The 5 Stages of Quarantine as Told Through Famous Paintings
It has been 1 month, 3 weeks and 6 days since Italy was placed in lockdown (but who’s counting?), so we’ve come to recognise the 5 stages that make up the authentic quarantine experience. On Monday 4th May, Italians were allowed outside for reasons other than shopping for essentials, and pictures of citizens emerging from their hiding places, like a sleepy bear after hibernation, filled the internet.
We decided, therefore, to convey these 5 stages of quarantine through what we know best: paintings.
Stage 1: Eye-roll
Like Andrea Mantegna’s ‘Bambino’, you might have found yourself trapped in a perpetual loop of eye-rolling when Coronavirus first graced our lives. As towns were shut down in northern Italy, other countries such as the UK insisted washing your hands to the flaccid tune of ‘Happy Birthday’ would be enough to prevent a global pandemic.“Lockdown” and “quarantine” began infiltrating our vocabulary, and internet trolls cracked their knuckles as they prepared to spread memes faster than the virus.
Stage 2: Panic
Lombardy gets shut down, global leaders start to recognise this could be an issue, media outlets across the world reach new levels of scaremongering, the WHO insists it’s not a pandemic, conspiracists flee to their aluminium-foil-lined bunkers and Boris Johnson is still singing Happy Birthday, but who do we believe? As the world watches Italy, China and South Korea crumble under Coronavirus’ ironclad grasp, there is only one worthy response: buy toilet paper…
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