The most iconic paintings of eras past can’t escape traveling the world economy class, as cheap Monet posters taped up on dorm-room walls and off-brand Rothko reproductions hanging in the living rooms of the gullible. But who said knockoffs couldn’t be creative? Some of our favorite songs are covers and mashups — just like the reimaginations of famous paintings after the jump. The “cover” artists featured below used everything from coffee to balloons to celebrities — everything but paint, really — to pay homage to the classic artworks that inspired them.
The “cover”: A Sugar Flower Cake Shop wedding cake [via Martha Stewart]
The inspiration: The 17th- and 18th-century still lifes of Dutch Golden Age artist Rachel Ruysch
The “cover”: As part of his Airigami series, street magician-turned-artist Larry Mos’s balloon recreated a Cézanne painting. [via Daily Mail]
The inspiration: Paul Cézanne’s Bouilloire et fruits, 1888-90
The “cover”: Artist Ju Duoqi‘s veggie-licious recreation of Van Gogh’s self-portrait [via oddee]
The inspiration: Van Gogh’s late-19th-century self-portrait
The “cover”: The work of LEGO fan Marco Pece
The inspiration: Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, 1942
The “cover”: An edible sandwich version of a famous Magritte painting, remade by Israeli ad agency Y&R as part of a campaign for the kitchenware company Magimix
The inspiration: René Magritte’s The Son of Man, 1964
The “cover”: A 20-by-13-foot Mona Lisa made entirely of cups of coffee, lightened by various amounts of milk, created for the 2009 Rocks Aroma Festival in Sydney, Australia [via Incredible Things]
The inspiration: Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, c. 1503
The “cover”: Julianne Moore posing as a famous Klimt subject for Harper’s
The inspiration: Klimt’s 1907 painting Adele Bloch-Bauer I
The “cover”: The Office cast poses in the style of a Seurat masterpiece
The inspiration: A Sunday on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, 1884