Image via Complex Original
According to Cracked, the concept of the bromance reaches all the way back to Ancient Greek. Aristotle described this phenomena in 300 BCE as, "those who desire the good of their friends for the friends' sake that are most truly friends, because each loves the other for what he is, and not for any incidental quality." The term evolved to encompass Turk and JD on scrubs, Joey and Chandler on friends, and anyone who's ever been in a Judd Apatow movie.
If you look at art history, however, the bromance goes back even further, to the first bro in the world, Adam. From Michelangelo's fresco Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel to Lucian Freud's modern-day male bonding our list of The Biggest Bromances in Art History takes you on a 500-year tour of brotherly love. Man crushes never looked so beautiful.
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Copley
16. The Western Brothers by John Singleton Copley, 1783
Charles and Shirley Western are united by a pleasing sight beyond the canvas. The composition makes us feel like the painting extends beyond the fame and into our world. Copely, a famous American portrait painter, painted these two brothers in England. We imagine that these bros are checking out 18th century babes together.
Raeburn
15. The Allen Brothers by Henry Raeburn, c. 1780
True bromances start young. In this portait, two well-dressed kids play by a bench. Even though Scottish portrait painter Raeburn captured the duo posing, they appear restless, ready to embark on their next misadventure.
Roslin
14. King Gustav III of Sweden and his Brothers by Alexander Roslin, 1771
Roslin, a Swedish portrait painter, captures the king of Sweden, Gustav III, known for his progressive social and economic reforms. Here, the three subjects bro out by mapping out their kingdom and wearing matching sashes.
Rubens
13. Selfportrait with Brother Philipp, Justus Lipsius and Another Scholar by Peter Paul Rubens, 1611
Rubens was a Flemish Baroque painter, whose dynamic works emphasized movement of fleshy masses. Here Rubens paints himself (standing on the right) with three scholars. The painter and his bros bond over a supposedly high-brow discussion. We guess that was their substitute for football.
van Dyck
12. Portrait of the Princes Palatine Charles Louis I and his Brother Robert by Anthony van Dyck, 1637
Like Rubens, van Dyck was also a Flemish Baroque painter. Here van Dyck paints Charles and Robert, the sons of German king Frederick V of the Palatinate. The brothers were mostly powerless under England's empire but stuck together nonetheless, with matching haircuts to boot.
Eakins 1
11. Wrestlers by Thomas Eakins, 1899
Eakins, an American Realist painter, depicted scenes from life in Philadelphia at the turn of the century. His subjects included sportsmen like these wrestlers. Does art history get any manlier?
Freud
10. Two Brothers from Ulster by Lucian Freud, 2001
German-born British painter Freud is known for his tense portraits of posed figures, underscored by raw emotion. In this painting, Freud paints faces in his signature style—hard to read and almost sculptural. The large and hardened modern men give a new meaning to "tough love."
Eakins 2
9. The Swimming Hole by Thomas Eakins, 1885
Possibly Eakins' most famous work, this painting depicts boys playing in Dove Lake, a man-made swimming hole outside of Philadelphia. Eakins composed the work from real-life photographs he took of his students swimming. It shows his mastery of the nude form, referencing Classical nude sculptures. This scene looks like a couple of boys relaxing on a summer day.
Durand
8. Kindred Spirits by Asher Durand, 1849
As one of the members of the Hudson River School who captured impressive scenes of American wilderness in Upstate New York, Durand painted explorations into the wild. Here, he shows two men overlooking a mountain stream. Isn't "Kindred Spirits" just another word for "bromance"?
David
7. Oath of the Horatii by Jacques-Louis David, 1786
One of the most famous Neoclassical painters, David painted subjects from Greek and Roman history. Here, he depicts a story of three brothers who pledged their lives to save Rome. The stable composition, made up of triangles (in the soliders' legs and arms), shows an unbreakable bond between the men.
Thomas Eakins
6. The Biglin Brothers Racing by Thomas Eakins, 1873
Crew is definitely one of the bro-iest sports around, and we would expect no less from the man behing Wrestlers. In this work, Eakins shows two brothers rowing on Philadelphia's Schuylkill River.
Cezanne
5. Card Players by Paul Cezanne, 1894-95
Poker has always been a man's sport, dominated by smoking, drinking, and betting. Cezanne celebrates the bromance that comes from card playing in this painting, one of five works he painted on this subject. Updating Dutch and Flemish genre paintings, which typically showed men in a brothel, Cezanne depicts peasants playing cards in an understated version of male-only recreation.
Haring
4. Untitled by Keith Haring, 1987
Haring made a splash on the New York art scene in the 80s, painting his signature figures dancing all over the city. In this work, Haring's buddy figures come together in a brotherly embrace.
Koons
3. Michael Jackson and Bubbles by Jeff Koons, 1988
Koons' sculpture of MJ and the monkey Bubbles is one of the weirdest sculptures and bromances we've ever seen. Then again, we don't expect any less from quirky art royalty, Koons.
Renoir
2. Portrait of Charles and Georges Durand-Ruel by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1882
If this painting doesn't capture the phrase, "I love you, man," we don't know what does. As a forerunner of the Impressionist movement, Renoir let brush-strokes and color speak loads of emotion. Here, the feeling is pure brotherly love.
Micheangelo
1. Creation of Adam by Michelangelo, c. 1511
Here Michelangelo's focal point of the Sistine Chapel fresco, which he painted on his back for four years, is a painting of God creating Adam. The iconic finger touch is a dramatic tableau of bromance.
