EUROPE
Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch®

Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch® (wachiwit - stock.adobe.com)

All 43 pieces of art in the game “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” are genuine artworks from museums around the world. Their in-game names like “Wistful Painting” or “Ancient Statue” reflect the artistic style, but it’s unclear exactly why they were renamed. And, while you might encounter fakes in the game (thanks to that sneaky fox, Redd), in real life the art is owned by museums around the world. 

To see every piece of art on display, you would need to travel to 12 countries. While in Europe, you can feasibly see 29 of the artworks in Animal Crossing. Here is where to go: 

Paris, France 

There are a whopping eight art pieces from Animal Crossing in Paris. Some of the most famous are at the Louvre, including paintings of the “Mona Lisa,” “Liberty Leading the People” and statues of “Venus de Milo” and “Winged Victory.”From there, it’s a lovely walk through the Tuileries Garden and across the Seine on the wooden pedestrian bridge (perhaps you need to leave your own love padlock) to the Musée d’Orsay, where you can take in Millet’s “The Gleaners,” Manet’s “The Fifer” and “Cézanne’s “Apples and Oranges.” A 15-minute walk away is your last destination: the garden behind the Rodin Museum where you can consider life’s great questions beside “The Thinker.”  

Rodin’s “The Thinker”

Rodin’s “The Thinker” (Robert - stock.adobe.com)

Italy 

The six Animal Crossing artworks in Italy are at six different museums, so these will take some planning. In Venice, Leonardo’s “Vitruvian Man” is on display at the Gallerie dell’Accadmia. While in Florence, visit the Accademia Gallery for Michelangelo’s “David.” You can then walk past Florence’s main sights on the way to the Uffizi Gallery for Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus.” If you visit Rome, you can see the “Discobolus” statue at the Pallazzo Massimo (part of the National Roman Museum) near the Termini train station. This guy is not the original lost bronze by Myron, but one of the marble versions popular in antiquity. Lastly, Italy is an easy place to see Hokusai’s “Great Wave.” Since it is a woodcut print, there are a few versions, but many museums around the world only display it in low light for limited periods. Lucky for you, it is new to Verona and on display at the Palazzo Maffei Casa Museo. Visit greatwavetoday.com for other exhibition schedules. 

Hokusai’s “Great Wave”

Hokusai’s “Great Wave” (Marty’s Art)

London, England 

London is the next big hitter, where you can cross off five pieces of Animal Crossing art. Start at the Tate Britain along the banks of the Thames and cry for a drowning “Ophelia.” A quick hop on the 87 bus will drop you at the National Gallery to see “Sunflowers” by Van Gogh and “The Fighting Temeraire” by Turner. From there, it’s a quick 10-minute walk down the Strand to The Courtauld Gallery to take in Manet’s “A Bar at the Folies-Bergére.” Finally, head to the British Museum where you can try to translate the Rosetta Stone. 

Berlin, Germany 

If you happen to be in Berlin, you can cross off two paintings by visiting the Museumsinsel (Museum Island). Be grateful you are not on the “Isle of the Dead” by Böcklin, which is on display at the Alte Nationalgalerie. There are additional copies of this uniquely dark piece at kunst (art) museums in Basel and Leipzig. Across the courtyard in the Neues Museum is the famous bust of Nefertiti.  

The Netherlands 

Three artworks from Animal Crossing can be found in The Netherlands. There are two paintings by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, and they are, frustratingly, at two different museums. “Girl with a Pearl Earring” is at the Mauritshuis in The Hague, while “The Milkmaid” is on display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Just down the hall from this is Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch,” in its own dedicated gallery. 

“The Milkmaid” by Johannes Vermeer

“The Milkmaid” by Johannes Vermeer (Mikolaj Niemczewski - stock.adobe.com)

Vienna, Austria 

At the Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna, you can see two pieces: “The Hunters in the Snow” and “Summer.” This painting of a woman’s profile made of fruit is one of four that each represents a season. It is displayed with “Winter,” the only other surviving original, and “Fire” and “Water,” from a similar series.  

Madrid, Spain 

There are two Animal Crossing art museum paintings on display at the Museo del Prado in Madrid. “Las Meninas” is prominently displayed in room 12. Down the hall, in room 38 is “The Clothed Maja” by Goya, beside its mysterious companion piece “The Naked Maja.” 

Krakow, Poland 

The final Europe-based painting from Animal Crossing is da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine.” This symbolic portrait has often been compared to his “Mona Lisa,” with some art historians favoring the ermine as a superior work. Da Vinci only ever painted four portraits of women.  

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Lady with an Ermine

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Lady with an Ermine (GiorgioMorara - stock.adobe.com)

Here is a list of all the “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” artworks and where to find their real-life counterparts. 

