# The art of the world will be destroyed. You can only save 10 items. Which ones? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** arts-crafts\ **Created:** [March 9, 2022, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747 "2022-03-09T12:33:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2022, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/41 "2022-03-11T21:04:04Z")
It could also have been Trois- Frères, which is where the famous Sorcerer is, but I find Lascaux more impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/42 "2022-03-12T01:35:56Z")
I’d probably just choose the most grotesque, puerile, tacky, kitschy, chintzy, unsettling, transgressive, and/or deliberately offensive pieces of visual art I could imagine. (I know one, specifically, that I’d definitely get in trouble for linking to, would probably get in trouble for even _naming_, and I’m frankly leery of even having the title in my search history, with or without a VPN) My reasoning? Well, if humanity has decided to turn it’s back on visual art, if even only for a period, sticking ME in the role of the Only Sane Man? Hell, did the ARTS falter by themselves by failing to stand up for their place in existence? _Fine_—then let them lay in it. Let 'em have a nice fat Albatross to bear. Let’s have 50% of the surviving religious artwork of the entire human race be splattered with elephant dung. The last remaining, and thus by default most magnificent equestrian painting be [Der Bannertrager](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Hubert_Lanzinger_Der_Bannertr%C3%A4ger_%28The_Standard_bearer%29_1934-36_Adolf_Hitler_Postkarte_Ansichtskarte_Photo-Hoffmann_M%C3%BCnchen_Card_no._428_NSDAP_Propaganda_Knight_in_armour_Nazi_postcard_Swastika_flag_No_known_copyright_restrictions.jpg). And, for the smallest, tantalizing whisper of contrast, the most gentle, heartfelt, benign attempt to capture a moment of genuine peace and beauty will be by Thomas Kinkade. [And feature Mickey Mouse](https://thomaskinkade.com/art/mickey-and-minnie-in-paris/). Look upon your works, ye tiny, and despair. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/43 "2022-03-12T02:23:08Z")
Paintings 1. The Starry Night/Van Gogh 2. Guernica/Picasso 3. At the Moulin Rouge/Toulouse Lautrec 4. Persistence of Memory/Dali 5. Cherubs/Raphael 6. Dancers on the Stage/Degas Sculpture 7) Gates of Hell/Rodin Photos 8) Dali Atomicus/Halsman 9) Victory over Japan/Jorgenson 10) [Something from “A Child is Born.”](https://www.google.com/search?q=Lennart+Nilsson+a+child+is+born&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj_3pnNwb_2AhUHX80KHUPlAswQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=Lennart+Nilsson+a+child+is+born&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECAAQQzIECAAQQzIECAAQGDoFCAAQgAQ6BggAEAgQHjoICAAQgAQQsQM6CAgAELEDEIMBOgsIABCABBCxAxCDAVD0MFjMXGDBXmgBcAB4AIABdogBqA2SAQQzMi4xmAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=lAMsYv_ENYe-tQbDyovgDA&bih=657&biw=1366&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS798US798) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/44 "2022-03-12T07:52:14Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > It could also have been Trois- Frères, which is where the famous Sorcerer is, but I find Lascaux more impressive. Worth mentioning that the caves at [Chauvet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauvet_Cave) have been immortalised by Werner Herzog in his excellent documentary “[Cave of Forgotten Dreams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Forgotten_Dreams)”. Well worth watching, not least because the public are simply not allowed in and a high-def depiction is the closest any of us are going to get. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/45 "2022-03-13T18:15:22Z")
Dali? His Christ crucifixions. My boyfriend said he saw one in a NYC museum and he out of nowhere burst into tears. (He said it was a lot smaller than you would think)…My daughter also cried upon seeing a Van Gogh. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/46 "2022-03-13T20:23:23Z")
I stopped by to thank everyone who submitted their list of items. What an erudite crowd! ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/47 "2022-03-13T21:27:29Z")
I read through the list and agree with several of them (particularly, Boticelli’s Birth of Venus, which is my first choice for a painting and Guernica). I don’t think anyone has mentioned: 1. [Laocoon and his sons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%C3%B6n_and_His_Sons). 2. [Terra Cotta Warrior](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/I_was_impressed_with_the_life-like_expression_%2835300697030%29.jpg/220px-I_was_impressed_with_the_life-like_expression_%2835300697030%29.jpg) (just an example, I won’t bend the rules pretending we can save them all). 3. Michellangelo’s [David](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michelangelo%27s_David_-_right_view_2.jpg) I think the Antikythera Mechanism is a scientific object more than an artwork, so I assume it will not be endangered by the artpocalypse. > [@What\_Exit](#): > > I’ve seen them in person at the Guggenheim. They’re the worst. Rothko and art like Rothko is terrible and to me at least insulting. I’ve seen a few Rothkos over the years. I thought of him as a talentless hack that the art world bought into. Then I read a book about Rothko in a museum gift shop. It had some stunningly beautiful and touching paintings. I was blown away. Then I realized, he didn’t paint any of them. Purportedly, they were paintings that had inspired him. He must have been disappointed that he couldn’t even simulate his heroes’ talent. He was indeed a talentless hack. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747/48 "2022-03-13T22:07:51Z")
What??? No one _DARES_ touches my McNaughtons! 😱 😱 😱 [Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus - Francis Bacon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triptych_Inspired_by_the_Oresteia_of_Aeschylus) [Guggenhiem Bilbao - Frank Gehry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guggenheim_Museum_Bilbao) [Garden of Earthly Delights - Hieronymous Bosch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights) [Samson - Chris Burden](https://publicdelivery.org/chris-burden-samson/) [The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living - Damien Hurst](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Physical_Impossibility_of_Death_in_the_Mind_of_Someone_Living) [Saturn Devouring His Son - Goya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Devouring_His_Son) [ill-fated bust of Ronaldo](https://www.google.com/search?q=ill-fated+ronadlo+bust&sxsrf=APq-WBsKUOTa85hICpZDFR8mQK8atEjQcA%3A1647208017260&ei=UWYuYofCD_-g0PEPpuyTwAE&ved=0ahUKEwjHrvWFiMT2AhV_EDQIHSb2BBgQ4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=ill-fated+ronadlo+bust&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBwgjELACECdKBAhBGAFKBAhGGABQqgRYqgRgnxRoAXAAeACAAUOIAUOSAQExmAEAoAEBwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz) [Anything by Joel Peter Witkin (photographer)](https://www.google.com/search?q=works+of+Joel+Peter+Witkin&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiz_ZbDisT2AhV6GDQIHa6ZCVMQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=works+of+Joel+Peter+Witkin&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzoHCCMQ7wMQJzoECAAQQzoFCAAQgAQ6CwgAEIAEELEDEIMBOggIABCABBCxAzoKCAAQsQMQgwEQQzoICAAQsQMQgwE6BggAEAUQHlDhW1jtqwFg-7ABaABwAHgAgAF0iAH6DJIBBDI2LjGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ8ABAQ&sclient=img&ei=6mguYrPgJPqw0PEPrrOmmAU&bih=366&biw=640) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-art-of-the-world-will-be-destroyed-you-can-only-save-10-items-which-ones/960747.md?page=2)