There are many remastered versions of Bouguereau’s quintessential 1879 painting Naissance de Venus (Birth of Venus). The one shown here depicts the goddess of love as Mother Christmas. It was created by digital artist saufnase for a Holiday Mod Ren contest on Worth1000 in 2005, where it was voted the best of 55 entries.

Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find nearly one hundred (!) contemporary variations. Click the second to view Holiday Venus on Worth1000.

In December 2004, photoshop site Worth1000 organized their second Holiday Mod Ren contest, subtitled Santa meets Bouguereau. Digital artists DerAlt took the title very literally and created this image, entitled Santa, based on Bouguereau’s 1873 painting Nymphes et Satyre (Nymphs and Satyr), scooping the first prize.

Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find no less than forty contemporary variations. Click the second to view Santa on Worth1000.

In November 2011 photoshop site Worth1000 organized a Beatle Songs contest, challenging digital artists to “Take a Beatle lyric, or a Beatle title, and make it a reality with your mad chopping skillz!“. The contest drew 20 entries, one of which was a Remastered Bouguereau.

Lady Madonna by Trust fell just outside the prizes, finishing #4. The entry was based on Bouguereau’s 1878 painting La Charité (Charity), featuring American singer and actress Madonna personifying the subject of the Beatles song Lady Madonna. Several other elements of the painting (the children and the money) make it an almost perfect illustration for the song lyrics:

Lady Madonna, children at your feet
Wonder how you manage to make ends meet
Who find the money when you pay the rent
Did you think that money was heaven sent

Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find around 30 contemporary variations. Click the second to view Lady Madonna on Worth1000.

In November 2011, the infamous Pepper Spraying Cop turned into an instant Internet Meme. A dedicated blog on Tumblr became a repository of photoshopped creations featuring Lt John Pike. Even Bouguereau didn’t escape the teargas! Shown above is one of the entries on the blog, made by an unnamed digital artist. The comment says:

“Mom, can you really just stop having me drink sea water out of those gross shells? You know that those things are full of sand and little crabs and stuff, right? You HAVE dranken out of them before? Yes, I said “dranken”. Do something about it. What, you gonna correct me? You’re the one having an unabashed tide pool rgyAAUUAUAGGHAGHAGAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

Below you can compare the original Bouguereau painting, Naissance de Venus (Birth of Venus, 1879), with the pepper-sprayed version. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find nearly one hundred (!) contemporary versions of Bouguereau’s painting. Click the second to view Pepper Spraying Cop on Tumblr.

Bouguereau’s iconic painting Nymphes et Satyre (Nymphs and Satyr) first saw the public light in 1873. Since Bouguereau had a considerable following at this time in America, the painting was promptly bought by New York collector John Wolfe. After a decade in private ownership, the Nymphs spent the next twenty years in full public view, hanging opposite the bar in the Hoffman House at Broadway and 25th Street where it became a hot tourist attraction to the great annoyance of local moralists.

During that period, cigar factory Foster-Hilson featured the painting on their boxes – in its original version. After the death of its owner in 1901 the hotel closed, and the painting was sold. Shortly after that American Tobacco Co. bought Foster-Hilson. The painting itself remained unscathed, but not the cigar label. Corporate America demonstrated its concern for public morals, if not art, by adding its own “touch” to the label. The two versions are pictured here:

You can read a lot more about the history of the painting here. Below you can compare the original and censored versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find dozens more remastered versions of Bouguereau’s masterpiece. Click the other two images to view the cigar label in more detail.

One of the most popular photoshop contests on Worth1000 is called Out of Bounds. Digital artists are challenged to “use frames and borders to emphasize the 3D effect of your image and give the illusion of action occurring outside of the borders”. The 15th edition of this contest, in October 2011, drew no less than 37 entries, two of which were Remastered Bouguereaus. The one shown above, created by aheadmon, was the clear winner. The creation is based on Bouguereau’s Homère et son Guide (Homer and his Guide, 1874).

Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find eight more contemporary variations. Click the second to view The Guide on Worth1000.

The second Remastered Bouguereau in the contest was created by robodrigo and scored #5. Below are the original painting and the contest entry.

Skio is a versatile French graffiti artist, who does not specialize in any particular theme, but at times feels inspired by classic painters, such as William Bouguereau. You can read more about him in this interview (translated by Google).

Shown above is Skio laying a finishing touch to his interpretation of Bouguereau’s 1850 painting Dante et Virgile aux Enfers (Dante and Virgil in Hell). Below you can see his variation on La Charité (Charity, 1878). Click the original paintings to visit the galleries where you will find many more remastered versions of the original artworks. Click the graffiti versions to view them bigger.

In 2010, Australian singer Kylie Minogue released her album Aphrodite. To celebrate the event fans were invited to join a competition, submitting photos, designs, drawings, montages or any other creative artwork inspired by the album.

The entry shown above is very appropriate. It was created by Oxana from Ekaterinaburg in the Russian Federation, and features Kylie as Venus (Aphrodite in Greek) in Bouguereau’s 1979 painting Naissance de Venus (Birth of Venus).

Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find dozens of other contemporary versions of Bouguereau’s original painting. Click the second to view Kylie Aphrodite on the contest site.

If Marilyn Monroe [wiki] was still alive she would be 85 years old this week. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926, the icon died tragically on August 5, 1962 — aged just 36 years. The image above looks like an appropriate tribute to the American actress, singer and model, who still has millions of fans across the world.

The image, entitled Marilyn with Baby Jesus was created by by Takes2Hands2 for a Modern Renaissance contest on Worth1000 in 2010. Digital artists were challenged to “put any modern celebrity, actor or popular culture figure as a substitute for the model of a painting or other form of artwork“.

Below you can compare the original and the remastered versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find ten contemporary versions of the original La Vierge au Lys (The Virgin of the Lilies, 1899). Click the second to view Marilyn with Baby Jesus on Worth1000.

May 20, 2011 marks the 65 birthday of American recording artist, Emmy-award winning television personality, award-winning actress, director, record producer and philanthropist Cher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian on May 20, 1946). Often called the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in film, music and television. She is the only person in history to have received all of these awards.

Shown above is Cher in a remastered version of Bouguereau’s 1899 painting Bacchante. It was created by digital artist Keb for a contest on FreakingNews in 2007.

Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you can admire four more contemporary variations on Bouguereau’s painting. Click the second to view the remastered version on FreakingNews.