> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # From Botticelli to Basquiat, Art History Goes Emoji - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/from-botticelli-to-basquiat-art-history-goes-emoji/ - Published: 2016-07-28T20:32:50.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-24T16:29:03.000Z - Description: Some might find the translation of Vincent van Gogh’s “Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear” into a smiling cartoon head spurting blood a little sacrilege, or just tacky, but it was only a matter of time before the emoji-fication of art history took it there. - Author: Carey Dunne - Tags: Art, Emoji, Featured, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:17 (2016, 2017, part 1) ![11-basquiat](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/11-basquiat.jpg) Jean-Michel Basquiat (all images by and courtesy Cantor Fine Art) Some might find the translation of Vincent van Gogh’s “Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear” into a smiling cartoon head spurting blood a little sacrilege, or just tacky, but it was only a matter of time before the [emoji-fication of art history](http://hyperallergic.com/64988/emoji-art-history/) took it there. ![tumblr_ncmszew4rr1u08r54o1_500-200](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/tumblr_ncmszew4rr1u08r54o1_500-200.jpg) The Scream emoji has long been a fixture of our emoji-scape. (image via emojipaintings.tumblr.com) To continue in the vein of “The Scream” emoji, which makes existential despair seem cute, Cantor Fine Art Gallery has designed a series of emojis based on legendary artists and artworks. Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Yayoi Kusama, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol are all represented by little pictogram portraits. Other artists get more abstract tributes: Damien Hirst is a glittery cartoon skull; Keith Haring is a dancing heart with legs; Marcel DuChamp is R. Mutt’s toilet; Georgia O’Keefe is a cow skull adorned with a calico rose. The gallery took requests for art-inspired emojis via its [Instagram account](https://www.instagram.com/p/BIDvJpsDLeL/?taken-by=cantorfineart&ref=hyperallergic.com), where it posted the series. Unfortunately for millennial art history nerds, they’re not functional emojis and there’s still no pictorial shorthand for texting “Oh, Jeff, I love you too, but…” or “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” so words are not yet obsolete. ![1.van-gogh](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/1-van-gogh.jpg) Vincent van Gogh, “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/2--the-son-of-man-by-rene-magritte.jpg) Rene Magritte, “The Son of Man” (1964) ![3.damian-hirst-diamond_skull](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/3-damian-hirst-diamond_skull.jpg) Damien Hirst, “For the Love of God” (2007) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/4--frida_k.jpg) Frida Kahlo ![5.-girl-with-the-pearl](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/5--girl-with-the-pearl.jpg) Johannes Vermeer, “Girl With a Pearl Earring” (1665) ![7.-lichtenstein](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/7--lichtenstein.jpg) Roy Lichtenstein, “Oh, Jeff…I Love You, Too…But…” (1964) ![9-banksy_balloon](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/9-banksy_balloon.jpg) Banksy, “Balloon” ![6.-botticelli_aphrodite](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/6--botticelli_aphrodite.jpg) Botticelli, “The Birth of Venus” (1484-1486) ![10-keith-haring](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/10-keith-haring.jpg) Keith Haring, “Three Eyes” (c 1981) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/12keithharingheart.jpg) Keith Haring, “Heart” ![14warhol](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/14warhol.jpg) Andy Warhol, “Self-Portrait in Fright Wig” (1986) ![8.warhol_chickensoup_colors](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/8-warhol_chickensoup_colors.gif) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/1-van-gogh-1.jpg) Emoji inspired by Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam” (1511) ![10. dali](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/07/10--dali.jpg) Salvador Dali