James Harden Goes From Basketball Superstar to Work of Art

Many NBA athletes have been recognized for their artistry on the court, but Houston Rockets superstar James Harden became a piece of Renaissance masterpiece over the weekend.

During Saturday's NBA Playoff matchup between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Houston Rockets, a photographer named Carlos Gonzalez snapped a well-timed picture (OR a well-placed photographer named Carlos Gonzalez snapped a picture) of Rockets point guard James Harden keeping his eyes on the ball while falling into the crowd on the court side. Fans came away from the picture with a single take away: It looks like a Renaissance painting.

A highly dramatic shot, the picture caught the eye of art lovers around the Internet as people declared it a piece of accidental renaissance. It’s not hard to see why. There's Harden in the foreground, looking afar as if touched by the grace of God, surrounded by a mob of finger-pointing accusers, including a terrified woman dressed in yellow and a screaming man in a backward cap, perhaps worried that Harden would spill his beer. All in a densely-composed shot taken from a linear perspective, the earmarks of an Italian Renaissance painting

Houston Rockets guard James Harden fell into the first row in the fourth quarter of game 3. The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Houston Rockets 121-105 at Target Center. #Twolves #NBA #Rockets – Twitter is having some fun with this photo, so I thought I would post it on its own. pic.twitter.com/dlTumEZw6Q

— Carlos Gonzalez (@CarlosGphoto) April 22, 2018

This is like a painting from the Renaissance. pic.twitter.com/nhmxYxD0vC

— Frank Pallotta (@frankpallotta) April 22, 2018

The picture speaks well enough for itself to evoke the work of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, but photoshop masters on Twitter decided to take the image a step further.

So I took that Harden photo and turned it into art. pic.twitter.com/NcJMZaErx4

— Adam Warlock (@Howsito) April 23, 2018

Such an amazing picture of James harden pic.twitter.com/qCNpGTl4EM

— SilkySoSmooth (@silkysosmooth) April 23, 2018

Some just cut out the middle man entirely and stuck the pointing man from the photograph right into the mural on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

pic.twitter.com/alsFzFuI1G

— K. Cunningham (@bluntforcellama) April 22, 2018

Sports have long been a source of accidental renaissance art as the competitive nature between players and the high-intensity engagement of the crowd provide photographers with a wealth of drama and realism.

Over the previous years, a number of other fascinating and wildly diverse works of photojournalism have entered the pantheon of accidental renaissance art. Whether its a photograph from a soccer match, the testimony of former FBI director James Comey or just some women enjoying a pizza, Accidental Renaissance has a way of bringing a bit of classic artistry into the modern world. How does Harden’s entry stack up to these classics?

Another renaissance painting is this picture of Lampard after he scored following the death of his mum. pic.twitter.com/EVc5etb9x8

— Dan Sully (@dan_sully) August 6, 2014

dan_sully</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/rosieswash?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">rosieswash and this one's like Caravaggio's Taking of the Christ pic.twitter.com/n8DfPtRgRo

— Paul MacInnes (@PaulMac) August 6, 2014

Goodnight, #America ✌🏻🍕

A post shared by Kaitlin Jencso (@kaitlinjencso) on Apr 2, 2017 at 12:04am PDT