María Roldán turns banknotes and coins into works of art

The artist from Malaga has been paying tribute to great artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Frida Kahlo and Banksy for the last five years by hand-painting their works on banknotes and coins. María Roldán captures the most iconic paintings on the most everyday canvases without altering their functionality.

María Roldán began her project when she painted Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam on a 10-euro banknote. After checking the legality of the banknote, which is that if you don’t cover the serial number, the note still has value, the artist used it to pay in a cafeteria. Since that day, her works of art have been circulating all over the world, combining the classical and the contemporary on one canvas.

Although her favourite painter is Van Gogh, the Malaga-born artist has captured the self-portraits of Frida Kahlo, the surrealism of Salvador Dalí, the impressionism of Claude Monet, the beaches of Joaquín Sorolla, the activism of Banksy, The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, The Great Wave of Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai, The Scream by Edvard Munch and the symbolism of Gustav Klimt.

6 photos

If you want to know more about the artist María Roldán, don’t hesitate to visit her website, Instagram or TikTok and keep an eye out for one of their tickets because they are legal.

Now… Why don’t you take a look at the latest Gucci collection?