Ah, the simplicity of it all. A simple tumblelog post has evolved into a Twitter meme simply named #emojiarthistory.
Edvard Munch may be the only artist blessed with his own emoji, but it appears the emoji lexicon is quite flexible, particularly when it comes to art.
Here is the original Tumblr post by ladiesupfront.tumblr.com:

Needless to say, after artist ManBartlett got his hands on this post he helped spawn a new hashtag. Here are some of our favorites:
UPDATED: Some newer contributions to the continuing story of #emojiarthistory!
And one museum gets into the game, creating emoji versions of work in their collection:

And this wouldn’t be art history if certain things weren’t contested:
And one of our readers sent this recent emoji-filled conversation she had with a friend:
Haven’t been able to research this extensively, but I’m fairly certain photographer Jacinda Russell may the source of all this funny. I was lucky enough to be among the earliest recipients of her emoji art history texts in Dec. 2012. Her recreations were also posted to instagram. A few weeks ago, she posted a more finalized form to her blog.
http://jacindarussellart.blogspot.com/2013/01/emoji-art-history-not-so-serious-side.html
Source is a strong word. Worth noting still.
a little behind on this one, Hyperallergic
Not just Munch! Also Hokusai
You repeated the last image twice instead of using the first one! If silly texts I sent are going to inspire a meme I’d at least like it to make sense.
HA! Done. 🙂 Thanks for encouraging a meme!
?????? Adel Adessamed
? Van Gogh
⏰⌚?? Christian Marclay
????? Bruce Nauman
??
Gordon Matta Clark
Also, emoji poetry! http://emojipoems.tumblr.com/