Movie Art Cameos

Movie set decoration often involves placing well-known works of art in the background. Sometimes, though recognizable, the artwork may be faked, much like an actor portraying a role. Much of the time, though, the artwork has been borrowed from a collector or a museum. Some films even use an art museum as the setting.


"The Thomas Crown Affair" takes place in New York City and uses the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a backdrop for its romantic art caper. In it, you will see works by Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pablo Picasso, and, of course, René Magritte's "The Son of Man".










In "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", the character, Cameron Frye is seen at the Art Institute of Chicago studying "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte", a Pointillist painting by French artist, Georges Seurat. It's always a good idea to visit the museum to view the art in its actual size, both up close and at a distance. Funny that Cam is wearing a Detroit Redwings jersey!







Perhaps my favorite art cameo is the Kandinsky paintings found in the movie "Double Jeopardy". Surely they must be copies as the heroine shoots one of them in the climax scene (spoiler alert!). It's fun to try to recognize the places where movies were filmed, especially if you've been there yourself. It's always a pleasant surprise for me to see visual artworks on the big screen as well.





There's art from Vincent Van Gogh in the movie, "I Am Legend". Included on the site, Paintings in Movies, are Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" and "Road with Cypress and Star", plus other works by Mark Rothko, Henri Rousseau, and Amedeo Modigliani. You can browse for your favorite movie to see what art may have been used. Works by Caravaggio appear in both "Scarface" and "The Great Gatsby". I wonder if they are the real thing! I've seen other movies in which the art hanging in a scene is portraying a familiar work by Henri Matisse. Can you guess the movie?

In my next post, I will discuss movies that are biopics of twelve of my favorite artists, many of whom are portrayed by famous actors and a couple of them by lesser-known actors. Unfortunately, most of these movies don't receive favorable ratings. I personally love to watch Kirk Douglas' portrayal of Vincent Van Gogh in "Lust for Life" (one of my favorite movies). I've also used the video, "Don McLean - Vincent (Van Gogh's paintings)" choreographed to his song, "Starry, Starry Night". Knowing the nostalgic song from the 1970s coupled with the artist's story makes this audio-visual journey even more emotional. Van Gogh started painting at the age of 27 and died at 36, leaving an incredible body of work for the world to enjoy.