Art inspiration can also be found across different media. Visual art and the cinema have been reciprocally influencing each other since the moving image was first invented. Today, rather than focusing on a single case, we would like to create a collection of iconic cinematic moments which were inspired either by a visual work or reference a previous film.
It is important to underline that the inspiration is never accidental, it is the director’s (and the whole film crew’s) skill to meaningfully interpret a known image or scene, giving it a new, fresh interpretation which adds onto that collective cultural and symbolical baggage that viewers share.
The selection we present below is only a part of the huge amount of cross-cultural references to be found in these two forms of art. Do you have some examples in mind? Tell us about it!
Prisoners Exercising (1890), Vincent van Gogh and A Clockwork Orange (1971), Stanley Kubrick 
Ophelia (1851-52), John Everett Millais and Melancholia (2011), Lars von Trier 
La Petite Baigneuse-Intérieur De Harem (1828), Jean-Auguste-Dominique and Passion (1982), Jean-Luc Godard 
The Hunters in the Snow (1565), Pieter Bruegel and Mirror (1975); Andrej Tarkovsky 
The Tower of Babel (1563), Pieter Bruegel and Metropolis (1927), Fritz Lang 
Milo Venus (130 BC) and The Dreamers (2003), Bernardo Bertolucci 
Eros and Psyche (1908), Gustav Vigeland and Marriage Story (2019), Noam Baumbach 
La Mort de Marat (1793), Jacques Louis David and About Schmidt (2002), Alexander Payne 
Bande à parte (1964), Jean-Luc Godard and The Dreamers (2003), Bernardo Bertolucci 
Nighthawks (1942), Edward Hopper and Profondo Rosso (1975), Dario Argento
