The Internet Teaches Us How To Recognize Famous Painters (19 Pics)

Art history can be an incredibly complicated topic and a really tough nut to crack for anyone who hasn’t spent years upon years learning the various intricacies and subtleties needed to master the subject.

Luckily for all art lovers who just haven’t got the time to understand all the ins and outs of art history, the internet has provided some hilarious and easy-to-grasp tips on how to recognize the work of famous painters. Here is a list of the funniest and most accurate advice, so that you can impress your friends and family the next time you go to a museum or want to talk about something impressive at the dinner table. Scroll down, upvote your favorites, and leave us a comment with your views about art, classical paintings and what you thought of these tips.

#1 If Everyone – Including The Women – Looks Like Putin, Then It’s Van Eyck

Jan van Eyck

Image credits: flickerdart

#2 If Everyone Looks Like Hobos Illuminated Only By A Dim Streetlamp, It’s Rembrandt

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

Image credits: flickerdart

#3 If It’s Something You Saw On Your Acid Trip Last Night, It’s Dali

Salvador Dalí

Image credits: flickerdart

The person behind most of the art tips is Redditor DontTacoBoutIt. Unfortunately, their account now appears to be dead, but Bored Panda tried reaching out to them for an interview nonetheless. The tips have seen widespread success online, with over 8,800 upvotes and more than 1.17 million views on Imgur.

The Redditor’s explanations about how well-known artists can be recognized at a single glance are as informative as they are blunt and funny. For example, you can know almost for sure that a painting was done by Peter Paul Rubens if everyone’s naked and they all have very large derrières (‘butts’, the word means ‘butts’). And if everyone in a painting looks a bit like Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin, then you can bet your hat that it’s probably Jan van Eyck’s work.

#4 If Everybody Has Some Sort Of Body Malfunction, Then It’s Picasso

Pablo Ruiz Picasso

Image credits: flickerdart

#5 Dappled Light But No Figures, It’s Monet

Claude Monet

Image credits: flickerdart

#6 If Everyone In The Paintings Has Enormous Asses, Then It’s Rubens

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Image credits: flickerdart

So you can show off to your pals even more at your next soirée, here are some more facts to drop about Rubens and van Eyck (besides talking about butts and Putin of course).

A Flemish painter born sometime around 1380-1390, van Eyck is known as one of the early innovators of Early Netherlandish painting and one of the most important representatives of what’s known as Early Northern Renaissance art. As a master painter, he was employed by John III the Pitiless, the ruler of Holland and Hainaut, as well as Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy. Van Eyck wasn’t just a painter, he also acted as a diplomat for Philip.

#7 If All The Men Look Like Cow-Eyed Curly-Haired Women, It’s Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Image credits: flickerdart

#8 Excel Sheet With Coloured Squares, It’s Mondrian

Piet Mondrian

Image credits: flickerdart

#9 If The Paintings Have Lots Of Little People In Them But Also Have A Ton Of Crazy Bulls#%t, It’s Bosch

Hieronymus Bosch

Image credits: flickerdart

Meanwhile, Rubens (who was also a Flemish painter) was born in 1577 and is thought to be the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens was a specialist in making portraits, landscapes, altarpieces, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. Rubens was also a scholar and a diplomat who was knighted by Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England.