LEGO Vincent van Gogh – The Starry Night

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Launched in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art (where the original work resides), this LEGO reproduction of Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” uses 3D to mimic the master’s thick brushstrokes. Van Gogh painted “The Starry Night” during his asylum stay at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The set comes with a tiny Vincent van Gogh minifigure – a bit of levity for a man who led a very complicated, distraught life.

LEGO Hokusai – The Great Wave

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One of the most recognaizable works of art in the world, “The Great Wave” was a woodblock print created by Hokusai in 1831; only about 100 prints survive to the current day. This LEGO recreation uses LEGO Dots to achieve its printed appearance, and it comes with a tile piece that bears Hokusai’s signature.

LEGO Leonardo da Vinci – Mona Lisa

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Da Vinci loved to experiment. He worked on “Mona Lisa” for 15 years, making slight alterations and additions and never giving it to the man who commissioned it. It is purportedly a depiction of Italian noblewoman Lisa del Giocondo. Today, it’s primarily known for the subject’s mysterious smile, but it was infuential and known even in Rennaissance times. The LEGO recreation of “Mona Lisa” replicates the colors that da Vinci used centuries ago; the actual painting looks much darker today than it once did owing to age and varnish.

LEGO Vincent van Gogh – Sunflowers

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We built LEGO Vincent van Gogh – Sunflowers for its launch, and were impressed by its vividness and its size; who knew that yellow-on-yellow-on-yellow could be so distinctive? Van Gogh painted Sunflowers during his stay in Arles, France, and he created seven different paintings total. LEGO based this set on the second repetition of the fourth version, known in the art world as F458.

Robert Indiana – LOVE

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First made famous by its inclusion on the Modern Museum of Art’s 1965 Christmas card, Indiana recreated LOVE as a pop art sculpture in 1970. It has been reproduced numerous times since, perhaps most famously as the centerpiece of Philadelphia’s LOVE Park (officially John F. Kennedy Plaza). This LEGO set captures its inspiration’s original color scheme: red with green and blue edges. It makes for a great office display or holiday gift.

LEGO Keith Haring – Dancing Figures

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Heavily inspired by graffiti, Keith Haring was an artist and social activist whose work took on political themes. Haring died of AIDS-related complications in 1990. This set, which pays tribute to his legacy, comes with five separate instruction booklets (one for each dancing figure). They convey movement, freedom, and joy in a colorful, accessible way.

LEGO Batman: The Animated Series – Gotham City

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Inspired by the Art Deco movement of the 1910’s and 1920’s, this set is a large, interactive skyline of Batman’s Gotham City. It is on our list of the Best LEGO Sets currently available, and so of course, we had to include it on our LEGO Art list as well. Many of the building’s interfaces are removable to reveal the inner workings of Wayne Manor, Arkham Asylum, and more. As a tribute to Batman: The Animated series, it’s a worthy of any LEGO Batman collector with a love for the show.

Why LEGO Art?

Promoting LEGO as a lifestyle is a stroke of marketing genius, because of how it seamlessly integrates LEGO into people’s spaces. It’s neither a toy apart from the room, nor is it a hindrance that demands front-and-center prominence.

LEGO Art is decorative and adds ambience to the room without complicating or cluttering it. It is for everyone to enjoy and appreciate, especially for the builder, who gets to admire their creation every day instead of tripping over it.

Kevin Wong is a contributing freelancer for IGN, specializing in LEGO. He’s also been published in Complex, Engadget, Gamespot, Kotaku, and more. Follow him on Twitter at @kevinjameswong.