Art is the Solution

Pumpkinhead Self Portrait Source: Wiki Art Today, I want to celebrate Halloween by talking about a very fun painting by Jamie Wyeth: Pumpkinhead Self Portrait . Jamie Wyeth is a member of the famous Wyeth family, and is the son and grandson respectively of celebrated painters Andrew Wyeth and N.C. Wyeth. Although he’s probably not as well known as his relatives, he’s certainly a famous and talented painter in his own right. I was fortunate enough to see an exhibition of art by the Wyeth family at the Brandywine Conservancy several years ago, and one of my favorite pieces in the collection was Wyeth’s Pumpkinhead Self Portrait . Aside from being very entertaining, this painting challenges the tradition of self portraits in Western art. I read this piece as an expression of formalist ideas, a literary theory that divorces the artist/author and their intentions from their art. In this painting, Wyeth removes himself from his own self portrait, a somewhat self deprecating gesture...

Witches' Sabbath or the Great He-Goat Source: Museo del Prado Spanish art Francisco Goya is one of my favorite painters. Throughout his long career, Goya produced hundreds of highly original paintings and prints. His work is often disturbing and frightening, but it is always imaginative and fascinating. Modern art historians usually regard Goya’s work to be ahead of its time; his art would not be amiss in an exhibition of Modernist or Surrealist paintings.  I had the privilege of seeing one of Goya’s most haunting masterpieces, Witches' Sabbath (also called The Great He-Goat ), in person when I visited the Prado Museum for the first time in 2012. It’s a massive painting that has a huge visual impact when you see it in person. It also made my skin crawl a little bit; I found it to be a highly creepy painting. The Great He-Goat is one of Goya’s “Black Paintings,” a group of fourteen images that he created while living in a house called Quinta del Sordo (which translates to the...

Puss in Boots Source: Wikipedia I’m told that today is National Cat Day, so I’d like to celebrate that with a particularly entertaining piece of cat art: Puss in Boots by Gustave Doré. Doré was a French artist who was best known for his illustrations of books and poems. He created this engraving of Puss in Boots to accompany the cat’s story in a book of fairy tales. The illustration depicts the character of Puss in Boots raising the alarm as another character drowns in the background; the original caption for the image read: "Help! The Marquis of Carabas is drowning." Although the engraving clearly displays Doré’s artistic skill (he was an acknowledged master of the woodcut-engraving technique), its true charm comes from Doré’s creative use of detail. The cat is resplendent in a pair of truly extraordinary boots, a necklace of bird’s heads, and a brace of dead mice hanging from his belt. The cat stands on two legs with an animated, almost human expression. Doré’s de...

The Ambassadors Source: Wikimedia Commons Today, Hans Holbein the Younger is primarily known as one of the greatest portrait artists of the sixteenth century. He is particularly famous for a rather striking painting of King Henry VIII. However, today I’m going to be talking about Holbein’s spookiest masterpiece: The Ambassadors . At first glance, The Ambassadors is a straightforward portrait of two french diplomats named Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve. The two men probably commissioned the painting while working in London, as Holbein spent a considerable portion of his career working in England. The painting depicts the two men standing in a richly appointed room. Between them, a table holds musical instruments, scientific tools, and books. One of the ambassadors was a member of the clergy, while the other was a landowner. These items represent the secular and sacred knowledge that the two men possess. The items could symbolize the way these two types of knowledge complement ...

Portrait of Mariana de Silva y Sarmiento Source: MET Museum At first glance, there’s nothing very spooky about Anton Raphael Mengs’ Portrait of Mariana de Silva y Sarmiento . However, when you look a little more closely, it’s easy to see why this unfinished painting often gives viewers the creeps. Mengs was one of the leading artists of the Neoclassical movement, a style that was inspired by Greek and Roman art and architecture. Neoclassical art tends to be staid and serious in subject with clean, sharp, stylistic percisison. Mengs was one of the first artists to adopt the style, and today he is well-known for his portraits and mythological scenes. According to my research , Mengs’ Portrait of Mariana de Silva y Sarmiento was most likely commissioned to celebrate the lady’s second marriage. The painting was left unfinished and then later altered for reasons that are unclear to art historians. The painting initially depicted the lady holding symbols of marriage: a ring, a key, and a do...

