Have you ever discovered an artwork you knew in one of your favorite TV Shows?
The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, Futurama, Archer, Bojack Horseman, American Dad... all these animated series have offered us, over the years, an anthology of artistic references scattered in each of their seasons, and distilled episode by episode.
South Park: The most Trashy
Since 1997, this irreverent animated series written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone has been following the peregrinations of 4 particularly turbulent children. Satire of America, throughout its 24 seasons and 309 episodes, this program has been able to put forward numerous references to pop-culture, and in particular to the Great Dutch Masters or those of the Italian Renaissance.
© South Park - Comedy Central
Left - First artistic reference of the program (S3, E8, ''Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub''), The Scream by Edvard Munch appears in Mr. Garrison's room, without modifications.
Right - In the next episode (S3, E9, ''Jewbilee''), Kyle's little brother Ike, supposedly a genius, is sent to a scout camp. During a creative workshop using macaroni, and while his classmates are making children's artwork, Ike makes a reproduction of The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci's famous artwork depicting Jesus surrounded by his apostles.
In episode 3 of season 8 (''The Passion of the Jew''), Kyle, who has just discovered the film The Passion of the Christ, is deeply troubled. In a nightmarish night, he sees himself killing Jesus on the cross, and intermittently visualizes obscure paintings. These works are those of Hieronymus Bosch (The Carrying of the Cross, 1500), a primitive Flemish artist particularly famous for his Garden of Delights, an artwork that is deeply contemporary in its delirium and severe darkness: no doubt the two creators of the series were inspired by this completely disturbed triptych.
Finally, it is difficult not to mention the Easter Special Episode (S11, E5 "Fantastic Easter Special") which is totally delirious : Stan, disturbed and looking for a link between religion, painted eggs and rabbits, is looking for answers. This quest leads him to the discovery of a mysterious sect of rabbit-men, who protect a strange secret. Stan and Kyle then meet a man, Professor Teabag, who knows the secret of the sect. He explains to them that Leonardo da Vinci was in fact a member of the sect and that Saint Peter was not a man, but a rabbit. He reveals that Leonardo da Vinci had originally represented Saint Peter as a rabbit rather than a man in his painting The Last Supper. Since then, members of the secret society have been decorating eggs for generations to keep the secret of Leonardo da Vinci's painting alive.
© South Park - Comedy Central
BoJack Horseman: The most Contemporary
This drama-comedy, created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg and broadcast since 2014 on Netflix, follows the unusual daily life of an actor horse in need of recognition after a popular success in a fictional sitcom of the 90s. In a parodic Hollywood, this modern series (which already includes 6 seasons and 77 episodes) immerses the viewer in a universe of debauchery, uncertainties, but above all, scathing and unprecedented cultural references, in a Californian microcosm where pop culture and contemporary art have an overwhelming influence.
© BoJack Horseman - Shadowmachine - Netflix
There is no episode in this series that is specifically dedicated to the art world, but there are plenty of scattered references, whether it's striking artwork decorating the protagonists' offices and apartments, or some well-meaning gags about major artists of American culture, from Rauschenberg to Jackson Pollock, to Cassius Marcellus Coolidge and his famous poker-playing dogs.
© BoJack Horseman - Shadowmachine - Netflix
From the second episode of the first season ("BoJack Hates the Troops"), many of masterpieces can be seen in the background, especially in BoJack's office. There is an equestrian revival of David Hockney's famous Portrait of an Artist, which in November 2018 became the most expensive painting sold for a living artist ($90 million), and which faithfully reflects the Californian lifestyle of its owner stallion. At the back of the same office, we discover an anthropomorphic revival of the priceless Dance by the French artist Henri Matisse.
© BoJack Horseman - Shadowmachine - Netflix
On top, BoJack is at the Pacific Underwater Film Festival to promote its new film (S3, E4 ''Fish Out of Water''). In his hotel room, we discover a painting by Picasso: Figures by the Sea, as if to confirm the aquatic character of this episode.
Below, during a fundraising ceremony, Mr. Peanutbutter is trying to raise the bidding for a sculpture that explicitly refers to Damien Hirst's artwork, consisting of a shark immersed in a formaldehyde aquarium (S3, E2 ''The BoJack Horseman Show'').
