

Memes utilizing this painting are variable, but often play on drunkenness (referencing the cup being handed to Socrates) or declaration (his erect posture and raised finger make certain less serious lines humorous by juxtaposition). Sometimes, the figures are replaced entirely with other groups where a social group orbits a single heroic figure (although the joke with these is often that said figure is an absurd leader–see the Alex Jones example).

Freedom of Speech

Part of American painter Norman Rockwell’s ‘Four Freedoms’ series, Freedom of Speech (1943) was meant to embody patriotic ideals of expression. In it, a common man at a town meeting rises and speaks, a look of serene conviction on his face while the audience gazes on. FDR’s 1941 ‘Four Freedoms’ speech inspired the series.

The painting has been meme’d in a variety of ways, but generally uses text to express a controversial (or faux controversial) take. In this formulation, the man in the painting embodies courage, which is then ironically undercut by the text itself. This is a slight augmentation of the painting's true form, wherein the audience looks encouraging and accepting of whatever the speaker is saying.

American Gothic

Welcome Editorial’s May piece on Recession Art discussed the origins of Grant Wood’s 1930 American Gothic, a piece of social realism that was originally intended as a critique of its subject but became, swept up in the political current of the Great Depression, a symbol of American fortitude.

Since then, its meaning has been subverted again and again. The two figures in the painting are often replaced with familiar faces from pop culture. Sometimes they are augmented (like the addition of masks and six feet of space in one popular covid-era rendition). Another formulation replaces the background (originally a home done in the American Gothic architectural style) with scenes definitive of contemporary American environments, like McDonalds.

Marines Call It That 2,000 Yard Stare

The paintings Tom Lea produced while covering WWII for Life magazine are a testament to art’s ability to capture what the camera or the eye fails to. Marines Call It That 2,000 Yard Stare is his most famous. Produced in 1944, it depicts an unnamed Marine at the Battle of Peleliu.

Capturing trauma was the goal of the painting, and the elevation of something non-traumatic to the level of trauma is the comic goal of most of the memes that employ its image. The soldier himself is generally left untouched, and text beginning ‘me when…’ is a common accompaniment.

The Creation of Adam

One of Michelangelo’s greatest accomplishments, and the most famous panel of his work on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, The Creation of Adam is impressive in both scale and subtlety. Completed between 1508 and 1512, it depicts the biblical scene of God’s gift of life to man. The human forms are masterfully done, but the crux of the painting lies between the fingers in a sliver of space that evokes the tension of a spark. Adam’s finger bends slightly down, while God’s is outstretched completely, symbolizing divine love and the human inclination to spurn it.

This dynamic between the fingers is what is most commonly played on in memes. One hand (or entire figure) is often replaced. Sometimes more pointing figures are added, or something is placed in the empty space between God and Adam.

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog

Caspar David Friedrich’s 1818 Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog is a quintessential piece of Romanticism. A man stands with his back to the viewer gazing over a sublime landscape wrapped in fog. It’s evocative of self-reflection, and the stance of the figure somehow suggests a state of contemplation.

Memes of this painting often subvert its sense of contemplation (by giving the figure a humorous thought bubble), replace the figure entirely, or play with the background. One of my favorites, and this article's cover, replaces the bucolic landscape with the now iconic image of gas stations and fast food in Breezewood, Pennsylvania that has come to represent the blight of fossil fuels and junk food on American public life.

The Scream

The idea for Edvard Munch’s The Scream came to the artist on a walk when a bright red sunset produced a feeling of intense anxiety. It is one of the best known expressionist works, and a quintessential depiction of anxious dread.

Primarily, the face on the central figure is replaced with another screamer. Sometimes, however, the entire background is changed.

Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle

Arnold Böcklin, the artist who in 1872 painted the self-portrait entitled Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle, was a part of the ‘symbolist’ movement. You don’t hear about the symbolists much these days, but the 19th century Europe fad of attempting to depict absolute truths through symbols in the arts was big at the time. Böcklin’s piece is certainly a bit heavy-handed; mortality, if you’re wondering, is represented by the skeleton playing the single-string fiddle behind the normal looking guy.

Usually, memes have the skeleton whispering something into the artist's ear. This rarely has to do with imminent death, and seems to suggest that most modern meme-makers interpret the skeleton as a representation of a ‘devil on the shoulder’ rather than mortality, which might say something about the success of a symbolist project.

Ecce homo

The meme-ification of this piece was done not on the internet but on the canvas itself. This Ecce Homo (Latin for "Behold the Man"), was painted as a fresco located in Borja, Spain, by the Spanish painter Elías García Martínez.

Never considered remarkable, but suffering the marks of age like any painting, in 2012 an 81 year old amateur artist named Cecilia Giménez made an attempt to restore the work. When she was called out of town unexpectedly, her progress was discovered. People reacted strongly.

Perhaps Giménez was going to pull it together in revisions, but it’s hard to overstate how messed up the restoration looks. Some witty people took to calling it Ecce Mono, or ‘Behold the Monkey.’ It’s all worked out for Giménez. She became a celebrity, and her uncompleted restoration has become a tourist attraction.

Self-portrait of the Artist in the Guise of a Mocker

Sometimes, an expression is rendered on canvas in such a way that no joke is necessary. Such is the case with Joseph Ducreux’s 18th century self-portrait.

Image Curation by Erild Kondi (@kondierild)