Can you recreate famous artworks at home? Getty Museum challenges people to remake masterpieces

The US museum and social media accounts are encouraging people to get creative during quarantine with humorous results

From pink frills to a pink blanket - participants exercised their creativity as they turned themselves into artworks as part of the Getty Museum challenge, which was inspired the Rijksmuseum and the Instagram account @tussenkunstenquarantaine. Via @GettyMuseum / Twitter

Shauna Barnes embodies Frida Kahlo, braids and unibrow included, for her version of the artist's 'Self-portrait with Monkeys'. Via @whatmommysaid / Twitter

Donning a red coat, Paul Morris recreates Joseph Ducreux's yawning self-portrait. Via @paulmorrispollux / Instagram

Twitter user Marisol Rios C recreates 'Pictura (An Allegory of Painting)' by Frans van Mieris the Elder with all the props in place, swapping out the statue with a wooden mannequin. Via @MarisolRiosC / Twitter

While some used pets and everyday objects, others turned to edible art. Designer Rudi Anggono shared this version of Edvard Munch's 'The Scream' made with bread, jam and a cookie by Rudi Anggono. Via @rudi_anggono / Twitter

Suzanne King swaps out Temperantia's jug of water with toilet paper as she recreates Edward Burne-Jones' allegorical painting of the ancient Roman goddess. Via @thesuzeum / Twitter

No harp? No problem. Irena Ochódzka uses a vacuum cleaner to recreate a marble artefact, Male Harp Player of the Early Spedos Type, from 2700–2300 BC and submitted the image via Facebook to the Getty Museum. Courtesy The Getty Museum

Tiffanie Pierini Ho dresses up in giraffe onesie and Christmas sweater to recreate the work 'Laughing Fool', attributed to Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen. Courtesy The Getty Museum / Tiffanie Pierini Ho  

One pug. Some fabric. One earring,' in lieu of a human model, Twitter user @rmrphoto turns to his pet pug Dotty to recreate Johannes Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'. Via @rmrphoto / Twitter

In her fifth submission to the online challenge, Ann Zumhagen-Krause posts a recreation of 'The Astronomer' (1668) by Johannes Vermeer. Via @annzeekay / Twitter

Van Gogh's self-portraits received their fair share of attention during the Getty's challenge. In this submission, the Twitter user matched the background colours perfectly. Via @GettyMuseum / Twitter

Using her mother's old wedding dress, Twitter user @tht_noe recreates Rene Magritte's 'The Great War'. Via @tht_noe / Twitter

Not quite the same spread, but the attempt is there. This Twitter user forgoes tea and opts for soda instead as they modernise this still life. Via @GettyMuseum / Twitter

Twitter user @mochalew responds to the Getty Museum Challenge with this submission, using the caption: 'We chose a 1800 painting of a Swiss lady and recreated [with] this 2010 beauty. Via @mochalew / Twitter

A recreated Joris Hoefnagel illustration by the Martinez family on Twitter using lasagna sheets, matches, produce and paper bag. Courtesy The Getty Museum

'Yeah my family’s doing great in isolation thanks for checking in. Nothing strange happening here at all,' says Med student Maggie Ginoza about her version of Sandro Botticelli's 'The Birth of Venus'. Via @MaggieGinoza / Twitter

In this submission, the coat in Paulus Potter's 'The "Piebald" Horse' is remade with polka dotted clothing. Via @GettyMuseum / Twitter

While some went for elaborate recreations, others opted to cover just the basics, like composition. A Twitter user arranges boxes to recreate this Impressionist landscape. Via @GettyMuseum / Twitter

A group of four roommates from Connecticut run the Instagram account @covidclassics, where they recreate classic paintings using household items. Here, they recreate Jan van Eyck's 'Arnolfini Portrait'. Via @covidclassics / Instagram

The picture that started it all. One of the roommates behind @CovidClassics poses in the bathtub with a towel wrapped around his head to recreate Jacques-Louis David's 'The Death of Marat'. Via @covidclassics / Instagram

A call for creativity from the J Paul Getty Museum is getting people to recreate artworks at home using just household items, pets or themselves as the subjects.

Often referred to as the Getty, the museum is one of many institutions that has closed its doors to the public in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected over 1.2 million people at the time of writing.

The Getty announced an online challenge on social media in late March with four simple rules: choose an artwork, find three items in the house, recreate the work and share the results.

Thousands of submissions began pouring in, ranging from the humorous – a pet pug recreating Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring or Jeff Koons' Play-Doh rendered as a pile of socks – to the more composed, with people donning costumes and carrying props.

With most of the public confined indoors as a way to limit the spread of infection, people have shown off their imaginative sides with the challenge, making use of everyday items such as drapes, stuffed animals, pets, boxes, half-eaten sandwiches and even household appliances. One woman recreated a marble artefact from 2700-2300 BC of a male harpist using a vacuum cleaner.

The US museum borrowed the idea from the Dutch Instagram account, Tussen Kunst & Quarantaine (Between Art and Quarantine), which began posting on March 14.

So far, the account has over 137,000 followers, and the submissions have been equally amusing, such as a recreation of John Everett Millais' Ophelia by a woman in her tub or the comparing Rene Magritte's The Treachery of Images to a toilet paper roll.

Between these two challenges, lovers of Western art history will be quick to notice a number of key pieces from various art movements. There are Sandro Botticelli's Birth of Venus, Magritte's The Son of Man, Edvard Munch's The Scream and a few Frida Kahlo works.

In Connecticut, a group of four roommates is running a recreation account of their own. Covid Classics, which was created on March 22, features images of Max Sutter, Jeannette Penniman, Cary White and Sam Haller, as they find ways to alleviate lockdown boredom. The roommates have made versions of Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait, which shows an Italian merchant and his pregnant wife.

The group also share behind-the-scenes images of their recreations. For example, in an attempt to recreate the dramatic lighting of Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Marat – their first post – the roommates used a lamp to illuminate the subject in the bathtub. Covid Classics has published 15 posts so far and have already gained almost 80,000 followers at the time of writing.

Closures across the arts and culture sector are expected to financially stifle museums and galleries. In New York, for example, where the number of US cases continues to rise, the Metropolitan Museum of Art expects to see $100 million (Dh367m) loss. The same fate awaits many other art spaces across the globe. A number of museums, such as The Getty, are turning to digital initiatives to stay connected to the public.

While relief from the anxiety and ennui of the pandemic is not yet in sight, some are finding a slight comfort in the act of creating and engaging with art.