Europe's Weirdest Art
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Who hasn’t been intrigued by the tantalizing world of wonderful and weird European art? A chilling collection of hearses, a barbershop full of cats and a mysterious breast among the cobblestones of Amsterdam await.
Join us as we enter quirky museums, view paintings and consider sculptures across the continent in an artistic exploration of the depths of the human condition in all its wonderful weirdness.
Lobster Phone - London
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Created by: Salvador Dali
Year Created: 1936
On Display at: Tate Modern
Expect an interesting call if you’re at London’s Tate Modern. A lobster phone receiver sits atop an otherwise standard model phone. The surrealist object was originally created for English poet Edward James, who was a major collector of surrealist art (and, yes, we have surrealism to thank for a lot of the art on this list).
The Story Behind It
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Salvador Dali had a fascination with both lobsters and telephones, believing them to have strong sexual connotations. In lots of his work, he created a connection between food and sexuality.
“I do not understand why, when I ask for a grilled lobster in a restaurant, I am never served a cooked telephone,” wrote Dali, alongside a similar drawing that was printed in “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali.”
We really can’t understand why either.
The Garden of Earthly Delights - Madrid
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Created by: Hieronymus Bosch
Year Created: 1490-1500
On Display at: Prado Museum
You might wonder what came first, LSD or the visions of Hieronymus Bosch. This triptych in Madrid’s Prado Museum is bigger than you think at 81 inches by 152 inches.
The Story Behind It
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Three panels of early modern surrealism run from the playful garden scene in the center to the horrific scene in the final panel.
This work encompasses the birth and fall of man through sin, starting with the classic tale of Adam and Eve in the far left. Considering that the figures and details depicted here are 500 years old that, the piece is surprisingly modern.
Peeing Statues - Prague
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Created by: David Cerny
Year Created: 2004
On Display at: Kafka Museum
Just outside of Prague’s Kafka Museum, which is devoted to the surrealist writer who turned a salesman into a giant bug in his book, “The Metamorphous,” there is a kinetic art sculpture and fountain that features two standing statues of urinating male figures, created by the controversial Czech artist David Cerny.
The Story Behind It
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Water streams from the statues into the fountain’s basin at their feet, which is made of bronze and shaped, according to Cerny, as the Czech Republic. Visitors can direct the men to write messages in the water via SMS.
A walk through Prague reveals more of Cerny’s work, including his crawling babies on the Zizkov TV Tower.
Anatomical Pieces - Rouen, France
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Created by: Théodore Géricault
Year Created: 1819
On Display at: Musée des Beaux-Arts
Often considered perverse and impossible to put into context, Géricault's painting from the Romantic era is not for the faint of heart.
The Story Behind It
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This oil painting was created during an unimaginable time when morgues lent out body parts for artistic studies, just as libraries lend out books. This specific work can be seen in Rouen’s Musée des Beaux-Arts and is part of a larger study of dismembered body parts by the artist.
But the real story is his inspiration, which came from an 1816 tragedy when 135 passengers on la Meduse ship became lost at sea. Drifting on a makeshift raft, the survivors died of thirst and starvation and resulted to cannibalism in their most desperate moments. Géricault spoke with some of the survivors and created this painting as a tribute.
Bronze Breast - Amsterdam
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Created by: Anonymous
Year Created: 1993
On Display at: Oude Kerk
Nobody knows who sculpted Amsterdam’s bronze breast. Nestled among the cobblestones in a street outside of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam’s oldest church, the breast lies in the center of the city’s Red Light District.
The Story Behind It
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A study in bronze, a man’s hand cups the breast. It lies nearby the 35 windows from which prostitutes offer their services, but the city is working to reduce prostitution through its Project 1012.
The bronze breast is located near the “Belle” statue, created in 2007, that honors prostitutes all over the world with a plaque that reads “Respect sex workers all over the world.” The mysterious work is part of a larger collection of anonymous art darting the city, including the Little Man with a Saw in the Leidsebosje and the statue of a running man with a violin case at Tweede Marnixplantsoen.
The Scream - Oslo, Norway
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Created by: Edvard Munch
Year Created: 1893
On Display at: National Museum of Norway
Norwegians call it “The Shriek,” and it’s been stolen twice. And if you happen to be in Oslo, you won’t want to miss this enduring symbol of man’s alienation at the National Museum of Norway.
The Story Behind It
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Familiar from posters, coffee cups and T-shirts, this iconic symbol of modern anxiety depicts an androgynous figure that is not screaming but blocking its ears from the sound of an even larger, more chilling shriek.
“I felt a large scream pass through nature,” Munch wrote of his inspiration for the work.
