Recently, Australian sketch comedy show The Elegant Gentleman’s Guide to Knife Fighting reached out to an artist about animating some bumper segments for the program. “You love Terry Gilliam, right?” they asked him—and does he ever. A YouTube highlight reel of the resulting material, which brings notable paintings to life, is a delightful mix of the highbrow and the sophomoric in the unmistakable Monty Python tradition.
From Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” to crucifixion and duel scenes to Rococo angels on chapel ceilings, no masterwork is too serious for lampooning. In fact, the more somber a work of art is, the better the remix: We’re particularly fond of the dead pope who turns into a rocket of some sort. But the finest work is saved for a masterful coda sequence in which everyone is giving each other raspberries (and we don’t mean the food).
Photo via safteyhammer/YouTube
