It’s not always easy to fuse high culture and pop culture together. There are exceptions, like Accidental Renaissance, but sometimes the combination leads to some kind of Frankenstein monster that no one wants to look at. That’s why it’s important to celebrate it when someone succeeds, and right now no one is doing it better than @TabloidArtHist, a UK account that operates under the assumption that “for every pic of Lindsay Lohan falling, there’s a Bernini sculpture begging to be referenced.”
Here are some of the account’s greatest hits:
Biblical Beyoncé
Beyoncé performs at the 2017 Grammy Awards // Statue of the Weeping Madonna pic.twitter.com/VMePGGWlRC
— TabloidArtHistory (@TabloidArtHist) February 13, 2017
Britney in her car(avaggio)
Britney Spears at a Del Taco drivethru, 2007 // 'David with the head of Goliath' by Caravaggio, c. 1607 pic.twitter.com/DpuYpVMkc9
— TabloidArtHistory (@TabloidArtHist) July 8, 2017
Rihanna, ca. 1873
Rihanna riding side saddle on a jet ski, Barbados, c.2011 // Charles Emile Carlos-Duran, 'Madamoiselle in Riding Costume', c.1873 pic.twitter.com/paM6QaSwFL
— TabloidArtHistory (@TabloidArtHist) July 10, 2017
Timeless teenage emotions
Lil Yachty, 'Teenage Emotions', 2017 album cover // James Ensor, 'Death and The Masks', c.1897 pic.twitter.com/pqJJgaGpYJ
— TabloidArtHistory (@TabloidArtHist) April 21, 2017
Dua Lipa and the Parthenon
Dua Lipa and backup dancers in the music video for 'New Rules' // 'Plaque of the Ergastines', frieze from the Parthenon, c. 445-438 B.C. pic.twitter.com/pi5l0c4FXD
— TabloidArtHistory (@TabloidArtHist) July 10, 2017
Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems
@Harry_Styles , 2017 // Painting from Claude Monet's 'Water Lilies' series, 1899-1926. pic.twitter.com/nm8RBt71wX
— TabloidArtHistory (@TabloidArtHist) May 1, 2017
Praise the Lorde
Our Lorde and Our Lady –@lorde performing at the Billboard Music Awards, 2014 // 'Madonna' by Edvard Munch, c. 1894-95. pic.twitter.com/3tg047cv4Q
— TabloidArtHistory (@TabloidArtHist) July 4, 2017
That’s a nipple!
Janet Jackon and Justin Timberlake, 'nip slip', Super Bowl 2004 // Sofonsiba Anguissola, 'A Monk', c.1556 pic.twitter.com/eecPqYBWfy
— TabloidArtHistory (@TabloidArtHist) November 29, 2016
More proof that Nicki’s basically a god
Nicki Minaj embraces a crying fan at a concert, c.April, 2015 // Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato, "Madonna and Child II", c.1763-98 pic.twitter.com/Gs9bOf0hkS
— TabloidArtHistory (@TabloidArtHist) February 13, 2017