Turning Art on Its Head

Poll: How do you feel about the Piet Mondrian painting hanging upside down for the last 75 years?

A) What a travesty! What idiot could make such a mistake?!

B) Heehee! Hilarious! It’s like playing Hotel California backward- it makes sense either way!

I think you guys know which camp I’m in. How can we not laugh at a snafu like that?! It’s a good, old-fashioned blooper. What’s next? Bach’s Brandenberg Concertos were backwards? The blueprints for the Taj Mahal were upside down? The Hope Diamond is really cubic zirconia? I turned my computer upside down to see if I felt differently about Mondrian’s New York City I. Nope. Then, I left my computer right side up and did a headstand. Still nothing. The painting works either way!! Mondrian was more genius than even he knew!

What do you think? Don’t let all the blood rush to your head figuring it out!

Here are some other paintings I think are every bit as good upside down as they are right side up:

Georgia O’Keeffe’s Red Canna: Upside down it’s less climactic and more volacanic, I think.


Dali’s Metamorphosis of Narcissus is trippy no matter which way you spin it! (Note: In my opinion, almost all Dali’s paintings can be flipped and make just as much sense as they do right side up!)


I think this looks even MORE like a Picasso when it’s upside down!


Monet’s bridge looks a little saggy flipped upside down, but I think it gives the painting a dangerous, “are we going to fall in this pond?!” feel.


Here’s to looking at things from a new angle, friends! Have a wonderfully topsy-turvy day!

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