It is titled Off the walls: inspired re-creations of iconic artworks and it is the book that the Getty Museum in Malibu, California, has published thanks to the witty and ironic shots submitted by its users. During the lockdown months, while museums and cultural institutions around the world were offering Instagram live streams and virtual guided tours to keep public attention alive, the famous American museum launched a very particular challenge to its social media users: to re-create, in homemade fashion, the great masterpieces of art history.

The world's art masterpieces reproduced for the challenge launched by the Getty Museum

Among the shots submitted by followers are works such as "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, reconstructed using kitchen utensils and two umbrellas; "Lady with an Ermine" by Leonardo da Vinci, in which the animal is replaced by a stuffed toy tiger; "The Starry Night" by Van Gogh, reproduced with lemon peel and short pasta. The examples run into the thousands: nearly 49,000 Instagram users used the hashtag #gettymuseumchallange to respond to the museum's challenge and offer their own version of the world's art masterpieces.

Audience engagement, self-deprecating humour and solidarity

It was, in short, a highly successful communications and audience engagement initiative, which has now become a 144-page photography book, published by Getty Publications and available to purchase directly on the website of the Getty Museum. This sort of "quarantine catalogue" is a — albeit small — testament to how art allowed people not only to ward off boredom, sadness and frustration, but also to find solace through paintings and sculptures during a moment that was difficult to get through and come to terms with.

The initiative also has a beneficial dimension for artists. Getty Publications has decided to donate the entire proceeds from sales of the book to Artist Relief, an emergency fund created specifically to address the financial hardships faced by American artists during the coronavirus pandemic.