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# A Collection of Cinema's Best Prop Art
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-collection-of-cinemas-best-prop-art/
- Published: 2014-11-08T01:14:29.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:43:49.000Z
- Description: What would a museum of movies' best artworks contain? The paintings slashed and splashed by The Joker (Jack Nicholson) in Tim Burton's Batman (1989)? Bill Johnson's (Jeff Daniels) Monet-meets-Thiebaud painting of Betty Parker (Joan Allen) reclining on his diner counter in Pleasantville (1998)? These
- Author: Benjamin Sutton
- Tags: In Brief, Marina Abramovic, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) visits an art gallery in 'Beverly Hills Cop' (all images via ArtInFilm.org)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/11/beverly-hills-cop-art-film.jpg)

Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) visits an art gallery in ‘Beverly Hills Cop.’ (all images via ArtInFilm.org)

What would a museum of movies’ best artworks contain? The [paintings](http://artinfilm.org/post/30925754202?ref=hyperallergic.com) slashed and splashed by The Joker (Jack Nicholson) in Tim Burton’s *Batman* (1989)? Bill Johnson’s (Jeff Daniels) Monet-meets-Thiebaud [painting](http://artinfilm.org/post/30925104589?ref=hyperallergic.com) of Betty Parker (Joan Allen) reclining on his diner counter in *Pleasantville* (1998)? The mannequins devouring human heads in the [installation](http://artinfilm.org/post/30926165840?ref=hyperallergic.com) that goes over Axel Foley’s (Eddie Murphy) head in *Beverly Hills Cop* (1984)? All of these and many, many more appear on the Tumblr blog [Art in Film](http://artinfilm.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com), which gathers memorable instances of art in cinema and television.

![Painting from 'Pleasantville'](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/11/pleasantville-painting-art-film.jpg)

Painting from ‘Pleasantville’

Unlike the blog [Art in the Movies](http://artinthemovies.wordpress.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), which offers analysis of films’ portrayals of artists and the art world, Art in Film is strictly image-based. The site has been around for two years, and includes classics like the Miguel Calderón [paintings](http://artinfilm.org/post/95850068176?ref=hyperallergic.com) from *The Royal Tenenbaums* and Ferris Bueller’s [visit](http://artinfilm.org/post/35078963807?ref=hyperallergic.com) to the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as more obscure fodder like the hideous [approximation](http://artinfilm.org/post/30924475247?ref=hyperallergic.com) of a Mannerist rendering of “The Last Supper” from *Bad Boys 2*.

![Abramović-ian performance art in a 'Sex in the City' episode](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/11/sex-and-the-city-art-film.jpg)

Abramović-ian performance art in a ‘Sex in the City’ episode

My personal favorite is among the site’s many indispensable entries from the world of television: A performance art scene from *Sex in the City* that [looks](http://artinfilm.org/post/30924125944?ref=hyperallergic.com) like it was not only inspired by Marina Abramović, but actually filmed on location inside her durational piece “[The House with the Ocean View](http://www.skny.com/exhibitions/2002-11-15%5Fmarina-abramovi/?ref=hyperallergic.com)” at Sean Kelly Gallery in 2002\. It’s certainly a more impressive cultural touchstone than the sort [favored](http://artinfilm.org/post/95849560621?ref=hyperallergic.com) by Tony Soprano.

![A painting of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) from 'The Sopranos'](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/11/the-sopranos-art-film.jpg)

A painting of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) from ‘The Sopranos’

*h/t* [*The Creators Project*](http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/heres-the-tumblr-cataloging-art-in-film?ref=hyperallergic.com)