Manneken Pis - Brussels
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Created by: Jérôme Duquesnoy the Elder
Year Created: 1619
On Display at: Brussels City Museum
The naked state of a boy urinating — what is it with this theme? — is 400 years old, shrouded in legend and aimed at a fountain’s basin. The original is held in the Brussels City Museum, while a replica made in 1965 is situated near the city’s Grand Place main square.
The Story Behind It
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Locals dress him up for special occasions, and he has 900 costumes for them to choose from. He is mobbed by adoring tourists, has been stolen several times, and even survived wars and bombardments.
The fountain actually played an essential role in the distribution of the city’s drinking water in the early 1600s. And we’ll never be sure if Manneken Pis is the gift of a father grateful for help finding his son or a monument to a boy who prevented the blowing up of Brussels by urinating on the ammunition — but the mystery is part of the fun. What we do know is that the statue represents the rebellious spirit of the city of Brussels.
Funeral Carriage Collection - Barcelona
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Founded by: Cristobal Torra
Year Created: 1970
On Display at: Museum of Funeral Carriages
Have you ever thought about how we carry our dead? Find out at the weirdly poignant Museu de Carrosses Fúnebres (Museum of Funeral Carriages) in Barcelona.
The Story Behind It
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Founded by funeral parlor manager Cristobal Torra in the 1970s, the museum features a collection of 13 ornate horse-drawn funeral carriages, six coaches and three motor hearses.
Plus, this quirky museum offers glimpses into the funeral costumes and rituals developed in Barcelona and, of course, the conveyances used to get the deceased to the cemetery. It’s the only museum of its kind in Europe.
Sculptures Promoting ‘London Ink’ - London
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Created by: Louis Molloy (along with about 800 sculptors)
Year Created: 2007
On Display at: South Bank and Victoria train station
A giant sculpture of a man swims along the South Bank of the River Themes, but not in the water, through the grass next to it. As part of the same series in a different location, a giant lady lays with her head permanently stuck in a phone booth in Victoria train station.
The Story Behind Them
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These easily accessible but quirky sculptures were promotions for the 2007 TV show “London Ink,” a reality show about tattoo artist Louis Molloy, who inked both David Beckham and Kate Moss.
Complete with ink tattoos designed by Molloy himself, both of these modern street artworks offer travelers the ultimate selfie opportunities — they're odd, huge and hard to miss.
Madonna of Veveri - Brno, Czech Republic
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Created by: Anonymous
Year Created: 1344-1350
On Display at: Diocesan Museum
Europe proliferates with Madonna and Child paintings. While the Renaissance ones depict a chubby huggable baby, many earlier ones are far creepier, such as the Madonna of Veveri in the Czech Republic’s Diocesan Museum.
The Story Behind It
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This painting depicts the child as a fully grown, somewhat dubious-looking, middle-aged man despite the smallness of his stature.
These odd depictions come from medieval perceptions of childhood and the nature of Christ and certainly form a disconcerting body of work.
Les Voyageurs - Marseilles, France
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Created by: Bruno Catalano
Year Created: 2013
On Display at: Port of Marseilles
Sculptures of 10 workers in France’s port city of Marseilles walk purposefully with one small thing missing — a good portion of their torso.
The Story Behind Them
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These sculptures by Bruno Catalano somehow remain upright without their midsections, leaving a weird, ephemeral feel in their incompletion.
The life-size bronze sculptures were erected for the city’s turn as the European Capital of Culture in 2013, and beg many questions. What are they missing? Where has it gone? Was it ever there?
ABBA The Museum - Stockholm
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Operated by: Pop House Sweden
Year Created: 2013
On Display at: ABBA The Museum
Have you ever dreamed of recording your own ABBA song? You can do just that at Stockholm’s unique ABBA The Museum.
The Story Behind It
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Explore your inner rock star and the music of one of the most successful pop groups of all time through this one-of-kind collection.
Not only does it feature ABBA memorabilia, including instruments and medals, but you can also follow in the band’s footsteps as you hear their story, try on their costumes, go on stage and sing their songs. Mama Mia!
Barbershop with monkeys and cats - Vienna
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Created by: Abraham Teneirs
Year Created: Mid-17th Century
On Display at: Vienna Museum of Art History
Imagine a bunch of cats preparing for a gala night out. Even more strange, imagine that their barbers are all monkeys. You can do just that at the Vienna Museum of Art History.
The Story Behind It
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Flemish painter Abraham Teniers anticipated the online cat craze 400 years before the internet was created.
The painting invites the viewer into a bustling interior bursting with animals acting like men while providing a tantalizing glimpse of 17th-century decor. It’s a must-see for artistically inclined cat fanciers at the Vienna Museum of Art History.
Mona Lisa - Paris
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Created by: Leonardo da Vinci
Year Created: 1503-1506
On Display at: The Louvre
Perhaps the world’s best-known portrait, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece on display in The Louvre may be familiar, but don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security. Is the subject happy or sad? What’s with that enigmatic smile? The weirdness lies in the fact that we'll never know.
