My deep and abiding love of fine art-based jokes has been well documented; as such, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I literally laughed out loud for a full minute when I first saw these little beauties. Humorous illustrator Rodney Pike (is “humorous illustrator” the best job title ever or what?) has taken that most beloved of British comedy characters, Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean, and Photoshopped him into a whole bunch of famous paintings. And yes, they’re as amazing as you think they are. Seriously, you guys. Comedy. Gold.
Pike is kind of like a modern-day Al Hirschfeld; he creates caricatures, political satire, and other pieces of hilarity based off of whatever hot-button issues and public figures are trending at any given time. The difference, of course, is that Pike uses digital tools like Photoshop to make his illustrations and photo manipulations. Although the Rowan Atkinson caricatures feature Mr. Bean specifically, a lot of them also have an air of Blackadder about them. As Neatorama points out, members of the Blackadder family (all played by Atkinson) appear frequently throughout history, spanning the 15th century up til the 21st; accordingly, it feels hilariously familiar to see that distinctive face in pieces of art that fall anywhere in that six-century range. It’s Mr. Bean’s visage, though, that really drives home the comedy, mostly because his facial expression are just so… well, Bean. You know what I mean, right? Like this, in Rembrandt’s Old Soldier:
And this, in Gilbert Stuart’s Mrs. Richard Yates:
And this, because obviously you can’t not sub Mr. Bean in for the Mona Lisa:
This portrait of Thomas Howard by Hans Holbein is one of the ones that puts me in mind of Blackadder:
As is this one, another Rembrandt:
I think it’s the feather in the cap that does it. Or something. Maybe I should just stop trying to explain why I find them so freaking hilarious and just let them speak for themselves.
Check out more of Pike’s work over at his website or on Facebook. Happy Monday!
Images: Rodney Pike/Facebook (5)
