Cinematic canvases: Movies that are inspired by famous artworks

Pan’s Labyrinth, Reference to: Saturn Devouring His Son

Pan’s Labyrinth helped catapult Guillermo del Toro to international fame. The dark fantasy film tells the story of Ofelia—a young Spanish girl who moves with her mother into her violent new stepfather’s house in Francoist Spain.

Scream, Reference to: The Scream

Directed by horror master Wes Craven, Scream is one of the most iconic horror films of all time—with its equally famous screaming Ghostface mask cropping up in popular culture everywhere. The film tells the story of Sidney Prescott, a young woman stalked by a mysterious murderer.

Shutter Island, Reference to: The Kiss, by Gustav Klimt

Scorsese’s neo-noir psychological thriller, Shutter Island, tells the story of a US Marshal (Leonardo DiCaprio) with a shady past sent to investigate a psychiatric hospital where patients have gone missing in strange circumstances.

A Clockwork Orange, Reference to: Prisoners Exercising

Based on the dystopian novel of the same name by British writer Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange was brought to the screen by director Stanley Kubrick. What would become one of the filmmakers canonical films, it deals with the actions of sadistic young criminal Alex DeLarge and his gang of droogs.

Melancholia, Reference to: Ophelia

An apocalyptic drama starring two sisters played by Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg, this film by Lars Von Trier has been critically-acclaimed for its impeccable cinematographic execution and original treatment of its subject.

The Exorcist, Reference to: The Empire of Lights

A classic in the horror genre thats been the subject of all kinds of analysis and discussion over the years, American director William Friedkins story of a twelve-year-old girl possessed by a demon still packs the same terrifying punch as it did when it was first related forty years ago in 1973.

Marie Antoinette, Reference to: Napoleon Crossing the Alps

An artistic biopic of young Queen Marie Antoinette’s last years, this film is one of US director, actor, producer, and screenwriter Sofia Coppolas signatures. Told from Marie Antoinette’s perspective, Coppola develops a visual narrative in which pop and history combine, giving rise to a unique portrait of the ill-fated Queen.