21 Classical Art Memes Featuring Hilarious Animals to Appreciate That It's 2026 and Not 1396

Briana Viser • Writer and Editor

Jan 2, 2026 3:00 PM EST

Here thee, here thee. Tis time to appreciate era's erst and forgotten – a time bereft of memes.

Oh, hey there. If you can stretch your imagination far enough, you may find that if you were born centuries earlier, you may not have the life you have now. Imagine that you were born in medieval ages, where the Medici family ruled over Florence, the Guelphs and Ghibelline's were at constant war, and the greatest writer of all time, Dante, was exiled from his beloved home, sparking him to write the indelible Divine Comedy. We all love to romanticize the past, and simpler times, but when you really think about it, it may not be all that it's piped up to be. Wars of blasphemy loomed over every interaction and verbalization. People lasted only as long as their drinking water remained clean, and most importantly, there were no memes!

Memes are basically the pinnacle of our culture. They bring us together in ways we never realized were possible. And as hard as life can be, and down on ourselves as we can get, and as bad as the economy can get, it might be better than growing up in the 1300s. At least we have running water and can shower. We can appreciate the old times for what they stood for, and for history propelling us towards our lives now chock-full of technology, brain rot, and skin routines that may or may not be working.

Appreciating the past is part of appreciating the present. It's impossible to harp on gratitude at every moment, but if we can at least scroll some hilarious classical art memes featuring animals of every kind to get us out of a funk, then why not? Animals have a way of making us laugh, smile, and forget what's really going on in our lives. Forget the bad times with a little mindless scrolling to dissociate you and make you wonder about if Galileo really deserved the punishments he got for his scientific inventiveness and thought provoking ideas. There's no end to the joy that animal memes bring us, and what better way to celebrate the new year than remember life before memes. Hurrah!

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