The character of Mr. Peanutbutter has a special place in the series: a competitor of BoJack, with a similar career, he is an arrogant jet-setter in spite of himself. BoJack feeds a regular and sometimes insane jealousy towards the labrador. Damien Hirst, too, has been the subject of intense controversy in the art world: between his recurring loss of inspiration and his strange relationship to the auction system, public opinion has often had a wavering feeling about him, as has the spectator's feeling towards Mr. Peanutbutter. It is therefore not surprising to find this reference with this particular protagonist.
© BoJack Horseman - Shadowmachine - Netflix
At the top, a revival with snakes of the famous Kiss by Gustav Klimt (S3, E5 ''Love And/Or Marriage'').
Below, opening scene of episode 11 - season 3 (''That's Too Much, Man!'') where we discover the famous Ophelia of the English painter John Everett Millais above the bed of Sarah Lynn, an unstable pop star.
© BoJack Horseman - Shadowmachine - Netflix
In the sixth season of the show (S6, E7 ''The Face of Depression''), Princess Carolyn laughs about the excesses of contemporary art. When her baby porcupine tears up BoJack's iconic artwork (Portait of an Artist), she declaims "Ah, we'll tape it back together and call it a Rauschenberg".
These are obviously not the only references to the art world. Over the course of 6 seasons, the attentive spectator will be able to discover other appearances by major artists such as Henri Rousseau, Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Paul Cézanne, Franz Marc, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Diego Rivera, Marc Chagall, Georgia O'Keeffe and many others...
The subtleties of this production are a real delight for art enthusiasts!
The Simpsons : The most prolific
This humorous series created by Matt Groening and broadcast since 1989 is certainly the one with the most cultural references. Throughout its 32 seasons and 695 episodes, it is difficult to count all the artistic highlights present in this monumental artwork, which tells the misadventures of an average American family completely insane.
© The Simpsons - 20th Television
Several episodes are thus devoted to the mysterious and strange world of contemporary art. The most eloquent is certainly episode 19 of season 10 (''Mom and Pop Art''), in which Homer became a contemporary artist after failing to build a garden barbecue. The barbecue, broken into pieces fixed in a concrete base, becomes a conceptual artwork, and unintentionally allows Homer to enter the intimate world of art galleries.
© The Simpsons - 20th Television
In this same episode, Homer has a strange dream in which he crosses different iconic artworks. In the upper left corner, we discover an artwork by Henri Rousseau (known as "Le Douanier"), The Sleeping Gypsy. Then, at the top right, Homer is mistreated by Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. At the bottom left, he gets stuck in Salvador Dali's most famous artwork, The Persistence of Memory. Finally, just before being woken up by Marge, Homer almost gets killed by Andy Warhol and his Campbell's soup cans.
Another episode particularly highlights masterpieces of classical and modern artwork, and it's a Halloween Special: Simpsons Treehouse of Horror IV. In this episode, Bart presents three different stories, and stands in front of artworks that rotate and reveal themselves with each of his interventions.
© The Simpsons - 20th Television
Here, we can discover the references from left to right and from top to bottom: The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David, The Three Musicians by Pablo Picasso, The Son of Man by René Magritte, Mystery and Melancholy of a Street by the Italian artist Giorgio De Chirico, Homer portrayed as a Van Gogh self-portrait, Ascending and Descending by MC Escher, and finally, The Scream by Edvard Munch.
Since its creation, the Simpsons' universe has been teeming with references to the art world.
In season 22 (E3, ''MoneyBART''), the opening credits were even directed by Banksy, the legendary British street artist. Also, there are no less than 120 references to well-known artworks in the show, a number that matches the longevity of this memorable series.
© The Simpsons - 20th Television
In the first episode of season 21 (''Homer the Whopper''), co-written by Seth Rogen, we discover the bully Nelson reproducing Pablo Picasso's succulent painting, Guernica, with an aerosol can, accompanied by a few ballet figures.
Futurama: The most Futurist
This animated series, also created by Matt Groening, has 7 seasons and 140 episodes. It takes us on a space odyssey through the daily life of Fry, Leela, Bender and their companions, in a future completely disrupted by technological advances (in 2999, let's hope that the coronavirus is no more of this world!). Less abundant than the Simpsons, this animated series contains less cultural references to the art world, but it still contains some very interesting ones.
