25 Creative Classical Art Memes Painted for Your Laughter

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Mar 27, 2026 7:00 AM EDT

Artists have been making memes since long before the internet; you just have to have the eye to find them!

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  • 01
    [middle ages] Queen: Come to bed King: ...not until I have a name for my soldiers Queen: k night King: babe you are a genius!
    via classical*amn

  • Everybody loves to laugh, even artists. Sure, that doesn't sound like a crazy thing to say… But have you ever taken a tour of the art museum? The tour guides are always so serious. I mean, the history behind a lot of these classical art pieces are pretty crazy. It's the modern art museum tours that have the jokes, usually! 

    But we're all human, including those classical artists from way back in the day and we'd bet a lot on them having some sort of sense of humor. Just look at how some of them paint cats or horses! Now, that's pretty funny.

  • 02
    Have you ever realized how surreal reading a book actually is? You stare at marked slices of tree for hours hallucinating vividly
    via artmemescentral
  • 03
    Have you ever been so focused on an argument that you get kidnapped by a giant mythological creature and don't even realize?
    via artmemescentral
  • 04
    What is the first thing you notice when someone tries to approach you? The audacity
    via artmemescentral
  • 05
    When a demon comes to take your unfit soul but y'all end up having a lot in common...
    via artmemescentral
  • 06
    Me in the midst of my adult responsibilities
    via artmemescentral
  • 07
    When you go to a fancy party and decide to steal their 50 inch TV...
    via artmemescentral
  • 08
    "Really? With the dragon?"
    via artmemescentral
  • 09
    When he's ugly but he's in a band so you give him a chance...
    via artmemescentral
  • 10
    Me: Long day tomorrow, I need to be in bed at a reasonable time Me at 3:30 a.m:
    via artmemescentral
  • 11
    "Her Favorite", 1905
    via artmemescentral

  • I wonder if one of these very serious, very important classical art pieces was actually just to troll someone? How many artists can do portrait commissions before they lose it? One of these had to be a prank or, at the very least, an inside joke with the artist. Some memers today are still great artists. So they are likely painting serious works of art, while also releasing some that are just a joke you haven't quite caught on to yet.

  • 12
    I'm a people person I'm a geese goose
    via artmemescentral
  • 13
    That awkward moment when you don't know if you have free time or you have forgotten to do something
    via artmemescentral
  • 14
    Why is being alive so expensive? I'm not even having a good time
    via artmemescentral

  • It can't be just a coincidence that so much classical art also works in meme form. There has to be a correlation! Maybe Michelangelo wasn't as serious of a painter as he's taught to be… Maybe he was actually a pretty funny dude who trolled people, like the church, to paint for them. Maybe historians are only getting the side told from the nerd he was pranking. Did they ever write down what his closest friends said about his work and humor? When will there be a 101 class about classical art humor? We demand it! 

  • 15
    When everyone finally starts to dislike the person that you had a bad feeling about... Told ya
    via artmemescentral
  • 16
    Coming home to hungry cats be like
    via artmemescentral
  • 17
    When you wake up from a nap and don't know what planet you're on
    via artmemescentral
  • 18
    On a scale of Botticelli, how do you feel today? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
    via daily_iconography
  • 19
    "Father forgive them, for I literally can't even"
    via rachelnstephens

  • Anyways, we love how we are able to go to the art history museum and appreciate the serious talent and masterpieces, while simultaneously finding humor in it all. Because life should never be taken too seriously! How can you even handle all the serious stuff if you don't allow some humor into your heart too?

  • 20
    Client: So can you paint cats? Artist: Cats are my passion.
    via classical*amn
  • 21
    Medieval painting of someone with their emotional support dragon, c. 1503
    via classicreelsmemes

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Tags

artists humor laughs art jokes art history happy classical art memes funny
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