How They Met Themselves Source: Wikimedia Commons Freud’s theory of the uncanny explains the aversion or fear that humans experience when they encounter something that is familiar, yet somehow eerie. A familiar thing becoming unfamiliar produces deep anxiety and fear. Although I’m simplifying things quite a bit (I am in no way a psychologist), the basic idea is that the known produces more horror than the unknown. Although Freud didn’t write about the uncanny until 1919, the idea behind his theory is on full display in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s 1864 watercolor entitled How They Met Themselves . Rossetti—who was one of the most prominent members of the Pre-Raphaelite movement—brings Medieval imagery and psychological drama to this fascinating painting. The piece depicts two lovers walking through the woods; the pair have just encountered identical versions of themselves, swathed in a phantasmagorical glow. The original couple stare at their doubles in mute horror. The idea of the doppelg...

The Witches Source: MET Museum The Halloween season is the perfect time of year to discuss witches, and, fortunately for us, many artists were fairly obsessed with witchcraft. This includes German artist Hans Baldung, who seemed to take particular pleasure in crafting the most outlandish and gratuitous supernatural scenes possible. Baldung was a student of the great Albrecht Dürer—one of the most famous and important artists in Western history—and he shared his master’s passion for printmaking. The Witches is a fine example of Baldung’s printmaking mastery. It uses the technique of chiaroscuro woodcut, which, according to my research , was a revolutionary development in printmaking that involved using different woodblocks inked with different colors to form an image. This allowed for greater depth and contrast in prints. Aside from the artistic innovations, I find this piece to be a really fun piece of art. It depicts a group of nude witches gathered around a caldron that seems to emi...

The Premature Burial Source: Wikimedia Commons As a painter, Antoine Joseph Wiertz is relatively obscure, yet his work is incredibly devise and controversial. Wiertz—who is probably best defined as a Romantic painter, although that word doesn't really describe his art—had a penchant for creating grotesque and horrifying scenes. He seemed to be irresistibly drawn to the darker side of life, tackling gruesome subjects like suicide, cannibalism, and public executions. Some critics find his work to be needlessly graphic, a gratuitous attempt to attract attention through gore and shock value. For example, one critic described the Wiertz museum of Brussels in the following words : "In recent years the Wiertz Museum has attracted an average of just ten visitors a day ... The Belgian state is legally stuck with all 220 of his [Wiertz'] works—dreadful though most of them are—and an obligation to display them forever. ... [Wiertz was] perhaps the worst painter to have a government-f...

The Ghost of a Flea Source: Wikimedia Commons Most people know William Blake as a poet. He’s particularly famous for his “Tyger Tyger, burning bright” poem, which I particularly enjoy. However, what most people do not know is that Blake was also a prolific artist with a distinctive and unique style. Blake’s illustrations for Dante’s Divine Comedy are perhaps his best-known works of art; however his painting The Ghost of a Flea is probably one of his most bizarre and unique works. The painting is part of a series of sketches that Blake created for astrologist and spiritualist John Varley. Blake had visions throughout his life, which fascinated Varley. Thus, he asked Blake to create a series of images based on his visionary experiences. The flea was one such apparition. Traditionally (and for good reason) fleas are associated with dirtiness, greed, and other undesirable attributes. According to my research , when the flea appeared to Blake, he understood it to be "...inhabited by ...

Dracula Source: Guy Hepner Legends of vampires have existed throughout human culture for centuries. However, the modern obsession with vampires in Western culture emerged in the nineteenth century with the publication of John William Polidori’s novel The Vampyre and Bram Stoker’s later novel Dracula .  Since then, vampires have become a staple of modern pop culture and have entered the collective imagination on a grand scale. Vampires have also become a classic symbol of Halloween (and the spooky season more generally), so today I want to introduce you to Andy Warhol’s classic depiction of Dracula. This print is part of Warhol’s myth collection, which he used to explore and interrogate twentieth century American pop culture. Warhol was deeply interested in the idea of fame and the recognizability of widespread images in pop culture, and he used the myth series to dissect and examine these ideas. This collection is Warhol’s modern take on the classical imagery of ancient mythology...

Self Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle Source: Wikimedia Commons “Ars longa, vita brevis.” This famous quote—which is attributed to the Greek physician Hippocrates—translates to “art is long, life is short,” and it is the perfect phrase to describe the self-portrait of Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin. The piece depicts the artist hard at work with a palette full of paint. He gazes out into the distance, as if deep in thought about the painting he’s working on. Behind him, a grinning skeleton leans over his shoulder. The skeleton plays a fiddle with only one string, which, according to my research , is tuned to G. Böcklin seems to listen to this strange music as he paints, although he does not look toward the skeleton. The piece itself is rather informal and dramatic, showing the influence of Romanticism on Böcklin’s work. The iconography of this piece is a reference to two different artistic motifs that were common in European art: the memento mori and the danse macabre (the dance of...

