Nikolaj Abildgaard, Hamlet Showing his Mother the Ghost of his Father, c. 1778, oil on canvas.  Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Today’s post is 100% compliments of Katie Rose M (@_littlebug).  Thanks Katie!

Now that Halloween is over, I am happy to announce a return to one of my favorite types of posts: Tights are NOT pants!  BTW, in case you haven’t heard, Stacy and Clinton of What Not to Wear support the anti-ass hugging, it’s-never-who-you-want-to-see-in-tights-anyway movement.

Nikolaj Abildgaard might not be a household name, and his paintings are certainly not presented in standard art history tomes, but evidently he was a big deal as far as 18th-century Danish painting goes.  How many 18th-century Danish painters can you actually name?  Just hating a little.  In any case, in the above painting, Hamlet shows his mother, Gertrude, the ghost of his father, and as we all remember from high school English literature (or Kenneth Branagh’s film), the relationship between these two characters was always turbulent and somewhat psycho-sexual.  It actually looks like she’s about to cop a feel.

My favorite detail of all is Hamlet’s whale tail (a term I just learned but absolutely love)!  And I can’t write about Hamlet without a mention of Sassy Gay Friend’s epic YouTube video.  Check him out on Twitter @SassyGayFriend.

I find it hilariously ironic that a Danish artist chose to depict Shakespeare’s Prince of Denmark wearing what can only be described as a train wreck (TW) outfit?!?  I get that he’s trying to channel a sense of the Middle Ages, but it’s not working out very well.  An all-time great WTF art historical moment!