Bored Panda contacted Anneloes Officier, the 31-year-old communication specialist from Amsterdam behind the “Tussen Kunst & Quarantaine” Instagram page. Anneloes told us that she made up the challenge as a thing to do with her roommates Tessa and Floor, who have all had to work from home since March 13th. The idea was to “recreate a famous painting by using 3 products lying around in your home,” like sanitizer and toilet paper. “We’d guess which artwork it was supposed to be.”
The page started with a pic featuring a remake of Vermeer‘s “Girl With a Pearl Earring” with garlic, a towel, and a placemat. Anneloes shared the photo on her Instagram and people got into it instantly. “The first [recreations] I received were sooo good so that my family and friends who contributed, in the beginning, set the bar really high,” she said.
After the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam started following Anneloes on Instagram, the project went viral. She switched the account to the public and the rest is history. “Over 49k contributions have come in via the hashtag #tussenkunstenquarantaine and another 32,500 on the international #betweenartandquarantine,” recounts Anneloes.
Many museums around the globe have joined the challenge too. “Rijksmuseum, The MET (New York), The Louvre (Paris & Abu Dhabi), Versailles, Getty (LA) and The Hermitage,” to name a few. Anneloes now receives submissions from all over the world: Norway, Canada, Iran, Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Russia, the US, Italy, Spain, France, Turkey, and Portugal.
Anneloes says that the perfect recreation is when “people enjoyed making it, go all in, and become very creative.” Also, the best ones tend to “replace an item of the original painting with a household item, like using a vacuum cleaner instead of a guitar,” she explained. “I also love when people try to mimic the posture of the figures in the painting.” This raw and authentic feel of "homemade" art is what Anneloes loves the most about “Tussen Kunst & Quarantaine.”
The Amsterdam-based communications specialist hopes the challenge “can offer a little relief and unite people worldwide.” As for the future plans, Anneloes would like to do an exposition “when life gets 'back to normal,' whatever that will be.” She also found the experience to be emotionally uplifting. “Seeing all the fun creations people come up with is almost therapeutic to me.”
As in many countries, the museums in the Netherlands have also closed their doors since March 12 amid fears of virus spread. But on March 30, Reuters reported that thieves stole a painting by van Gogh from the currently closed Singer Laren Museum. The painting named “Lentetuin,” or “Spring Garden,” which dates back to 1884 and depicts the garden at Nuenen, was loaned from the Groninger Museum.
