Main content

The theatre designer recreating famous paintings

With theatres across the country closed during the coronavirus lockdown it’s an uncertain time for those working in the industry, but one theatre practitioner has found a creative way of keeping herself occupied.

Stuck at her parents’ home in Dublin, costume and set designer Molly O’Cathain has been using her skills (and her parents) to recreate some of the world’s most famous artworks.

Each day of the lockdown she has posted a new image on social media from a series she is calling Parental Pandemic Portraits. Each picture features her mother Liz and father Brian posing for perfect reproductions of pictures ranging from an ancient frescos to modern classics.

The Duke and Duchess of Urbino Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza (1473-1475) / The Liz & Brian of Dublino (2020) (image: Molly O'Cathain)
Hellelil and Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton (1864) / Liz & Brian Meeting on the Turret Stairs (2020) (image: Molly O'Cathain)
Self Portrait of the Artist and his Wife, 1496 by The Master of Frankfurt / Portrait of an Artist and her Husband, 2020. (image: Molly Molly O’Cathain)
Portrait of Count Preben Bille-Brahe and His Second Wife, Johanne Caroline, nΓ©e Falbe, 1817 by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersburg / Portrait of Brian O'Cathain and his one and only wife, Liz Nilsson, 2020 (image: Molly O'Cathain)
The Portrait of Terentius Neo from ancient Pompeii / A Portrait of Liz & Brian from 2020 (image: Molly O'Cathain)

Liz & Brian, Molly O'Cathain's recreation of Grant Wood's 1930 painting American Gothic (image: Molly O'Cathain)

Recreations of images of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and Gustav Klimt's The Kiss.

You can listen to Molly O’Cathain's interview with John Wilson for Front Row on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sounds and you can follow her project on Twitter where she is or on Instagram where she is .

More from Front Row...