Marcel Duchamp, Fountain (1917).
Photo: Tate.

How This Urinal Started an Art Movement You Still Don’t Understand

Maybe you’ve seen the meme that reimagines literary classics as clickbait headlines, such as Man Fears Being Alive, What He Writes About It Is Terrifying (Franz Kafka), You Won’t Believe The Man Who Wrote A 265,000-Word Novel Chronicling A Single Day (James Joyce), and This Man Explains How Nauseating It Is To Exist (Jean-Paul Sartre). So what happens when you apply the same logic to 14 of art history’s classics?

We tried it. Here’s what happened.

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889.

Why Did This Dutch Artist Slice Off His Ear? Only a Provençal Hooker Knows for Sure

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon

How This Spanish Artist’s Bordello Visit Shaped the Art World as We Know It

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa (1503–1517. Photo: Wikipedia Commons.

The Mona Lisa’s Smile Reveals a Secret You’ll Wish You Could Un-Learn

Laocoön and His Sons

This Trojan Priest Defied the Gods. Their Punishment Will Haunt Your Nightmares

Kara Walker, A Subtlety, 2014. Photography by Jason Wyche, Courtesy Creative Time.

This Massive Sculpture of a Sphinx Made of Sugar Will Ruin Sweet Snacks for You Forever

The Venus de Milo.

You Have No Idea What This Goddess Achieves Even Without Arms

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper.

Secrets of the Last Supper’s Dinner Menu Revealed

Jan van Eyck, Arnolfini Wedding Portrait.

Our Minds Are Blown: Why Can’t We See Ourselves in this Mirror?

Francisco de Goya, Saturn Devouring His Son.

Look into This Mad God’s Eyes as He Eats His Own Son

Chris Ofili, The Holy Virgin Mary (1996).

This British Artist Made the Virgin Mary Black and Made One of Her Boobs out of Elephant Poop. You Won’t Believe What Happened Next. Well, Actually, Maybe You Will Since it’s Pretty Darn Predictable.

Ad Reinhardt, Abstract Painting.

Why This All-Black Painting is Actually a Great Work of Art, Explained with Duran Duran B-Sides

Cave paintings at Lascaux.

Discover the Banksy of France, 20,000 Years Ago

Edvard Munch, The Scream.

You Won’t Believe What This Embryonic Little Guy is So Upset About