Girl with Death Mask (She Plays Alone) Source: fridakahlo.org As we continue to celebrate the month of October, I want to introduce a rather unsettling piece of art produced by one of the world’s most famous artists: Frida Kahlo. There is perhaps no better known female painter than Kahlo. Her face is familiar to nearly everyone in the Western world; it is featured on posters, t-shirts, and mugs and has been co-opted by fashion designers and even (strangely) used to sell cosmetic products. While she is most famous for these self-portraits, Kahlo’s work extends across a wide variety of subjects, which she handles with her characteristically nuanced and original approach to art. However, Girl with Death Mask (She Plays Alone) is probably one of her most interesting and enigmatic paintings. The piece depicts a young girl wearing a mask that is reminiscent of the calaveras (skulls) commonly found in Day of the Dead celebrations. She holds a marigold in her hand, another common offering tha...

Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette Source: Wikimedia Commons Oh, Vincent Van Gogh. He’s one of the most famous painters in the world, yet he’s best known for a handful of paintings and cutting off his own ear (although, to be fair, that story is pretty interesting ). However, in truth, Van Gogh was a very prolific artist who created a large volume of interesting paintings. Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette is one of his early pieces, completed while he was a student at the art academy in Antwerp. Students at the academy used skeletons to study human anatomy and drawing skeletons was part of the curriculum. However, Van Gogh’s painting of a skull with a cigarette clamped between its teeth was not course work. There are two common interpretations of this piece. The most common reading is to view the painting as a memento mori, a traditional genre of painting that is designed to remind the viewer of their own mortality. Van Gogh himself suffered with many health problem...

The Garden of Death Source: Wikimedia Commons As I’ve written before, I’m focusing on spooky art this October, and what’s spookier than a skeleton? The answer is nothing except a whole garden of skeletons, and that is the subject of Hugo Simberg’s macabre masterpiece, The Garden of Death .  Simberg is one of Finland’s most famous painters. He was a member of the symbolist movement, an artistic movement that sought to expressive higher truths through art. Simberg revels in strange and supernatural subjects, and his work typically has an otherworldly aura. The Garden of Death portrays three skeletons dressed in the traditional black robe of the Grim Reaper. The reapers tend raised beds full of colorful flowers and exotic plants. While the subject of the painting may seem grisly, it is actually a rather optimistic portrayal of death. The contrast of the skeletons and the flowers is a reminder that the cycle of life and death is an endless loop that always returns to birth and renewal...

Autumn Leaves Source: Art UK We’re well into the fall season now, so today I’m celebrating the autumnal colors of changing leaves. To do that, I want to share a masterpiece by Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais. Like all Pre-Raphaelites Millais was inspired by a desire to create serious and realistic art that was also pleasing to the eye, and Autumn Leaves is no exception. The piece depicts four young girls piling dry leaves in a heap while fire smoke drifts into the scene from the left, suggesting that the girls might plan to burn the leaves. When I was little, kids liked to jump in piles of leaves, but the girls in Millais’ painting have nothing so frivolous in mind. Instead, the young women are unusually serious, gazing at the viewer with deep solemnity while creating their leaf pyramid. Autumn is usually associated with middle age and approaching death, so the contrast of the dead leaves and the youth of the girls is particularly striking. The gathering darkness in the ba...

The Nightmare Source: Wikimedia Commons As spooky season continues, I want to share with you a painting that both fascinated and horrified eighteenth and nineteenth century viewers: Henry Fuseli’s masterpiece The Nightmare . Although much of his work tends to be moralizing, Fuseli was a painter who reveled in the weird and dramatic. Fuseli was often inspired by plays and other literature, giving many of his paintings a theatrical air. His work tended to be dark and color and peopled with dramatic figures in moments of physical or psychological crisis. The Nightmare , his most famous painting, is no exception. Although, it is unique in that it doesn’t present a clear message or moral. The piece portrays a woman in a white nightgown sprawled asleep on a bed. A squat, grimacing demon sits on her chest, while, behind the bed, a black horse pushes its head into the scene. Traditionally, the scene is interpreted as a literal depiction of the young woman’s nightmare, with the demon representi...

