Off the Walls: Inspired Re-Creations of Iconic Artworks

In March 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic brought life as we knew it to a
halt. Much of the world retreated to a solitary life at home. Working
remotely, we and other Getty colleagues asked ourselves how art could be
a tonic for people through these uncertain times. Our community asked
for fun, distraction, and education, too—and thus the art re-creation
challenge was born. The prompt? Pick a favorite artwork, find three
objects in your house, re-create the artwork with those items, and share
with us online.
Re-creating art is a long, venerable, delightfully wacky tradition, from
the tableau vivant to the museum selfie. For this challenge, we took
inspiration from the Dutch Instagram account
@tussenkunstenquarantaine, which translates to “between art and
quarantine,” but we added a Getty twist—we invited you to draw on our
Open Content Program, which offers thousands of high-resolution images
of art for free. Other museums around the world issued similar challenges
to their followers, as did libraries, schoolteachers, and theaters, inviting
kids and adults alike to look closely at book covers, film posters, album
art, stamps, and more.
Millions of you saw our challenge posted on social media. Millions
more saw it on the news. In a matter of weeks, we received hundreds of
thousands of artwork re-creations from around the globe. They were
clever, hilarious, and poignant, and they were often served with a dash of
social commentary.
You re-created Jeff Koons sculptures with socks and restaged Jacques-
Louis David paintings with fleece blankets and duct tape. You
MacGyvered costumes and backdrops out of towels, pillows, scarves,
shower caps, coffee filters, bubble wrap, and—of course—toilet paper.
You posed in your living rooms with extended family, alone with your
best selfie sticks, in the hospital break room with fellow healthcare
workers, and in studios with dramatic lighting. And you celebrated others’
re-creations, applauding the creativity and resilience of friends, family,
and Internet strangers.