An art historian is making art education accessible to the masses with her witty TikTok videos that teach viewers how to identify certain artists and movements just by looking at a painting.
Mary McGillivray, 25, from Melbourne, Australia, has more than 344,000 followers thanks to her mini art history lessons, which she started filming during her country's first COVID-19 lockdown last year.
'A lot of people think that art history is very serious and very important and this leads to them feeling overwhelmed — or even feeling like art history isn't for them,' she told Bored Panda.
'This isn't true! I've said it before and I'll say it again, art history is just old memes. Once we start to see the humor and the humanity in art, it becomes far less intimidating.'
Scroll down for video Brilliant: Art Historian Mary McGillivray, 25, from Melbourne, Australia, teaches people how to identify certain artists and movements just by looking at a painting in her witty TikTok videos
'If it's got cute babies, it's Baroque,' she explains in one popular clip, sharing a photo of 'The Virgin and Child' by Ludovico Carracci
'But if it's got ugly babies, it's Medieval,' she adds, using Bernardo Daddi's 'Madonna and Child' as an example
'If it looks like you need your glasses prescription updated, it's Impressionism,' McGillivray notes, sharing 'Woman with a Parasol — Madame Monet and Her Son' by Claude Monet
In one of her most popular videos, which has been viewed more than 3.6 million times, McGillivray teaches viewers how to identify art movements at first glance, saying the newfound skill will 'impress your friends at the art gallery.'
'If it's got cute babies, it's Baroque,' she explains, sharing a photo of 'The Virgin and Child' by Ludovico Carracci.
'But if it's got ugly babies, it's Medieval,' she adds, using Bernardo Daddi's 'Madonna and Child' as an example.
Next up is 'Woman with a Parasol — Madame Monet and Her Son' by Claude Monet, who was a
founder of Impressionism — an art movement characterized by small, visible brushstrokes that emerged in 19th-century France,
'If it looks like you need your glasses prescription updated, it's Impressionism,' McGillivray notes.
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@_theiconoclass Want a part two? ¿¿¿¿ #arthistorytiktok #arthistorymajor #learnontiktok¿ Rasputin (Single Version) - Boney M.'If it looks like your Tupperware drawer, then it's Cubism,' she explains, citing Pablo Picasso's 'Girl with Mandolin'
'If it's got happy peasants, it's a Dutch genre painting. And if it's got sad peasants, it's 19th-century Realism,' she notes. McGillivray uses 'The Way You Hear it is the Way You Sing it' by Jan Steen (left) and 'The Gleaners' by Jean-Francois Millet (right) as examples
When pulling up 'Madonna and Child' by Parmigianino, she explains: 'If the people look way too long, then it's Mannerism'
'If it looks like a low-res JPEG blown up, it's Pointillism,' she adds, sharing a close-up of a figure in 'Parade de Cirque' by Georges Seurat
'If it looks like angsty male ego, then it's German Romanticism,' she notes, referencing 'Wanderer Above The Sea Of Fog' by Caspar David Friedrich
The art history describes Cubism as looking 'like your Tupperware drawer' and points out that 'people look way too long' in Mannerist paintings, which are known for their exaggerated proportions.
'If it's got happy peasants, it's a Dutch genre painting. And if it's got sad peasants, it's 19th-century Realism,' she continues.
McGillivray says artwork that features Pointillism — a painting technique characterized by small, distinct dots of color — looks 'like a low-res JPEG blown up,'
At the end of the clip, she adds that any depiction of 'angsty male ego' is likely German Romanticism.
In another popular video, she gives her 'rough guide' on identifying Italian Renaissance artists.'If everyone in the painting looks unreasonably jacked, including the women, it's a Michelangelo,' she says, referring to 'The Creation of Adam' and 'Prophets And Sibyls: Libyan Sibyl' as examples.
@_theiconoclass #arthistory #renaissance #arthistorytiktok #davinci #michelangelo¿ Tut Tut Tut Tut - Gillian Hills'If everyone in the painting looks unreasonably jacked, including the women, it's a Michelangelo,' she says, referring to 'The Creation of Adam' (left) and 'Prophets And Sibyls: Libyan Sibyl' (right) as examples
'If it looks like the first kid at school who learned how to draw in 3D and would not shut up about it, it's a Masaccio,' she jokes,
titi4d daftar pointing to the artist's 'Holy Trinity'
'If she's blonde and got thicc thighs, it's a Titian,' McGillivray explains, sharing an image of 'Sacred and Profane Love'
'But if she's blonde and has this exact face, it's a Botticelli,' she adds, pointing to the female depictions in 'Primavera' (left) and 'Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci' (right)
'If it's a portrait of Rembrandt, it's a Rembrandt,' she jokes, sharing one of the artist's self-portraits
McGillivray shares a closeup of 'Las Meninas,' saying: 'If there's at least one person looking to the camera like they're on The Office, it's Diego Velázquez
'If she's got more flesh than a nudist beach, its a Rubens,' she explains, using a closeup of 'The Feast of Venus' as an example
'If it looks like the chaos after blackout where everyone is stumbling around in the dark under one solitary emergency light, it's a Caravaggio,' she notes, sharing an image of 'The Taking of Christ'
The art historian pulls up 'Lamentation (The Mourning of Christ)' by Giotto di Bondone, saying: If it looks like a school nativity play where everyone's made a toga out of different colored bed sheets, it's a Giotto.
'And if it's unfinished, it's probably a Leonardo,' she jokes, referencing 'The Adoration of the Magi'
She then pulls up 'Lamentation (The Mourning of Christ)' by Giotto di Bondone, saying: If it looks like a school nativity play where everyone's made a toga out of different colored bed sheets, it's a Giotto.
'If it looks like the first kid at school who learned how to draw in 3D and would not shut up about it, it's a Masaccio,' she jokes, using the artist's 'Holy Trinity' as an example.
McGillivray also teaches how to tell the difference between a Titian blonde and a Botticelli blonde.
'If she's blonde and got thicc thighs, it's a Titian,' she explains, sharing an image of 'Sacred and Profane Love.'
'But if she's blonde and has this exact face,' she adds, pointing to the female depictions in 'Primavera,' 'The Birth of Venus,' and 'Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci,' 'it's a Botticelli.