Modern Celebs Get Mashed Up With Classic Works Of Art by Bénédicte Lacroix

Mashing up celebrity pictures with classical works of art – what a brilliant idea! How does one even come up with something like that? The answer is – out of boredom, really. French graphic artist and retoucher, Bénédicte Lacroix, was stuck at home for 6 weeks because she broke her foot. With a lot of time to kill and nothing better to do she decided to take her boyfriend’s picture and Photoshop it into an old painting, just for fun. The result was pretty cool and she decided to do the same thing with other pictures of her friends.

I wish I had talented friends like that, so they could Photoshop me into a classic work of art. It’s amazing how different people choose to spend their free time and how creative and awesome the results can be. I usually just watch Netflix and chill.

But back to the awesome lady that is Bénédicte Lacroix. Pretty soon she ran out of friends to Photoshop and was left wondering what to do next. That’s when she decided to move on to celebrities. That idea turned out to be a goldmine of success. Her project “Voyages dans le temps” became very popular and her works are now being displayed at all sorts of exhibitions all over France. She also runs a tumblr account where she showcases her works, so if you’d like to see more of them give that a look.

Bénédicte draws inspirations from all sorts of things – good and bad, in the news and media. She mashed up Daft Punk into a classic work of art after they won a Grammy. More recently she incorporated “Je suis Charlie” into one of her works, to show her support after the terrorist attacks in France.

If you’re wondering exactly how does this artist create her mash ups, the answer is quite simple – Photoshop. Bénédicte says she doesn’t use anything else for this project, just Photoshop. She likes challenging herself and spends a lot of time working on each new picture, making sure all the colours and brushstrokes match and everything blends together well.

When asked about the message behind her work, Bénédicte says she doesn’t really have one. She doesn’t really have a specific goal and didn’t plan for this project to become as popular as it is. It just kind of happened. She does this because she likes it, as simple as that. However, the idea that people might discover the original classic paintings through her work pleases her too.

For her mashups Bénédicte uses all sorts of celebrities. From TV show actors, to movie stars, to singers and music icons. For example, here’s a mash up she did with Miley Cyrus. I think she captured her quite well. The result is hilarious. Makes you wonder how Miley would get on if she was born at a different time.

Here’s a picture of Barney from “How I Met Your Mother”. Don’t you think he looks awesome here? Barney seems to look good no matter what. Just like on the show, he looks awesome, no matter the time or setting.

Sheldon from “The Big Bang Theory” looks quite dashing too. It’s funny to see these celebs so out of their comfort zone, in settings and clothes we could never imagine them in.

I urge you to google more of Bénédicte’s works, you’ll have a lot of fun. See if she mashed up your favorite celebs yet. You can always find out what Benedicte is doing by following her on twitter, she has a bunch of links to her website there and will keep you posted on what she’s working on now.