Samsung Reimagines Iconic Paintings To Portray Global Issues Of Today

In light of the recent COP27 meeting, Samsung has released a series of classic artworks that have been reimagined to spotlight issues Gen Z is most concerned with. 

Created by digital artist Quentin Devine, the images depict historical paintings as if they’ve been drawn today, reflecting modern issues including global warming, water pollution, and the loneliness epidemic. 

The initiative comes as part of Samsung’s Solve For Tomorrow competition, which hopes to encourage young people to dream up innovative ways of solving societal problems using technology. 

Intriguingly, a survey of 2,000 young adults in the UK revealed that the top global issue most are concerned with is global warming (61%), followed by the increasing cost of living (55%), and racial inequality (49%).

In Devine’s iteration of The Hay Wain (1821), John Constable’s painting was reworked to portray a scenario in which most of Europe experienced record temperatures this summer. The riverside scene, once lush, has now become barren, leaving behind only scorched earth. 

In the update to Sir John Everett Millais’ Ophelia (1851 – 1852), the Shakespearian character is seen lying in a polluted stream, surrounded by litter in the form of plastic bags, discarded face masks, and water bottles left behind by errant visitors. 

Fly tipping—otherwise known as illegal dumping—has become a major problem for many waterways in the country. As such, Devine depicted Richard Wilson’s The Thames Near Marble Hill, Twickenham (1762) as one such victim, with shopping carts, mattresses, and other waste strewn about the scene. 

Despite not being a tangible problem, the loneliness epidemic is something many people in the age of ultra-connectivity struggle with. The reimagined version of Georges Seurat’s A Sunday On La Grande Jatte (1884) shows a person sitting quietly without the crowd, all by his lonesome. 

Last but not least, L.S Lowry’s Coming Home From The Mill (1928) was reconfigured by Devine to show how lonely work has become, with a single worker left behind as compared to the bustling scene of the original painting. 

“The artworks that Quentin Devine has created aim to illustrate in a unique way the societal topics that young people in the UK today are most motivated to positively contribute to,” explains Sophie Edgerley Harris, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Samsung Electronics UK. 

[via Quentin Devine / Samsung, images courtesy and featured with permission]