If you’ve ever stood in front of a centuries-old portrait and thought, “This person is absolutely judging me,” you’re not alone. The Instagram page Museum of Selfies takes that feeling and turns it into a genuinely clever visual joke: classic painted faces suddenly look like they’re living in our era, mid-scroll, mid-pose, caught in that very contemporary moment of taking a selfie.
The idea started in Copenhagen at the National Gallery of Denmark, where curator and designer Olivia Muus snapped a photo “for fun” and realized how a simple phone-in-hand illusion could completely rewrite a portrait’s mood. A stern noble can become a casual influencer. A solemn gaze turns into a “wait, let me get the angle” expression. With one tiny change, these paintings feel less like distant history and more like someone you’d recognize on your feed.
More info: Instagram | museumofselfies.tumblr.com
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© Photo: Museum of Selfies
What makes the project especially fun is how it bridges museum quiet and internet chaos without making the art feel disposable. It’s still the same brushwork, the same lighting, the same carefully composed faces, just reframed through a habit we all understand. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it: a surprising number of old-master portraits look like they were born to be selfies.
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© Photo: Museum of Selfies
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Even better, Museum of Selfies is a game anyone can join. Visitors around the world recreate the effect in their own local museums and share their “found selfies” using the project hashtag, adding new characters to this growing, time-traveling collection.
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