If the Internet Was Oil Paintings: Daniel Arthur Brings Memes to the Museum Wall

John Summers • Contributor

Apr 13, 2025 5:00 PM EDT

Every now and then, an artist comes along who makes you stop mid-scroll and go, "Wait… is that an oil painting of Pop Cat??" Welcome to the chaotic genius of Daniel Arthur, the guy who took one look at the internet and thought, "You know what this needs? Oil on canvas."

Arthur paints viral moments, memes, and micro-trends with the kind of classical technique you'd expect in a museum, not your TikTok feed. The result? A bizarre and beautiful mashup of high art and lowbrow humor that captures the surreal poetry of our digital lives. You've definitely seen some of these images before—a woman yelling at a cat, a deer interviewed on channel 3 news, The cat sitting between tow mirrors, forming a cat circle (obviously there are lots of cats). But when rendered in oil, they take on this whole new level of gravitas.

It's like someone put the internet through a Renaissance filter, and I honestly can't stop looking. These paintings don't just document our meme-obsessed culture—they elevate it. So if you've ever wanted to see what the comment section of Reddit might look like if it hung in the Louvre, you're in for a treat.