Memes are great, aren’t they? But how many times have you ever seen a classic painting or piece of art turned into a meme? Not many we bets. We’ve discovered a trend where people are turning original works of art from years gone by into amusing modern memes.
For your personal amusement, we’ve collected some of the most entertaining for you to enjoy below. If you want to see more though, we’d recommend checking out the Classical Cringe and Classical Damn Instagram page.
Worse than the friend zone?
If you’ve ever been in the friendzone then you know how rough that is. But this has got to be worse. We both chortled and felt a pang of pity for this chap.
Online orders
Have you too been buying random things while in pandemic lockdown? This guy certainly has. He’s even managed to buy himself a small dragon to take for walks.
Memelord
We’ve all got a friend like this, who makes you feel old and not in touch enough with the current memes. Thinking they’re above us, sitting in their meme throne.
Jesus wearing a cross
Pay too much attention to the old Christian paintings and artworks and you’ll start to notice these sorts of things. Why is Jesus wearing a cross? Isn’t that a weird move for him?
Woman on a bike
We’re not sure what this lady was involved in but here she’s been photographed (in a rather fancy dress) riding around on a bicycle practicing lopping off heads.
Red Riding Hood’s life lesson
Sometimes when you’re feeling down a simple meme can be enough to make you feel better about yourself.
Selling merchandise at the Crucifixion
In this one painting, it looks like this woman circled is trying to sell clothing with Christ’s likeness emblazoned on the front. He’s looking back while carrying her cross on his back, clearly not too happy about it.
Left the oven on again
Ever been doing something important and realized you forgot something else that’s equally important? Can’t have the house burning down while you’re out at war, that would be embarrassing.
Where do babies come from?
The conversation about the birds and the bees is difficult enough at the best of times, but imagine trying to have it about the immaculate conception.
Best date format
A classic meme applied to an equally classic painting. What’s not to like?
Spoiler Alert
This depicts the birth of Christ and sees him with Mary and others. In the background is an icon of Christ on the cross. A spoiler alert for the future.
This is the Saint Columba Altarpiece also known as the Adoration of the Kings which dates back to around 1455. It depicts the birth of Christ and see’s him with Mary and others. In the background is an icon of Christ on the cross. A spoiler alert for the future.
Woman cuts kimono
It seems that ladies who appreciate cats have been around for centuries. Here Classical Damn has added some humor to the image with the idea that the woman is cutting her di lei Kimono to avoid disturbing the cat.
Knowledgable
Don’t challenge a wise person’s knowledge. Unless you want them to break out their quill.
Henry’s wives
These paintings of Henry the Eighth’s wives have clearly been updated to show them with beaming smiles as there’s no way they were this happy about their lives with the King.
We did this with an app to add old-age filters and smiles to classic paintings once. So why not soak that in too.
Wales or Whales?
Wales or Whales? Not things you should get confused about when talking to ladies.
The meaning of life
If you could ask God why we exist and why he gave us life, what would he say?
This meme imagines a modern thinking on an ancient action.
Undress me
This one appears to be the cover of a classic romance novel, rather than a proper painting or artwork, but it’s still a brilliant meme.
12 close friends
Jesus performed plenty of miracles, but perhaps his biggest and least well known is simply having a dozen close friends in his thirties. How many people can say they have that?
Showing off your cakes
What did people do to show off their amazing creations in the times before the internet? Paint a picture of it or parade around town showing off their creation?
Painting your fruit
We love this one. People Instagram their food all the time and others will say it’s a horrible modern trend. But people have been doing it for years.
The least drunk
Someone has to be in charge of the food order and naturally, it should be the least drunk person. But when there’s enough of them it’s going to be carnage.
Cats are high maintenance
Cats are demanding creatures. Here the amusing meme imagines that these kitties have lost their owner but are still peckish and are using a ouija board to contact them to ask for food.
He’s a house cat
If you’ve ever had a house cat that’s not allowed to go out, but insists on trying, then you know what this meme is all about. Here the hilarity is given a retro vibe thanks to this ancient statue.
Poems and chill
The humor of this one is perfected by the sad look and sideways glance of the lady. She is not having a great time of it, perhaps because she was expecting a bit more than just a poetry reading.
Moses uses the cloud
We chortled a little bit at this one. The idea that Moses downloaded the word of God from the cloud. If he’d had Google Drive it might have been easier to access and share it worldwide.
Graveyard raves
Some of the old artworks are weird and wonderful. Here it looks like the dead have returned and are dancing.
This meme suggests they’re having a rave and we love it.
Zuckerberg
You’ve seen the photos of celebrities who somehow never age or have a doppelganger from years gone by. Well in this image you can see Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg lurking in the background.
Autocorrect
If autocorrect had been around when Jesus was then those autocorrect fails might have had amusing endings. Either that or a holy shot would truly help you have a great night out.
Aliens did it
People continue to be bemused as to how things like the pyramids were constructed. Is the suggestion that aliens did it a logical option? We don’t know. But we do like the idea of working on a thing purposely to confuse future generations.
Video game violence
Humans have always been awful to each other. Video games aren’t to blame.
Zuckerberg strikes again
You’ve seen when Mark Zuckerberg tries to act all innocent like Facebook hasn’t been hoarding all your data for years. But this amusing meme certainly casts him in a new light.