© Futurama - Comedy Central
Episode 5 of the 6th season of the show (''The Duh-Vinci Code'') unveils a plot quite similar to that of the Easter Special of South Park: Fry fails miserably at the first question of the futuristic version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The professor then tries to share his passion for science, and introduces Fry to the geniuses who inspired him, including Leonardo Da Vinci. By carefully observing The Last Supper on the X-ray, they discover that one of the apostles is a robot. Fry and his friends travel to Rome to solve the mystery.
Spoiler Alert: At the end of the episode, they find out that Da Vinci is an alien. Stigmatized on his planet because he is less intelligent than others, he came to Earth to feel less stupid, and to shame humans with his knowledge.
© Futurama - Comedy Central
Other references are distilled in the Futurama universe. For example, in the film "Bender's Big Score", we discover that Bender stole many treasures from humanity before his decline, such as the Mona Lisa, Van Gogh's Sunflowers, and many other priceless pieces. In Episode 6 of the first season of the show, Fry and Leela are seen choosing between several paintings in a store: once again, the same symbolic artworks are highlighted: Mona Lisa, a vase of sunflowers Van Gogh style, and The Scream by Munch.
Family Guy : The Craziest
In this series created by Seth MacFarlane, counting 19 seasons and 358 episodes, we can follow the bewildering daily life of a family like no other: The Griffins, and their head of the family, Peter, with a personality deeply unfit to live in society.
© Family Guy - 20th Century Fox Television
On the left, in episode 13 - Season 3 (''Screwed the Pooch''), Peter benefits from a visit to the Quahog Municipal Museum to rearrange a Picasso painting by putting the elements of his face back in place.
On the right, in episode 9 - Season 4 (''Breaking Out Is Hard to Do''), Lois goes kleptomaniacally crazy and robs stores for luxury clothes and a new decoration for her living room. In this frenzy, she also steals a collage by Henri Matisse from the Quahog Museum. It' s this particular theft that will allow Joey, the family's police friend, to apprehend her so that she can be tried in the city court.
© Family Guy - 20th Century Fox Television
In episode 13 - season 16 (''V Is for Mystery''), Brian and Stewie, as Sherlock Holmes and Watson, attempt to solve a series of mysterious murders. In the course of the investigation, they travel to Paris and accidentally pass in front of an artist painting a portrait of a girl and her mother in top hat. It is the first photobomb in history, and the artist is none other than the famous pointillist Georges Seurat, who's making his masterpiece, Un dimanche après-midi à l'île de la Grande Jatte (A Sunday afternoon on the island of La Grande Jatte).
This is not the first appearance of this artwork in the show, testifying to the enthusiasm shared by the directors of the Griffins for this iconic work. Indeed, in episode 11 of the 5th season, Stewie, fearing that he might die of skin cancer, decides to do all the things he wanted to do before he died. Among these goals, he wants to go to the Art Institute of Chicago to contemplate Seurat's artwork. This will give rise to a particularly poetic moment, parodying a scene from John Hughes' film Ferris Bueller's Day Off .
A lovely homage to this talented and promising creator of the Pointillist movement, who died so young, at the age of 31, before enjoying a well-deserved success.
In episode 19 of season 15 (''Dearly Deported''), Stewie takes advantage of a side-note to appear in Edward Hopper's iconic artwork, Nighthawks, also in the Art Institute of Chicago's collection. This museum seems to be THE reference for creators of the series.
© Family Guy - 20th Century Fox Television
To conclude, although it cannot be exhaustive, the writing of this article was very pleasant, so many tributes are numerous within these contemporary animated productions.
Some recurring references in these different TV Shows confirm the cultural power of emblematic artworks. Among the most cited are especially the artworks of Da Vinci, who probably knew how to go through the ages while preserving an intact mystical atmosphere. References to the artwork of Vincent Van Gogh and The Scream by Munch are also abundant.
Special Mention for C. M. Coolidge's artwork, A Friend In Need, depicting dogs playing around a poker table. This artwork is the most quoted among the best-known American TV Shows. There are at least 7 references to this artwork in The Simpsons, but BoJack Horseman and Family Guy have also contributed to it, proving the powerful influence of this painting in modern American culture.
If this article has made you want to discover masterpieces of our time, then we advise you to discover our Collection of artworks inspired by the Great Masters. If, however, you' re more a Pop Art enthusiast and you wish to discover artworks inspired by the world of animated series and other cartoons, then our Pop Art Collection should easily seduce you.
Bastien Alleaume
Content Manager - Artmajeur Online Art Gallery
Bastien Alleaume