Can’t get enough of your favourite famous mushrooms at dinner time? We’ve got you covered!

Dive into this list, get inspired, and explore some of the many ways mushrooms and fungi have been celebrated in art and pop culture through history and around the world. From some of our childhood movie marathon favourites to vivid and mind-bending artwork, mushrooms have made their way onto our screens and canvas’ and into our galleries and imaginations. Join us as we share just a few examples of what incredible things can happen when mycology meets creativity.

#1 The Famous Mushrooms from Disney’s Fantasia

A childhood classic featuring mushrooms dancing to Chinese Dance (Tea) by composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. If you are a 90s kid, you had this movie on repeat as a child and if you remember what having VHS was like, you know that is a lot of time spent rewinding those tapes. If there is a little mushroom lover in your life, this could be a great way to expand their mushroom repertoire.

#2 The Last of Us

A video game turned TV series; this post-apocalyptic world will have you questioning your fungi fandom. The Play Station game, originally released in 2013, gets a 4.8/5-star rating from Google users and features impressive imagery of dangerous fungus that threaten the population and the existence of mankind. The television adaption does not disappoint, ending most episodes on a cliff hanger and leaving the audience excited (and a little nervous) for what’s to come. The show has a whopping 96% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes!

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#3 Annihilation

This 2018 film stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, and Oscar Isaac. A grief-stricken biologist volunteers herself for a mysterious expedition into an environmental disaster zone where she is exposed to unknown and otherworldly phenomenon. Once inside, she sees visually stunning and mutated fungi. Need inspiration for your next movie night at home? There you have it. Check out the trailer.

#4 “The Mushroom Hunters”

A long form poem by written by Neil Gaiman. Neil is a famous English author of short fiction novels, comic books, graphic novel and screen plays. One widely known story being “Coraline” and another, “The
Sandman”, a comic book published by DC Comics. According to goodreads.com “The Mushroom Hunters” poem was lovingly addressed to Neil’s newborn son Ash (2017) and later went on to win the Rhysling Award for best long poem.

#5 “Blue Moon Mushroom” & “Flesh of the Gods”

Some examples of that “mind-bending” artwork we mentioned. Check out these original paintings and
prints by artist Alex Grey. “The secrets of spirituality are not only hidden in words, pictures or temples built by humans, but have been safely guarded by sacred plants for millennia.” – Alex Grey. Caution, staring at these famous mushrooms might make you start to rethink your life.

#6 Ernst Haeckel, German biologist

Ernst Haeckel used nature to inspire his skillful artwork. His vivid drawings, many of which are featured in “Kunstformen der Natur” (Art Forms in Nature), depict the beauty and diversity of all forms of nature, including intricate depictions of fungi. His works would later inspire the Art Nouveau artistic movement, an international style of art, architecture, and applied art which is often inspired by natural forms like plants and flowers. Read more on Ernst on Britannica.

#7 Toad

There are famous mushrooms, and then there’s this famous mushroom. Nintendo character, Toad, was first introduced to us in Super Mario Bros, a video game released in 1985. Toad most closely resembles a Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria), however, the colours are reversed. He’s the fastest in Mario Kart. Trust us.

#8 Takashi Murakami

A Japanese contemporary artist, Takashi has several pieces inspired by mushrooms in all their forms. One particularly engaging piece is “Posi Mushroom”, but you can also find his work on the cover of the album
“Graduation” by Kayne West and in collaborations with celebrities like Pharrell Williams. Here’s his official website (head’s up, it’s like 90% Japanese).

#9 Our Founder’s Favourite Famous Mushrooms

We asked our founder, “What’s your favourite famous fungi?” Turns out his favourite famous fungi can be found in another childhood classic. Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland follows Alice through a dream where she comes across many ‘wonderful’ mushrooms, including the “Eat Me” mushrooms that trigger her to grow and shrink in size.

Mushrooms and fungi have proven time and time again to be an inspiration for art of all kinds, creating a bridge between reality and infinite imagination. It’s incredible to see what can happen when one of nature’s most fascinating wonders meets the vast creativity that exists in our world. If movies, tv shows, video games, paintings, poems and our imaginations can be inspired to such great heights by fungi, well… we can’t wait to see what comes next!

Where will our next great famous fungi appear? Will it be an undiscovered species or will it perhaps be the muse of a prolific artist?

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