Two Lines of Dialogue That Explain All Paintings

I’ve always wondered why Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte includes a monkey. According to Brittanica.com, Seurat was depicting “Parisian stereotypes. For instance, the woman standing in the right foreground, with the striking bustle, is identified by her pet monkey—symbol of lasciviousness—as a woman of loose morals.” I don’t know if that’s true — of the painting, the woman, or monkeys generally. Personally, I imagined the monkey belonged to the man standing beside her — which then triggered a two-line dialogue in my head. I now think all paintings should be interpreted through the same accusation/denial exchange, with an implicit pet monkey poised just out of frame.

I’ve added speech balloons so you can see for yourself.

Grant Wood’s American Gothic:

Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes:

Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper:

Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People:

Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss:

Here, try some yourself:

It even works for single-figure paintings too. Just pair your favorites.

Edvard Munch’s The Scream and Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa:

Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and James McNeill Whistle’s Whistler’s Mother:

Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Marat and Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog:

John William Waterhouse’s The Lady of Shalott and Frederic Leighton’s Flaming June:

John Everett Millais’s Ophelia and John Singer Sargent’s Portrait of Madame X:

You can mix and match, and even reverse the dialogue.

Which lines do you think these paintings should speak?