Friday, April 2, 2010

A Charming Art History Lesson by Hold Your Horses

We consider ourselves about average when it comes to our knowledge of fine art. We occasionally attend local gallery exhibits, we spent many family vacations in museums (our parents were both artists), and we took an art history appreciation course in college (although we admit, we often napped when the lights went out during the 3:00 PM lecture — you know how that time of day can be).

So it was very fun for us to watch 70 Million, the video by French band Hold Your Horses (great name), in which they recreate various recognizable works of fine art from DaVinci to Warhol. We have two especially favorite moments — the guitar extended out to God's hand in the Michelangelo and the corpse tickling the ivories in the Rembrandt.

Play along and see how many paintings you can correctly ID. We posted the complete list after the jump so you can test your knowledge of the classics. And then check out this site that shows Hold Your Horses' recreations alongside the originals.

As an added bonus, the tune is actually quite catchy. We like these guys (and girl). Too bad they are from France and don't tour the States very often. At least they have been immortalized on canvas.


Complete List of Artwork in 70 Million

Verse #1:
• Last Supper by da Vinci
• The Birth of Venus by Boticelli
• The Anatomy Lesson by Rembrandt
• On the right, Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer and on the left one of the Portraits of Henry VIII by Holbein
• The Raft of the Medusa by Géricault
• The Death of Marat by David
• The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo

Chorus:
• The Son of Man by Magritte
• Composition with Large Red Plane by Mondrian
• One of Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits
• Portrait of Dora Maar Seated by Picasso
• The Scream by Munch
• The 1899 self-portrait by Van Gogh
• Ten Marilyns by Andy Warhol

Verse #2:
• Gabrielle d’Estrées et une de ses soeurs by unknown
• Maestá by Cimabue
• Salome by Caravaggio
• Olympia by Manet
• Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix
• Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden by Dix
• The Kiss by Klimt

Repeat chorus.

Verse #3:
• La Mariée by Chagall (not The Cow Shed)
• Las Meninas by Velázquez
• One of the Sunflowers by Van Gogh

1 comment:

  1. In the first verse, where the screen's split, I think it's Francois 1er, not Henry 8th. The production company's French so I think that's more likely - they were contemporaries so their appearances and portraits are very similar.

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