Famous Oil Paintings in the Movies

Written by Amitai Sasson on October 16, 2008

In the modern era, great oil painting masterpieces have become a status symbol. The combination of beauty, popularity and the multi-million dollar price tag, have made the great oil paintings of the world, luxurious items coveted by the rich and famous.

The prestige of art has transformed itself to the silver screen, as more and more oil paintings make their way to the walls of majestic scenes in motion pictures. Many stage producers that are trying to give the perception of class and a luxurious setting add high-end reproductions of famous paintings to the background to spice up the scene.

Never was this more evident than in the “Ocean’s eleven” movie trilogy. The movie that is actually a remake of a famous rat-pack 1960’s film, has (in my opinion) the coolest cast ever assembled in Hollywood, ever since the aforementioned rat-pack. With brilliant and exciting actors such as George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt, the producers had to create a world of unsurpassed luxury and style.

I happened to watch both sequels last week, Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen, and I was astonished to see in the background walls of Terry Benedict’s gleaming office, the ruthless Casino Mogul (played by Andy Garcia) the famous Klimt oil painting, Adele Bloch-Bauer I, the same painting that in reality is hanging in the Neue Galerie in New York City bought by cosmetics tycoon, Ronald Lauder for $135 Million two years ago and is considered by many as the Mona Lisa of New York City.

When I saw Ocean’s Twelve and Adele sparkling of gold tones in the background, I thought that the producers of the film really did their home work and added the most expensive oil painting known to man to the background of this movie. However, in Ocean’s Thirteen, Adele was still hanging in the background, but the painting got stripped down from all it’s gold and had only silver tones…

In any case, do you know of any other films that have famous oil paintings hanging in the background? Please share and I would love to add some photos of this as well.

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About the Author: Amitai Sasson

Amitai Sasson, of overstockArt.com is a renowned world traveler on a mission to seek out the beauty and passion of the art world. As an avid enthusiast of art and oil paintings, he contributes greatly to the industry with his writing.

See all posts by Amitai Sasson

Posted in Art in Movies | View Comments

Steph

Does anyone have any information about the abstract landscape painting in the movie, "Twilight" at the foot of the stairs in the Cullen house?
AgentCaroline

Does anybody know where I can get a replica of the large panoramic painting shown in the Cullens living room in New Moon?
kristen palmer

in the movie twilight,there is an abstract landscape oil painting hanging in the cullens staircase.it is in the scene where edward and bella are walking up the stairs and again when laurent is warning the cullens about james.who pinted this and where can i get a copy?ive been searching eversince the movie came out.
vero denizli

Hello,
I found your site when I tried to find who's painting is hanging in the Afleck-Anisiton appartement,in "he's not that into you" movie I like them all but I have a prefered one with a man appearing trough an open window
I searched through the whole idbm site, but didn't find anything...Any idea? Thank you! from Belgium
Stevo

I am interested in finding out the name of the artist who did the landscape painting appearing on the wall in movie Dial "M" for Murder? You can see the painting on the wall 14 minutes into the movie (or the start of chapter 6 on DVD)
pj

It is not a painting of Shirley Temple,It's just a painting of a barefoot girl hanging on the wall but the girl does transform into Shirley as Shirley comes to life inside in the picture in the Curly Top movie.I dont know name of the painting or the picture so i can find the artist,I'm just trying to find clues because i know where a picture is that looks just like the one in the movie lol
Amitai Sasson

Sorry PJ, I could not find the painting you were talking about... is it of Shirley Temple or just part of the movie?
pj

there is a painting on the wall of a barefoot girl in a dress sitting or on her knees and it shows shirley temple in the painting on the wall in the 1935 shirley temple movie called "curly top" ...does anybody have any information on this painting or know who the artist is?
Amitai Sasson

Wow, thank you Anon! This is cool that people help each other out like that.

I wanted to let y'all know that I just wrote an article on the top 10 artist related films. You should have some insights if you are a fan of both disciplines like I am.

http://www.artcorner.com/top-10-best-artist-films/
anon

I saw the picture in the movie as well. It's by Simon Glucklich and is of his blind daughter. (according to the internet)
indira

theres a lot of paints in the movie twilight but especially one that i wanna know and it is when robert pattinson bring bella to his house and they're in the stairs i cant find the author of the paint
Jan

Amitai:
I found it on my own after many many different google searches! Amazing, I know. I should have sent a link showing the paining. I apologize.
Jan
Amitai Sasson

cool! who helped you out? here is a link to view the painting: http://people.uncw.edu/wetherillkd/documents/ar...
Jan

I found it! It is called, "Spring Song" by Simon Glucklich.
Thanks, everyone!
Jan
Amitai Sasson

Sorry Jen... I looked high and low for this one, I couldn't find the image of the painting so it's hard for me to think of an answer...
Jan

Hello again:
I just saw the Movie, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." One of the scenes shows a small painting on the wall of a little girl in profile singing or talking to a bird.
I am particluarly interested in the name of this paining, as a friend of mine has one in her dining room and has always told all of us that her grandmother painted it.
The painting is in sepia tones.... deep tans, browns and greens and depicts the girl looking out the window and talking to the bird. The period is probably the 20s or 30s 0r 40s....
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
Jan
Jan

Amitai:
How can I ever thank you! This painting has haunted me for years...
Thank you for clarifying one of life's niggling little questions. Now i can move on....
Jan
Amitai Sasson

Jan, I found the art you were looking for!
That artwork is "Woman Reading" by Will Barnet.

see: http://www.towntopics.com/jan1905/art.html

Very cool artist. Will Barnet's 1970 color serigraph might seem "representational" at first glance but is nothing of the sort...
Amitai Sasson

According to Jan: Yes! That is the painting!! So I will look for it. If anyone else finds out something about the painting please let us know...

Let me know of any other paintings from motion pictures that you guys want to learn more about... this could be a really interesting topic.
Amitai Sasson

Is this the painting:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x35aft_candice...

if so I will try and investigate this for you...
Jan

There is a painting hanging over the bed in the movie, "Starting Over" with Burt Reynolds, Candace Bergen and Jill Clayburgh which I have been trying to place for years. It is modern (to me) in genre and is of a woman lying in bed with a black cat on her head. Red, black, blue and white are the colors.
Any help you cold provide would be appreciated. I thought it was a Clader....but none of my online searches yield anything like that for Calder.
Thank you,
Jan

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