Focus on Whistler's Mother and explain the In popular culture.
The painting has been featured or mentioned in numerous works of fiction and within pop culture. These include films such as Sing and Like It (1934), the Donald Duck shorts Early to Bed (1941) & Donald's Diary (1954), The Fortune Cookie (1966), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Babette's Feast (1986), Bean (1997), I Am Legend (2007), and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013).
English rock musician John Lennon used a self-portrait modeled after the painting on the cover of his 1975 compilation album Shaved Fish.It has been mentioned in television episodes of The Simpsons ("Rosebud", "The Trouble with Trillions", and "The Burns and the Bees").
The painting is mentioned in Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita.The painting is mentioned in part six of Don Delillo's novel Underworld.In a four-part episode of the Underdog cartoon series (Parts 69-72 in the series) entitled "Whistler's Father", Underdog is assigned to stand guard in a museum to prevent the theft of a valuable painting called Whistler's Father.The film The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) features the shape of the painting as a birthmark that is used to identify a character after he is replaced with an "evil double."The painting is central to the plot of the comedy film Bean (1997), in which Mr. Bean accidentally defaces it during its repatriation to the United States and secretly replaces it with a poster.
The painting was featured in America's Next Top Model, Cycle 5 to inspire the photoshoots for Olay's Quench body lotion, in a modern interpretation of the classical artwork.Fred Armisen's character Karl Cowperthwaite frequently mentions the painting in season 4 of the TV show Last Man on Earth.Cole Porter’s Anything Goes lists the painting in the song "You're the Top".
Actor Hurd Hatfield toured internationally several times with the play Son of Whistler's Mother by playwright Maggie Williams.The movie Sneakers (1992) features two characters code-named Whistler and Mother, played by David Strathairn and Dan Aykroyd, respectively.Between 1959 and 2021, the Douglas A-26 Invader serial number 41-39401 was either flown or displayed with the name of Whistler's Mother. It featured a reproduction of the painting on the nose.
Underworld Olay Hurd Hatfield Early to Bed Sneakers Shaved Fish Fred Armisen Last Man on Earth Mr. Bean right Underdog The Simpsons America's Next Top Model, Cycle 5 Donald Duck Anything Goes The Trouble with Trillions Lolita The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear The Fortune Cookie You're the Top John Lennon Bean Vladimir Nabokov Donald's Diary The Rocky Horror Picture Show Babette's Feast Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 Don Delillo Cole Porter I Am Legend Douglas A-26 Invader Sing and Like It Rosebud The Burns and the Bees