Art Cameos In Your Favorite Movies And TV Shows

Whether it's a Monet reference in "Clueless" or a Rothko viewing in "Mad Men," fine art is always peeking out in our media culture - just ask Tilda Swinton or Jay-Z. Here are some of the best art cameos from your favorite TV shows and movies.

Claude Monet and French Impressionism in "Clueless" (1995)

Via themalificent.tumblr.com

Cher (Alicia Silverstone) uses an art history analogy to tell Tai (Brittany Murphy) why Amber (Elisa Donovan) is fugly.

Guillaume Boichot's "Seated Hercules" in "My So-Called Life" (1994-1995)

Via iamnotastalker.com

Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto) and Angela Chase (Claire Danes) have an intimate moment in front of this late 18th-century bronze sculpture. Though the show says they're on a field trip to an art museum in "Three Rivers, Pennsylvania," the episode ("Why Jordan Can't Read") was actually filmed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Lichtenstein and Rothko Posters in "Wish Upon a Star" (1996)

Via collections.lacma.org

When Hayley Wheaton (Danielle Harris) wakes up in the body of her sister Alexia (Katherine Heigl), she freaks out. In the background hang posters of Roy Lichtenstein's "Cold Shoulder" (1963) and Mark Rothko's "White Center" (1957) - two works at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Picasso's "La Baigneuse" in "Midnight in Paris" (2011)

Via complex.com

Of course Woody Allen, the high-culture-savvy director of "Midnight in Paris," is known for incorporating rich art historical references into his films. This one's obvious but crucial: Gil (Owen Wilson) gives his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) and their friends a lesson about this abstract painting from 1928.

Marina Abramovic Performance in "Sex in the City" (2003)

Via mapeel.blogspot.com

In a season-six episode, "One," former curator and gallery owner Charlotte York Goldenblatt (Kristin Davis) takes Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) to a trendy gallery showing a performance piece. The performance involves a woman who lives on elevated platforms for 16 days - it's meant to be Abramovic's "The House With an Ocean View," which she performed at Sean Kelley Gallery in 2002.

Seurat's Pointillist Painting in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986)

Via imdb.com

While visiting the Art Institute of Chicago, Cameron (Alan Ruck) gazes at "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte - 1884," a pointillist painting by Georges Seurat.

Prehistoric Cave Painting in "Mona Lisa Smile" (2003)

Via movies.netflix.com

As a first-time lecturer in Art History at Wellesley College in 1953, Katherine Ann Watson (Julia Roberts), shows her all-female class this slide. Star student Joan Brandwyn (Julia Stiles) identifies it without blinking: "Wounded Bison, Altamira, Spain, about 15,000 BC."

Mark Rothko in "Mad Men" Season 2, Episode 7: "The Gold Violin" (2008)

Via imdb.com

Jane (Peyton List), Ken Cosgrove (Aaron Staton), Sal Romano (Bryan Batt), and Harry Crane (Rich Sommer) sneak into the executive office of Bert Cooper (Robert Morse) to view a strange abstract expressionist painting: a 1960s Rothko red. While debating its legitimacy as an artwork, Ken remarks, "It's like looking into something very deep. You could fall in."

Picasso's "Guernica" (1937) in Children of Men (2006)

Via nytimes.com

At the Ministry of Art in England, the wheeling-and-dealing Nigel (Danny Huston) argues with his cousin Theo (Clive Owen) in front of Pablo Picasso's "Guernica:"

“We got to keep ‘Las Meninas,’ ” says Nigel, “and a few other Velázquez. But we only got a hold of two Goyas. That thing in Madrid was a real blow to art.” Theo replies: “Not to mention people.”

Jeff Koons' "Puppy" in "The World is Not Enough" (1999)

Via toddalcott.com

In the opening scene of this 007 movie, James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) runs by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, a building designed by Frank Gehry. In front of the museum is a 43-foot-tall topiary sculpture of a terrier, the result of a 1992 Koons commission.

Robert Longo's "Men in the Cities" series (1979) in "American Psycho" (2000)

Via flavorwire.com

Wall Street investment banker Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is about to commit yet another murder; but first he has to jam out in front of his stereo and Robert Longo's charcoal-on-paper "Untitled" (1981) from the "Men in the Cities" series.