How to Dress Like the Characters in Your Favorite Works of Art for Halloween

Image via Complex Original

There are a few staple items you'll need to emulate the iconic Mona Lisa. For some reason or other, the woman in Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. To nail the Mona Lisa look, you'll need some pasty-colored liquid and powder foundation, available at just about any drug store. Coat your face with liquid foundation, and be sure to cover up your eyebrows. Add finishing touches to your handiwork by dabbing your face with powder foundation too. (Here's a more elaborate make-up tutorial.)

For those who don't need a brown wig, you'll want to have your hair parted down the center, falling as flat as possible. Throw on a dark green dress with a plunging neckline (and protruding white sleeves), and you're done in terms of wardrobe. The last thing you'll need is an ornate, gold frame. Take the back of an old frame out, and you're set. Now you just need to practice that Mona Lisa smile.

American Gothic is an ideal for any couple looking to attend a Halloween outing as a pair—even though the people depicted in Grant Wood's painting are actually an old farmer and his spinster daughter. To achieve the farmer's look is simple. You'll need a pair of round wire-rim glasses, a black blazer to wear over a white shirt, a pair of denim overalls, and a pitchfork, of course. Bonus points go to those who take it to the next level with a bald cap.

As for the woman's wardrobe, you'll need a collared top, a vintage brooch, and a floral apron—all of which you could probably find at a thrift store. Once you've got the outfit, part your hair down the center and tie it into a conservative bun.

Spend the entire night at your significant other's side, making the grimmest expression your faces can muster, and you'll look spot on.

Suit up to look like Magritte's Son of Man. Put on your most dapper black suit, a white button-down, and a bright red tie. The only work you have left to do is to print and cut out an image of a green apple the size of your face, and hang the print out from a black bowler hat with some fishing wire or less visible thread. Alternatively, paint the apple onto your face.

Any ginger can easily become Vincent van Gogh. With red hair, you're already half way there. Perhaps the most time-consuming part is the face make-up. Van Gogh was a post-Impressionist known for creating paintings with thick brush strokes and huge globs of paint. Likewise, he also made his self-portraits this way.

To resemble Van Gogh's Self-Portrait, take a brush and sweep thick strokes of liquid foundation (preferably with multiple shades) onto your entire face. Keep doing so until your face is wrinkly with foundation. When the foundation has dried, take a brush, dab it into some faint blue eye shadow, and sweep more lines onto your face. When you're done with the make-up, streak different shades of blue and white onto a denim jacket or blue blazer. Practice the most tortured expression you can manage, and boom—Van Gogh. Make your costume more believable by wrapping a white bandage around your left ear.

As we all know, Halloween can be a time for women to reveal as much skin as possible. Sometimes, it's fun to be scary and sexy at the same time, which can be achieved by dressing up as Damien Hirst's Anatomy of an Angel. First begin by pulling your hair back. For clothes, you can wear a white body suit or dress, accessorized with a pair of angel wings. And finally, apply black and white paint to half of your face to create the face of a skeleton.

You can imitate Banksy's Flower Bomber by throwing on a black coat, a bandana or scarf to go around your neck, white pants, and a black backwards cap and shoes. To make your costume more identifiable, however, you may want to paint in the shadows and light with black and white paint—which will require some time and effort. Don't forget about the bouquet of flowers.

Johannes Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl Earring was done by Scarlett Johansson in the 2003 film of the same name, but you don't need your own make-up artist to create this Halloween costume. Just like with the Mona Lisa costume, the first step is to cover up or fade out your eyebrows with foundation. After that, tie your hair into a high ponytail, and then swath it in a yellow scarf. Wrap another thick blue headband around your head, and you're done with the hair. Put on a white collared top and a brown cape. Finally, accessorize with your best set of pearl drop earrings, and you've basically become Vermeer's beauty.

This Halloween, don't just be Marilyn Monroe. Be Andy Warhol's Marilyn. You'll need a curly wig, a white halter neck dress, some heels, and, most importantly, fluorescent teal eye shadow, lipstick, and hot pink face paint. Before going out, practice looking sultry—parted lips and all. Have your friends throw on a silver wig and a Campbell's soup can, and you guys can spend Halloween as an exhibition.

It wouldn't seem right not to include Edvard Munch's Scream on this list. For this look, all you need is a black robe and an agonized expression. To pull it off, however, will require some art skills. Buy a canvas, and try your best to paint the orange sky and backdrop in Munch's Scream. Afterwards, take a knife, and cut out an oval in the spot where your head would be. If you do a decent job, people will recognize your costume.

Becoming J. Howard Miller's We Can Do It! poster doesn't take much, but be prepared to flex your biceps all night to replicate Rosie the Riveter's pose. All you need for this costume is a red and white, polka dot bandana to wrap around your head. Throw on a denim top over a pair of jeans, and you're just about ready. Fill in your eyebrows so they look darker and bolder, and apply some red lipstick to those lips, and voila, you've become a piece of war propaganda and symbol of empowered women.

For those with the dark complexion and hair, it's easy to dress up as any one of Frida Kahlo's many self-portraits. Begin by parting your hair down the center and plaiting it into a milk braid (see the tutorial here). Next, take a black or dark brown pencil eyeliner and fill in your brows until they're as thick as Kahlo's—a unibrow is optional. From there on, you're just about done. Throw on some bold gold earrings, statement necklaces, earth tone clothing, a flower crown, and you're ready.