  1. Academic Painting | “Vitruvian Man” By Leonardo da Vinci | Gallerie dell’Accademia

  2. Amazing Painting | “The Night Watch” By Rembrandt van Rijn | Rijksmuseum

  3. Basic Painting | “The Blue Boy” By Thomas Gainsborough | Huntington Library

  4. Calm Painting | “A Sunday Afternoon on The Island of La Grande Jatte” By Georges Seurat | Art Institute of Chicago

  5. Common Painting | “The Gleaners” By Jean-François Millet | Musée d’Orsay

  6. Detailed Painting | “Rooster and Hen with Hydrangeas” By Itō Jakuchū | Los Angeles County Museum of Art (not currently on display)

  7. Dynamic Painting | “The Great Wave of Kanagawa” By Hokusai | greatwavetoday.com

  8. Famous Painting | “Mona Lisa” By Leonardo da Vinci | Louvre Museum

  9. Flowery Painting | “Sunflowers” By Vincent van Gogh | National Gallery

  10. Glowing Painting | “The Fighting Temeraire” By J.M.W. Turner | National Gallery

  11. Graceful Painting | “Beauty Looking Back” By Hishikawa Moronobu | Tokyo National Museum

  12. Jolly Painting | “Summer” By Giuseppe Arcimboldo | Kunsthistorisches Museum

  13. Moody Painting | “The Sower” By Jean-François Millet | Museum of Fine Arts

  14. Moving Painting | “The Birth of Venus” By Sandro Botticelli | Uffizi Gallery

  15. Mysterious Painting | “Isle of the Dead” By Arnold Böcklin | Alte Nationalgalerie

  16. Nice Painting | “The Fifer” By Édouard Manet | Musée d’Orsay

  17. Perfect Painting | “Apples and Oranges” By Paul Cézanne | Musée d’Orsay

  18. Proper Painting | “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère” By Édouard Manet | The Courtauld Gallery

  19. Quaint Painting | “The Milkmaid” By Johannes Vermeer | Rijksmuseum

  20. Scary Painting | “Kabuki Actor Ōtani Oniji III as Yakko Edobei” By Tōshūsai Sharaku | Metropolitan Museum of Art

  21. Scenic Painting | “The Hunters in the Snow” By Pieter Bruegel the Elder | Kunsthistorisches Museum

  22. Serene Painting | “Lady with an Ermine” By Leonardo da Vinci | Czartoryski Museum

  23. Sinking Painting | “Ophelia” By John Everett Millais | Tate Britain

  24. Solemn Painting | “Las Meninas” By Diego Velázquez | Museo Nacional del Prado

  25. Twinkling Painting | “The Starry Night” By Vincent van Gogh | Museum of Modern Art

  26. Warm Painting | “The Clothed Maja” By Francisco Goya | Museo del Prado

  27. Wild Painting Left Half | “Folding Screen of Fūjin and Raijin” By Tawaraya Sōtatsu | Tokyo National Museum

  28. Wild Painting Right Half | “Folding Screen of Fūjin and Raijin” By Tawaraya Sōtatsu | Tokyo National Museum

  29. Wistful Painting | “Girl with a Pearl Earring” By Johannes Vermeer | Mauritshuis

  30. Worthy Painting | “Liberty Leading the People” By Eugène Delacroix | Louvre Museum

  31. Ancient Statue | “Shakōki dogū” | Tokyo National Museum

  32. Beautiful Statue | “Venus de Milo” By Alexandros of Antioch | Louvre Museum

  33. Familiar Statue | “The Thinker” By Auguste Rodin | Rodin Museum

  34. Gallant Statue | “David” By Michelangelo | Accademia Gallery

  35. Great Statue | “Statue of Kamehameha” By Thomas Ridgeway Gould | Aliʻiolani Hale

  36. Informative Statue | “Rosetta Stone” | British Museum

  37. Motherly Statue | “Capitoline Wolf” | Musei Capitolini

  38. Mystic Statue | “Bust of Nefertiti” By Thutmose | Neues Museum

  39. Robust Statue | “The Discobolus” By Myron of Eleutherae | Pallazzo Massimo

  40. Rock-head Statue | “Olmec colossal head 1” | Museo de Antropología de Xalapa

  41. Tremendous Statue | “Houmuwu Ding” | National Museum of China

  42. Valiant Statue | “Winged Victory of Samothrace” | Louvre Museum

  43. Warrior Statue | “Terracotta Army soldier” | Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum

author picture
Kat is a travel and lifestyle writer based in Kaiserslautern, Germany with a special interest in anything theatrical, outdoorsy or ancient. She has a bachelor’s degree in geography from Penn State University and is currently in the depths of an archaeology dissertation for the University of the Highlands and Islands.

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