Rene Magritte, "The Subjugated Reader," 1928
"Am I conveying just how intensely I love books? More eyeball, maybe? How 'bout now?"
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout
"Quick, everyone, the painter's here. Read feverishly!"
Henri Matisse, Three Sisters, 1917
"Judy, you're really killing the painting vibes with your love of literature."
Thérèse Schwartze, "The Inmates of my House," 1915
"Guys, what do we do with our hands? Quick, Betty, hand me my book! "
John Singer Sargent, "The Misses Vickers," 1884
"Regina, sweetie, we're f**king posing for a painting right now."
Berthe Morisot, "Portrait de Mme Morisot et de sa fille Mme Pontillon ou La lecture (The Mother and Sister of the Artist - Marie-Joséphine & Edma)," 1869-70
Marie-Josephine, you forgot the book you're supposed to be pretending to read reading for this painting.
Mary Cassatt, "Nurse Reading to a Little Girl, "1895
"LOL. Nurse, I can't even brush my own hair, let alone read this book."
Quentin Matsys, "The Moneylender and his Wife," 1514
"I'll count my coins and you flip through a book. This portrait is going to be crazy."
Gustav Hennig, "Lesendes Mädchen," 1828
"I just found my sister's diary and I'm not about to let this opportunity pass me by, so you're gonna let me finish."
Utagawa Kuniyoshi
"Oh, you're here to paint me? Well, I just started reading and I can't possibly stop. It's just not possible."
William-Adolphe Bouguereau's "La leçon difficule (The Difficult Lesson)," 1884
"Will my eye contact throw you off? Or should I also pretend to look at the words?"
Claude Monet, "Springtime," 1872
"What? I always read in my best dress pinks."
Egon Schiele, 1918
OK, these monks don't even have eyes.
Each week, HuffPost Arts & Culture attempts to bring to light a few forgotten gems with our slightly humorous look back at art history. For past examples see here and here.
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