Museum Challenge

We tried the most ‘in art’ museum-challenge for 2020 and we absolutely loved it!

I know what you are thinking… ‘It all sounds Greek to me!’ and I do not blame you. Even though I am Greek I still can relate to your confusion! So, let me translate this to something that actually makes sense. ‘In art there is no parthenogenesis’, meaning that for centuries now there is no “virgin” birth in the artistic world. Everyone gets inspired by someone or something around him.

With the outbreak of Covid-19 that started about five months ago almost every Museum around the world shut its doors down and unfortunately many, still, remain closed. I don’t know about you but for me a world without art and museums is a wistful and dull place. Thankfully, our Cultural Institutions around the world did not stay inactive for long. Embarrassing everything technology has to offer and being called for the first time to really renovate themselves they responded accordingly with a Social Media Challenge! Many museums and galleries around the world asked their dedicated members and visitors to recreate their favourite paintings and post them on Social Media. Of course, always, while staying safe and using only what they already had at home. Between these museums were some of the colosseums, like The Getty and The MET which was the one that actually started everything after getting inspired by the Instagram account @tussenkunstenquarantine which in Dutch means “between art and quarantine”.

So, here comes our turn to try it. However, we did not only get inspired by our favourite paintings but also the implacably beautiful and glamorous jewellery of SALOME Designs. It all started when the founder of the brand Kellie Daniels and her adorable daughters recreated Pierre Auguste Renoir’s ‘Young Girls at the piano’.

 

Can we just appreciate how beautiful they look? We could not simply resist after that. So, together with SALOME’s Social Media Manager Ioanna Chytiri we chose three more paintings and gave it a go. I personally think the outcome is purely spectacular!!!

 

Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a pearl earring’ could not miss of course from our recreations. He is considered after all the “father” of paintings with pearls. Getting inspired by both the painting and our Girl with a pearl earrings we set out to do the best we could, using whatever else existed in the wardrobe. A silk blue shirt and a pair of silver pants finally did the trick. Congrats to Ioanna for really catching that perplexed expression of the young maid. I think she has really outdone herself and we hope you like the result!

The next painting is as famous as the previous one but a couple of centuries older. Created by the great renaissance master Sandro Botticelli during the 15^th century, this work of art has been identified with the most beautiful time of the year, spring, or as its title in Italian ‘Primavera’.

 

The figure I represent here is the deity Flora, goddess of Spring. I generally love this painting but there was one more reason that I wanted to recreate it. I wanted to feel that like spring brings life back to earth so will we after the virus is over.

To recreate it thankfully I had the perfect garment and with the help of a pillow and some flowers from the market the outcome was, I believe, really good. Also, quite believable if I think of how many messages, I received that day asking me if I was pregnant. Lastly, what I added and truly think, brings everything together, are the beautiful SALOME Lebialem Highland Pendant Earrings. Just admire the stone for a moment and try to guess how many colours it has just like spring!

Finally, a more passionate painting was our last project. The Venetian artist Titian painted the goddess Venus (‘Venus of Urbino’) in a sensual pose centuries ago and although at the time he created quite the scandal his painting today is one of the most famous out there.

 

Of course, we avoided nudity for obvious reasons but we added the detail that we love the most in this work of art and it is no other than the simple but always elegant pearl earring that adorns Venus’s ear. To recreate it we used the SALOME x Stephanie Waxberg Signature Pearl Earrings and oh my… how beautiful it looks?

As spring is leaving us and summer comes our way, we see our world getting rebirthed after some difficult few months. If I learned something during this quarantine it was that culture and creativity can keep a person sane no matter how tough things get. Also, to the question many pose today, about museums and their relevance to today’s society, I think after everything, we can honestly say that they have never been more relevant and for that they deserve all the support we can give them. After all what is a person without a past?

Until next time be creative and always stay safe!