Listicle: 10 famous artworks hidden away in movies

English artist Joseph Mallord William Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire, from 1838, shows up in the back as Daniel Craig (007) and Ben Whishaw (Q) have a conversation at the National Gallery. The work depicts one of the last warships from the Battle of Trafalgar being towed in to be scrapped. Bond calls it ‘a bloody big ship’. Bonus points for catching that, when the new M (Ralph Fiennes) welcomes Bond in his office, a work featuring the older ship Victory fighting alongside a young Temeraire is in the scene.

Tear your eyes away from Margot Robbie, playing actress and model Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino’s film. When Paul Revere & The Raiders’ song Good Thing starts to play, and Robbie starts to dance, look at the wall behind her. You’ll catch a glimpse of the 1903 painting, L’automne by Czech artist Alphonse Mucha.

Ariel’s stash of human-world treasures includes art too. She acquired the Georges de la Tour painting Magdalene with the Smoking Flame (1640). It depicts Mary Magdalene, in a white dress held up by rope, staring into a candle flame, with a skull casually sitting in her lap.

Baz Luhrmann’s retelling of F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic book includes a scene where Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway is playing the piano. Look past him to see English painter George Stubbs’ work, Lion and Lioness 1776. No points for guessing that the art represents Gatsby’s social and romantic ambitions.

Luca Guadagnino’s entire movie is a work of art. The art prints and posters all tie into Elio (Timothee Chalamet) and Oliver’s (Armie Hammer) love story. The posters in Elio’s room include The Wounded Man (an oil-on-canvas self-portrait by Gustave Courbet), one from the Venice’s Biennale and the French Open poster from 1981.

A prince as well-read as Beast would obviously have incredible taste in art too. Look closely at the walls of his massive palace to spot the famous 17th century painting, The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, hanging outside Belle’s room.

The film scored an Oscar nomination for art direction and tells the tale of screenwriter Gil (Owen Wilson), on a journey of self-discovery in Paris, as artists and writers such as Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll), F Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston), and Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates) act as friends and tour guides. Don’t miss Picasso’s Portrait of Gertrude Stein in her apartment. When Gil visits the Musée Rodin, take a good look at The Thinker too.

Alfonso Cuarón’s dystopian thriller is set in 2027, when infertility threatens the extinction of mankind, and migrants seek refuge in the United Kingdom. (Hmm.) Pablo Picasso’s Guernica is in the background in a dinner party scene. Well chosen. Picasso painted his masterpiece after the 1937 bombing of Guernica town by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

Miranda Priestly’s (Meryl Streep) beautiful New York townhouse has a 1999 Alex Katz painting, Harbor #3, casually hanging in her foyer. Katz is an American figurative painter who is known for his large works. Their simplicity and heightened colours viewed as precursors to Pop Art. We wouldn’t expect anything less from the editor of Runway.

In Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animated comedy, Japanese painter Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa is a prominent, recurring visual motif. In the real world, it shows up everywhere, from keychains to magnets; it’s basically an emoji now. In the films, the waves serve as a backdrop to the film’s story, which is set in a bleak future.