Role of Art on Social Media Platforms

In last week’s blog, I touched upon a very interesting and multi-layered topic: how art and social media influence each other. But since it was impossible to discuss everything last time, it seems reasonable to do a second part! In contrast with the previous blog, today we will try to see if art and the course of arts history influence social media platforms. 

So, last week it became quite obvious that contemporary and conceptual art cannot be imagined  without modern day technologies and, in particular, one of the most significant aspects of everyday life in the 21st century – social media. However, it can be logically explained- art is always created in the context of its time. But what about art’s influence and especially art from the previous centuries? Is it somehow presented when we scroll through our feeds on the way to school or work? Well, surprisingly the answer is yes! And the proof can be found in, probably, the funnest part of social media- accounts with memes.

So, this quite niche category of memes accounts, that only use classical art works as meme material, in fact, is more popular than it may appear. The most popular one in the category is called “Classical art memes” and has 5.3 millions followers on Facebook and almost 1 million followers on Instagram. I think this can be confidently called a success in the digital sphere! Looking at the amount of followers, it is clear that people find the memes funny, which is arguably the most important characteristic for memes. But it seems that another crucial quality that every meme has to have is being relatable. And it is fully understandable- while spending time on social media people want to relax, distract themselves and to feel better about everyday struggles. “Classical art memes” seems to perfectly understand the needs of social media users, while using classical painting for their memes. For example, let’s have a look at this recent meme that was posted on the page. At first it feels like it touches upon a very specific situation, however, 18 thousand likes seem to indicate how common and relatable it’s for a lot of people.But at this point you may ask, what is the role of art work here? Let’s analyze that! The painting used here is “The Absinthe Drinker” by Edgar Degas. Some followers of the account  might be familiar with the artwork, some might have seen it for the first time. However, everyone realizes that this is a classical skillfully made art work, which makes the meme feel funnier, due to the absurdity of the situation. This quirky, unusual combination of the relatable caption with a classical art school work ( in this case,a great example of an impressionism) looks like a key to the success. 

“Classical art memes”, publication from July 5.

It is also interesting to notice that this format of memes actually makes a very significant cultural job, as it brings people closer to classical art and adds art to everyday life, but in an accessible and funny manner. Here, Walter Benjamin’s theory can be applied: aura that is usually built around classical art, disappears as art being presented in the understandable and, let’s say, grounded way. In a way, memes here play an important role in popularization of art. This also might be one of the reasons for the account’s success! 

I personally find it’s very interesting how “Classical art memes” created a whole phenomenon of making funny memes, while also being a significant socio-cultural project. This account proves that there, in fact, is a place for art on social media. Classical art and the digital world can perfectly collaborate!