Gluten or the lack thereof seems to be affecting everything these days.
Gluten-phobia is dominating our social plans and our Instagram feeds (#glutenfree #foodporn) and even kids are taking gluten-free packed lunches to school.
In fact, I was shocked to see my childhood bakery, which is run by the same white-whiskered baker in my small village of Eston up North, has now started selling gluten-free scones. This was much to my Grandma’s confusion. She didn’t have a clue what was going on.
You certainly wouldn’t expect a trip to an art gallery to be hard to stomach for the gluten intolerant. Just to be on the safe side though, French blogger, Arthur Coulet, has removed all gluten from classic works of art on his tumblr, Gluten-Free Museum.
Apparently the likes of gluten and wheat even affect culture now. ‘Our civilization is based on wheat,’ Coulet says.
The graphic designer lives in Paris and teaches photo manipulation. And he has given himself the painstaking job of removing all carbs from works of art by the likes of Manet, Dali and Chardin.
Of course what we’re really talking about is astute social commentary. Coulet has cleverly jumped on the wheat-free wagon to get more people paying attention to historic pieces of art. ‘Trends can be a way to see great art’, Coulet told the BBC.
If art is a reflection of history, then he has definitely made us question our current obsession with our diets.
I mean, how would the farmers in Harvesters by Anna Ancher have made their living if not for the fields of wheat?
Paul Cezanne’s Still Life with Bread and Eggs would definitely lack a necessary something without that vital ingredient (much like my Grandma’s bakery)
The naked ladies and their two male companions would have been very hungry at their picnic in Eduard Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe without some starchy goodness.
Coulet even challenges pop culture moments. Would Lady and the Tramp have ever fallen in love without a huge bowl of spaghetti?
If anything, the whole project has inspired my to embrace the simple joys of the much-maligned bread, pasta and delectable cake. I think I’ll be having spaghetti for dinner.
Words by Jade McSorley
All images from Gluten-Free Museum
