Your family is a Velázquez. Your partner, a Van Gogh. And that kitchen disaster is a Picasso. The tedium of quarantine has become the new fuel of creativity for millions of inmates. More than 200,000 people participate in social networks in the flash-mob ' Isolation ', posing as characters from famous paintings.

The idea to create a Facebook group called Izoizolyacia for Russians to emulate classical painters in their homes was from Katerina Brudnaya, a history graduate who works on media projects for Russian internet giant Mail.ru. "It all started when on March 28 I photographed my husband as Van Gogh and posted it on Facebook inviting my friends to join in with the hashtag 'isolation' in Russian."

Tatiana Efremova's work, emulating Rembrandt's 'Danae' painting.

Russia has 144 million inhabitants. The president, Vladimir Putin, has decreed ' non-working' the entire month of April , but in some regions that are sources of contagion in the country there is quarantine: it is forbidden to leave the house except to buy. Only in the city of Moscow and its surroundings there are 20 million inmates.

"The idea of ​​replicating pictures is not new, our intention was to pose a nice challenge and distract ourselves from the news of the coronavirus," says Brudnaya. Between her and her friends and collaborators they have already published more than 10,000 creations. Some are of perfect fidelity. Others provocative. Others invite laughter and oblivion. But on social networks they have been all the rage. Russians share the best jobs every day.

Andri Sharapa posing as Henry VIII did for Hans Holbein

Fame has jumped out of the country. "Mainly we get works from Russia, yes. But also from Ukraine, the United States, Israel, Germany and Belarus," explains the promoter of the idea to EL MUNDO. Spain ranks 12th by number of participants in the group. "In Ukraine they also prohibited us from walking around the city, so my girl and I decided to fly over it," says Ivan Ischenko, who chose a painting by Marc Chagall because he loves "naive art."

"All this was started by my husband, who is actually the one in the photo when we saw a couple of works from the ' Isolation ' group and decided to try it," explains Tatiana Efremova, who has portrayed her husband in minor cloths. She jokes that her husband's physique "is only for the Rembrandt and Rubens era," and precisely "one of the most popular paintings is 'Danae,' and requires no additional effort." At the end of the day, he concludes, "the main thing is to have a good sense of irony and a sense of humor"

Picasso's painting 'The Ironing Machine' recreated by Varya Schaetzel.

Ukrainian Andri Sharapa has posed as he did as Henry VIII for Hans Holbein. "The painting was chosen by my wife, I just put it together, piece by piece: Zhenya's borrowed hat, my daughter gave me the artificial fur, I put adhesive tape on my hat and on my shirt and my wife gave me her medal" , relates from Kiev. His wife, Olga Sharapa, has posed as Raquel Meller did for Julio Romero de Torres .

It will be because of the difficulty of the moment we live in, many Russians have chosen to portray themselves within the painting 'The Scream'. In Yulia Tokareva's case, Munch's choice of work was "because this painting is quite easy to make, I live alone and I cannot make more complex paintings". Something similar happened to Varya Schaetzel, who chose the painting "that most closely resembled the clothes she had available and that was some admired author". Pablo Picasso was chosen.

Ivan Ischenko with Dari Vasiljeva, recreating Marc Chagall's painting 'Flying over the city'.

The group does not stop adding members and creations. Some only contemplate, vote and comment. Others, like Irina Usanina, are already going for their third online ' painting '. The rules are simple: no photoshop, only publish your own creations made during self-isolation with materials that were already at home, and post it without added comments. Every day the site filters some 5,000 images loaded with creativity but also with gratitude. As the participant Elena Kasanina summarizes, "laughter is just what we need now."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • art
  • culture
  • Stay at home
  • Facebook
  • Social networks
  • Photography

Culture Cultural agenda: what the world needs is ...

CultureThe best movies, series, books and museums to enjoy at home

CultureCultural agenda for the weekend: Killing Eve, Vetusta Morla, The report, World Digital Library ...