Surrealist Pacifers And Temporary Tattoos: ‘Mother’s Day Masterpieces’ Illustrates Motherhood

Most of what has been deemed the world’s greatest art has been created by men. Although I’m every bit a Botticelli fan, the fixation on the boys’ club of prominent painters (from Van Gogh to Dali) has left us with one prominent testimony of the world: that of men. That means that the experience of ladies, including childrearing, have often times been left out of not only artistic interpretations of human experiences, but also simply put — the recounting of human experiences. That is until The Stir “mommified” five classic works of art just in time for Mother’s Day.

“The Persistence of Sleep-Deprivation,” pictured here, truly presents a mother’s first forays into motherhood with a shadowed cradle, a large and limp surrealist pacifer not too far off. We also have “The Bath Of Venus,” in which Venus herself emerges as many mothers do with temporary tattoos on her arms and crayon scribbles on her tub. The re-imagination of these renowned works are comical what with “The Screaming Mom” — a mock of “The Scream” — depicting a mother horrified at the sight of her fighting children. But their clever reinterpretation pokes fun at the very true neglect of women’s experiences in art, literature, and beyond.

(photo: Jacqueline Burt)