Art


 * For the collection of art-related items in Wild World, City Folk, and New Leaf, see Art (category).

Art in the refers to furniture such as paintings and sculptures that are based on real-life works of art. Paintings appear in every game and can be placed in a house as decoration, or, beginning in, donated to the art wing of the museum. Sculptures are introduced in, and serve a similar function. In and subsequent games, there is a chance for a painting or sculpture to be a forgery. Forged artwork are less valuable than genuine pieces, and forgeries cannot be donated to the museum.

In most games, art can be bought in one of two locations: either at Tom Nook's store or from Redd. Prior to, they appear infrequently at Tom Nook's store as spotlight items and are guaranteed to be authentic. Paintings are stocked more frequently at Crazy Redd's; there is always one painting in his original stock of three items. However, Redd's paintings are more expensive (costing 3,920 Bells) and there is a chance for it to be counterfeit. Villagers frequently speak of Redd's illicit dealings, some having even bought a painting and having it identified as a fake later, much to their dismay. If a villager mentions having bought a fake painting, it means that the painting at the moment in stock at Crazy Redd's is fake.

All artwork items in the are based on artwork in the real world, such as paintings resembling Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, or Klimt's The Kiss, and sculptures resembling Michelangelo's David. No items use real-world names, instead being named with an adjective followed by Painting or Statue. Such examples are the Worthy Painting, Flowery Painting, and the Mystic Statue.

After being bought, artwork may be donated to the museum by speaking to the curator, Blathers. Donations can be made unless the same work of art is already on display or is forged. Accepted art will be added to the gallery in the museum with a corresponding title and name of the player who donated it. If the artwork is forged, Blathers will identify it as such and reject the donation, in keeping with the museum's wish for high quality exhibits. Artwork may also be placed in a house, with paintings placed on an easel.

In
Fifteen paintings appear in, including two that are not normally obtainable in and do not appear in subsequent games: the Dreadful Painting and Novel Painting, based on Edvard Munch's The Scream and Piet Mondrian's Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue, respectively. Since the museum does not appear in, paintings cannot be donated and can only be used as furniture.

In and
In, paintings can now be donated to the museum, where they are added to an art exhibit. They can be obtained from either Tom Nook's store or Crazy Redd's Furniture Emporium. The Japanese version features four paintings that do not appear in international versions: the Lovely Painting, Healing Painting, Nice Painting, and Pleasant Feeling Painting. Additionally, the Dreadful Painting and Novel Painting from can be obtained exclusively via the Data Moving Service, though they cannot be donated to the museum. In international releases, the four aforementioned paintings are replaced with the Basic Painting, Scary Painting, Quaint Painting, and Classic Painting respectively, and the two paintings from are removed altogether. In, paintings are identical to international versions of.

In
In, all paintings now have a chance of being forgeries, which cannot be donated to the museum and sell for 10 Bells. They can be obtained from Crazy Redd's or Tom Nook's store. Five new paintings have been added: the Amazing Painting, Nice Painting, Opulent Painting, Solemn Painting, and Warm Painting. Additionally, the Lovely Painting returns from after being absent in  and, while the Classic Painting does not return, making for a total of twenty paintings. The Amazing Painting from is now known as the Calm Painting. Forged paintings can be exchanged for 100 Bells if the player has signed up for Lyle's insurance.

In
Six new paintings are introduced in : the Dynamic Painting, Jolly Painting, Moody Painting, Scenic Painting, Serene Painting, and Wistful Painting. Additionally, the Dainty Painting, Lovely Painting, Opulent Painting, and Rare Painting do not return from, making for a total of twenty-three paintings. Like in, paintings can be forgeries and are obtained from either Redd or Tom Nook's store.

In
A new type of artwork, statues, is introduced in. Eight statues appear, as well as twenty-four paintings. There are three new paintings: the Graceful Painting, Neutral Painting, and Wild Painting; additionally, the Strange Painting does not return from. Artwork is obtained from Redd's Gallery, which occasionally appears in the plaza, and each player may purchase a single item which will be subsequently mailed to their house. As in other games, not all items offered by Redd are genuine, although forged paintings and sculptures appear differently to the genuine pieces. Additionally, villagers may tell the player that they have met a 'red figure' in the train station, referring to Redd, then tell the player they bought a painting from him. The villagers will ask the player to buy it from them and will say that they have no idea if it is a forgery or not. Unlike in previous games, Timmy and Tommy's store does not offer artwork for ordering from the catalog. Forgeries cannot be sold to Re-Tail, although Reese will dispose of them for a fee.

In
While initially absent from, art was added in the 1.2.0 April Free Update. Six new paintings and five new statues have been added, and two paintings, the Fine Painting and Neutral Painting, do not return from, making for a total of 42 works of art. New works include the Academic Painting, Detailed Painting, Glowing Painting, Mysterious Painting, Sinking Painting, Twinkling Painting, Familiar Statue, Informative Statue, Rock-Head Statue, Tremendous Statue, and Warrior Statue. The process of obtaining art is mostly the same as in, though with Redd's tent replaced with Jolly Redd's Treasure Trawler, a boat which periodically appears on the beach at the back of the player's island. Jock, lazy, smug, and cranky villagers in this game can also occasionally mail the player artwork, which can be either real or fake: jock and lazy villagers can send any piece of art, real or fake, smug villagers can only send forgeries, and cranky villagers can specifically send any sculpture, real or fake, but not paintings (incidentally, both halves of the Wild Painting are treated as sculptures in the game's code, resulting in cranky villagers being able to mail copies of them to the player). A new feature with that art is that fake art is "haunted" and will change at night time. For example, in the wistful painting, the girl will close her eyes.