Paris Museums Enlist Instagrammers to Recreate Classic French Artworks

Art is for everyone—but not everyone enjoys going to an art museum. That’s why Paris's municipal museums, Paris Musées, recently created a new web platform to make their vast assortment of paintings, sculptures, and photographs digitally accessible to the public. 

In honor of the site’s launch, Paris Musées brainstormed an art project of their own, called Parallels. They collaborated with 10 well-known Instagram personalities to recreate famous works from their collections using the popular social media platform. Their goal? To make the artworks a little more accessible, a little more modern, and—dare we say it—a little more fun for contemporary audiences. 

“Whether a photographer, fashion blogger, or a comedy YouTuber, each Instagrammer drew on material from his or her own experiences to express his or her affinity for the original work or simply to reinterpret it with a new twist,” the museum explained in a release.

The final result? A series of fresh, modern takes on paintings and photographs by artists including Charles Nègre, François Boucher, and Amedeo Modigliani. The Instagram photos, which went on display yesterday, will be exhibited in the city’s Gare Saint-Lazare rail station through July 31, 2016, and travelers can suggest their own remakes of works by posting them on the social platform with the #ParallelesParisMusées hashtag.

Not traveling to Paris anytime soon? You can view the works below. 

All images courtesy of Parallèles par Paris Musées