It was so much fun to share with you Ed Wheeler Santa Classics last year that I thought I’d show you his latest.

Ed Wheeler Santa Classics

The Philadelphia based photographer has been dressing up as Santa and inserting himself into classic paintings for several years now, creating new ones annually.

Ed Wheeler has researched hundreds of paintings and finds that certain compositions beckon to him for a “Santa intervention.” Often Santa replaces a main figure in a painting; sometimes he is added to a group composition or may even be the single human presence in a landscape. Ed’s intent is to pay homage to the original paintings while offering art lovers an additional reason to smile. Once a painting is selected, he embarks on a multi-step process to fully integrate Santa into the lighting, brushstrokes and tonal values of a particular painting while maintaining the fidelity of the original.

It is this attention to detail, lighting and relationships between figures in Ed Wheeler’s Santa Classics, which lead to another kind of art experience.

Here are several new ones since my post last year:

Johannes Vermeer, the Milkmaid:

Edgar Degas, The Dance Class:

Gerrit van Honthorst, Musical Group On A Balcony:

Henri Rousseau, The Sleeping Gypsy:

Theo van Doesburg, Composition:

Alexandre Cabanel, The Birth of Venus:

Winslow Homer, The Lifeline:

Pierre Auguste Renoir, Dance At Bougival:

Thomas Eakins, The Champion Single Sculls:

Dominique Ingres, Odalisque with Slave:

Jan Havicksz Steen, The Feast of St. Nicholas:

Gerome Roman, The Slave Market:

Jan Van Eyck, The Arnolfini Wedding:

Thomas Eakins, Between Rounds:

Edgar Degas, The Ballet Class:

Benjamin West, Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity From The Sky:

Edward Hicks, The Peaceable Kingdom:

William Adolphe Bougereau, Nymphs and Satyr:

Archibald Willard, The Spirit of 76:

Francisco Hayez, The Kiss:

Santa Classics

They also make great Christmas cards and you can shop for those here.