From Starry Nights to Crocheting: How social media is making iconic art famous again

In the digital age, social media has come up as a powerful platform. From fundraising for important causes to raising awareness through posts and pictures, social media has made information and misinformation too very easily accessible.
But, another field social media did well was making people engage with arts. From the recollection of Van Gogh's ‘Starry Night’ to the encouragement of something as little as crocheting.
In all of it, social media has really become a powerful tool, helping individuals gain fame through the platform. But, is the grass really all green to the fame or are there some downsides too?

Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter have revolutionised the way art pieces are consumed and shared. With billions of users, these platforms offer artists both visibility and accessibility. Artists, both alive and the ones who are long dead, are getting newfound fame, thanks to the power of social media. Today, if we ask a set of people how they got to know about Picasso, the answer will probably be some aesthetic Instagram page which set out his paintings for the public.

Vincent van Gogh's masterpiece, ‘Starry Night’ has always been a masterpiece that has amazed and put people in awe. And while the painting has always adorned the walls of museums, it is almost as if it found new life on social media. Countless users shared photos and videos of the iconic painting. With filters, captions, background music and so much more was added to make that painting the epitome of ‘aesthetic’.
As a result, ‘Starry Night’ is now a painting everyone knows about and experiments with in the hope of going viral.

Another master painter who gained a new light is for sure Amrita Sher-Gil. The Indo-Hungarian painter was famous even during her time for being a bold, free woman who painted what pleased her. But today, social media made her into a feminist icon. Through profiles, hashtags, and online exhibitions, dedicated to her art, Sher-Gil’s work reached a wider audience. Her paintings and self-portraits reached audiences far beyond the confines of traditional art circles. From the portrait of her in cropped hair to the ones depicting simple, mundane village activities, these platforms gave a new life to her paintings.

(Image: National Gallery of Modern Art/GoogleArts)

Many years ago, when our mothers and grandmothers used to sit at home chatting about daily life and making sweaters and shirts using wool and crochets, never would they have thought that this simple art would be worth thousands!
The life that social media business has given to handicrafts like crochet and embroideries is surprising. Small businesses and independent artisans have used social media's visual appeal and features to sell and show their handmade creations.
In fact, throughout the Valentines week, people’s social media was filled with reels where small business owners showed the flowers and bouquets they made with crochet yarns.

Unfortunately though, the grass isn't all green. While social media has made available a steady access to art, it has also raised concerns about intellectual property and artistic integrity. The ease of sharing and copying content online has fueled fears of plagiarism and unauthorised reproduction. Many artists, especially indigenous ones, worry that their work may be exploited or misrepresented without proper attribution or compensation.

Everybody knew about van Gogh and his creations and most people knew about Sher-Gil’s self portraits. But, not many know that the Phulkari designs that people adorn today were at a time indigenous to a certain region and created by a specific set of artists. Similarly, while people know who da Vinci is, they might not know that the business selling them a pair of crochet sweaters might have bought it from someone else!
In an era of digital reproduction and infinite replication, getting to know the true origin of the artwork is very difficult, which makes it easy for people to get away with it. Many artists may struggle to assert their authorship and that makes us think about where does the deliberation about rightful copying end.