Doctor Who Infiltrates Art History In Poster Prints, Plus A TARDIS In A Real Vincent Van Gogh Painting
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It’s always fun when a time travel story demonstrates a traveler’s path through history in the form of a photograph or some other sort of image. Doc Brown and Marty McFly in front of the Hill Valley clock face. Cole from Twelve Monkeys, frightened and confused on a World War I battlefield. Doctor Who has used this idea many times over the years — in “Rose,” it was pictures of the Doctor from many different eras that revealed the man who had saved her was even more mysterious than she thought. These historical mashup posters take the concept and run with it, including the extremely cool Weeping Angel that has snuck into Leonardo da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man.” Just remember: an image of an angel actually becomes an angel, so DON’T BLINK.
And it seems that River Song, in between all that time in jail, made at least one pitstop in ancient Egypt. Spoilers, sweetie…
Fun fact they didn’t teach you in history class: apparently a group of Siluians pitched in at the Battle of Hastings. Clearly the one we’ve been looking at all these years was a forgery designed to throw us off the scent of the true story. Somebody get David Icke on the phone!
This last one is in the style of Katsushika Hokusai, a Japanese artist who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. Even if the name doesn’t ring a bell, you’ve almost certainly seen his most famous print, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa.” You can find prints of all of those historical mashups at Forbidden Planet.
Last but not least, because we love it when life imitates art, there’s the issue of the Vincent Van Gogh painting below, which was only discovered this past September, after having been tucked away in a collector’s attic for years. He thought it was a fake, but it was this year confirmed to be the real deal, a Van Gogh painting entitled “Sunset at Montmajour.” Also, it’s totally got a TARDIS in it.
The Wall Street Journal says that the structure in the upper left, which does bear a resemblance to the Doctor’s time/space vessel if you squint at it just right, is actually Montmajour abbey. But where’s the fun in that sort of thinking?
Of course, Who fans will find the TARDIS’ presence in a Van Gogh painting doubly awesome since the Doctor once had an adventure with Van Gogh, teaming up with the tortured painter in the 2010 episode “Vincent and the Doctor.” That episode included the touching scene where the Doctor took Vincent forward in time to a museum so he can see his lasting legacy.
