The Cultural Tutor’s X (former Twitter) page is dedicated to sharing “beautiful education” with social media users. As part of its mission, the page recently matched famous paintings with real-life locations that inspired them.
The team behind the page took 16 paintings from well-known painters like Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Grant Wood and placed them side-by-side with photos of the locations that are featured in the artworks.
Vincent van Gogh was known for turning to places he lived for inspiration, so it isn’t a surprise that two of his paintings made the list. The first is The Church at Auvers, painted in 1890, which depicts the church Église Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption located in Auvers-sur-Oise, France. The second one is Café Terrace at Night, which Van Gogh created in 1888, showing the café terrace of a coffee house at Place du Forum in Arles.
Other paintings that feature locations you can visit include American Gothic by Wood, Palazzo Dario, Venice by Claude Monet, Christina’s World by Andrew Wyeth, and The Little Street by Johannes Vermeer. Some of the locations changed over time, but some remained the same as the ones featured in the painting.
Check out the rest of The Cultural Tutor’s viral thread, which got 2.1 million views, below.
5. Piazza San Marco, Venice by Canaletto (1730)
— The Cultural Tutor (@culturaltutor) June 23, 2024
Not much seems to have changed, but the truth is that between Canaletto painting this picture and the photo being taken, the bell tower collapsed (in 1902) and was rebuilt brick for brick exactly as it had been. pic.twitter.com/ACQiFhRMkb
8. High Street, Oxford by JMW Turner (1810)
— The Cultural Tutor (@culturaltutor) June 23, 2024
It's tempting to say nothing has changed; the buildings of Oxford remain just as they were 200 years ago.
But consider the impact of cars and everything they bring with them, like signs and tarmac, on the appearance of the street. pic.twitter.com/czht9i1pFn
9. Palazzo Dario, Venice by Claude Monet (1908)
— The Cultural Tutor (@culturaltutor) June 23, 2024
Monet is hardly known for his "realism", and yet his depiction of the Palazzo Dario is somehow more beautiful, and feels almost more truthful, than any photograph could ever be. pic.twitter.com/3zMWrisj1H
13. A Moonlit Night on the Bosphorus by Ivan Aivazovsky (1894)
— The Cultural Tutor (@culturaltutor) June 23, 2024
Another place — Istanbul, called Constantinople in Aivazovksy's time — where the view is almost identical.
With the exception, of course, of the huge Bosphorus Bridge behind the (elongated, again) Ortaköy Mosque. pic.twitter.com/4guYJgfShU