The Story Behind It
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Now the most valuable painting in the world, the oil portrait is of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine silk merchant. The term “mona” in Italian is similar to “madam” or “ma’am” in English.
It was commissioned for her family's new home and to celebrate the birth of her second son, Andrea. Together, she and her husband had two had five children, but Lisa lost a baby daughter in 1499, which some say accounts for the mixed emotions she seems to show in the portrait. It could easily be argued that she looks like a happy but tired new mother as well as a mother mourning the loss of a child.
Whatever it is, it will always be a mystery worth solving in the art world.
Flipper Museum - Budapest, Hungary
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Founded by: Balazs Palfi
Year Created: 2014
On Display at: The Flipper Museum
While not exactly art per se, we argue that this entire museum dedicated to pinball is about as creative as it gets.
The Story Behind It
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The Flipper Museum has 130 machines that take you back to a time before computer games when people still went to arcades. Founder Balazs Palfi opened the museum in April 2014 to honor his childhood and wants to bring out the “inner child” in all of us.
Play once more on those old and weirdly wonderful clanging, banging stand up machines with the flashing lights and the flippers, which kept the ball moving.
Golconde - Brussels
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Created by: Rene Magritte
Year Created: 1953
On Display at: Magritte Museum
It’s raining men in this painting by Surrealist artist Magritte. Or is it?
The Story Behind It
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The artist is well known for the bowler hats sported by these figures as they fall or possibly hang from a strange sky.
If you look at this painting from a distance, the men form a group, but close up, they just might be individuals suspended in a weird setting. See what you make of this and other bizarre paintings at the Magritte Museum, completely dedicated to this Belgian artist.
Cat catching a bird - Paris
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Created by: Pablo Picasso
Year Created: 1939
On Display at: The Musee Picasso Paris
Pablo Picasso created a huge volume of wonderfully diverse, often strange work you can see worldwide. In Paris, revel in cubism at The Musée Picasso.
The Story Behind It
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It is here where you will find this surreal cat clutching a bird. What makes this painting so unique is that the cat’s eyes don’t match, his stomach hangs, and the bird, already bleeding, seems to flutter as the cat takes his time.
Is this a comment on the suffering caused by war, or simply a depiction of nature? You decide.
St. Wolfgang and the Devil - Munich
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Created by: Michael Pacher
Year Created: 1471-1475
On Display at: Pinakothek Museum
This 15th-century painting records the legend of St. Wolfgang, who wanted to build a church.
The Story Behind It
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You see, St. Wolfgang ended up making an awful and ironic deal with the devil, whose help he enlisted at the price of the soul of the first person to enter the building.
The weirdness of the early modern imagination comes through in the satanic figure in Munich’s Pinakothek Museum. Reptilian and insect-like with cloven heels, he comes complete with a face on his bottom.
Ma Gouvernante (My Nurse) - Stockholm
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Created by: Meret Oppenheim
Year Created: 1936
On Display at: Moderna Museet
Another surrealist, Meret Oppenheim also played around with depicting food as sexual content in a similar way that Salvador Dali did, and her work can be found in Stockholm's Moderna Museet.
The Story Behind It
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This sculpture is a pair of white heels tied up to look like an oven-ready chicken. The shoes are white (pure) but scuffed (dirty). This piece was definitely ahead of its time, serving up sexual fantasies on a silver platter visually, while also giving it the suggestive title, "My Nurse" — and it’s very much intentional.
Some spectators found it so offensive at the time that one woman who saw it in an exhibition in Paris smashed it, requiring Oppenheim to make this second version that’s on display in Stockholm’s modern art museum.
KattenKabinet-Amsterdam
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Founded by: Bob Meijer
Year Created: 1990
On Display at: KattenKabinet
Calling all cat lovers! KattenKabinet (Cat Cabinet) is not just one work of art, but more a very unique museum in a cat-loving city that’s completely dedicated to all matters feline. And, yes, that includes a lot of artwork about cats.
The Story Behind It
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The museum’s founder, Bob Meijer, created the museum to pay homage to a very special ginger cat named John Pierpont Morgan that lived from 1966-1983. He was Meijer’s “stubborn, headstrong companion,” according to the museum’s website. Every five years, a new “present” is created to honor Morgan, perhaps the most quirky of which is a portrait of Morgan replacing George Washington on the American Dollar bill. It includes text that says “We Trust No Dog” in lieu of the “In God We Trust” verbiage on the real currency.
Cat Cabinet explores the role of cats in the human world through paintings, drawing and photography. Discover the cats of artists such as Picasso, Rembrandt and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, while visiting the real and very charming cats that live on the premises.