Witches' Flight Source: Museo del Prado There are few artists who imbue more magic and mystery in their art than Spanish painter and print-maker Francisco Goya. The supernatural was a recurring theme in his work. In fact, it’s fair to say that Goya was fairly obsessed with witches, which feature heavily in his art. While this is true, Goya was not a believer in magic. In fact, Goya was a skeptic when it came to anything supernatural. He believed firmly in the logic and reason of the Enlightenment age, a frequent theme in his art. So, why was he so interested in witchcraft? For Goya, witches functioned as a symbol in his art. In his paintings, they represent the backwards social customs and superstition that plagued Spain at the time. Goya believed that Spain was being held back by a dogmatic adherence to medieval beliefs and superstition, which he subtly mocks in his witch paintings. The inclusion of witches in his art can also be read as a criticism of the Spanish Inquisition, whi...

The Genius of Evil by Guillaume Geefs Source: Wikimedia Commons A few days ago, I discussed Franz von Stuck’s portrait of Lucifer. Though his depiction of the fallen angel is bone-chilling, Belgian artist Guillaume Geefs’ depiction of Satan is undeniably beautiful. The Genius of Evil (which is a fabulous name by the way) is a life-size statue of the devil that was commissioned for the pulpit of St. Paul's Cathedral in the Belgian city of Liège; the theme of the decoration was supposed to be "the Triumph of Religion over the Genius of Evil." While this triumph is represented in the chain around his ankle and the broken scepter in his hands. If you overlook his massive bat wings, horns, and talon-like nails, Geefs’ Lucifer appears to be an otherwise ordinary man, albeit a rather handsome one. In studying his work, it is obvious that Geefs was influenced by both the Neoclassical and Romantic movements. Lucifer’s dramatic pose and overt emotion (you can see a tear sliding d...

The Dog Source: Wikimedia Commons During one art history class I took in college, the professor told us that she was about to show us one of the most disturbing (in her opinion) paintings in all of art history. That painting was The Dog by Francisco Goya, a piece that—more than any other—represents hopelessness and desperation. I saw The Dog at the Prado Museum The Dog is one of Goya’s “Black Paintings,” a group of fourteen images that he created while living in a house called Quinta del Sordo (which translates to the Villa of the Deaf). Wracked by mental and physical illness, Goya painted a series of horrific and sinister scenes on the walls. The Dog was one of these pieces. Later art historians have struggled to interpret the Black Paintings, but they generally agree that the paintings reflect the failings of humankind and Goya’s deep disappointment in the world and everything it represents. The Dog is one of the most haunting scenes in the series. It depicts a black dog trapp...

Lucifer Source: Wikimedia Commons There are few things more spooky than Satan, am I right? So, as October continues, I want to share one of the creepiest paintings of the devil out there: Lucifer by German artist Franz von Stuck. In a word, von Stuck’s work can be described as dark. Some of his most famous paintings include subjects like Dante’s Inferno, the Roman god of the Underworld, Pluto, original sin, seduction, and, of course, Lucifer himself. von Stuck was a member of the Symbolist movement, an artistic style that sought to convey meaning through the artist’s own particular language of symbolism. While their styles vary greatly Symbolist painters tend to lean on mythology, mysticism, and dream-like imagery. According to my research , von Stuck approached Symbolism through focus on the idea of duality and the nature of humanity. His art explores the contradictory nature of the human condition, such as life and death or pain and pleasure. His work was well-respected by other art...

Apotheosis of Cats Source: WikiArt For better or for worse, cats have always been associated with witchcraft and mystery. Personally, I think this is a bit unfair; although they’re magnificent animals, there is nothing supernatural about ordinary, domestic cats. Yet, French artist Théophile Alexandre Steinlen is able to inject some magic into the image of the cat. Steinlen, who is famous for designing Parisian posters and advertisements, was also an ardent lover of cats. He produced many drawings and paintings of cats throughout his career, all in his Art Nouveau style. That being said, the Apotheosis of Cats is probably one of his more inventive pieces. The painting depicts a sea of cats spilling out like an ocean across the streets and rooftops of a cityscape which might represent Paris. The cats—which can be found in all shapes, sizes, and colors—swarm toward a massive cat in the distance, which is silhouetted against a gigantic yellow moon. The exact significance of this strange a...

Medusa Source: Wikimedia Commons There are few artists of the Baroque movement more famous than Dutch painter Peter Paul Rubens. The Baroque period was truly an extraordinary time for painting. Although style varied widely between artists, the art of the Baroque period—which is characterized by drama, energy, motion, and heightened emotion—holds a special attraction, appealing to the human psyche on a deep level. In particular, Rubens is known for his paintings of women, which are characterized by full-figured, semi-nude ladies with skin so pale that it’s bluish.  I’m typically not a fan of Rubens paintings, but I have to give him a nod for his rendition of the Greek mythological monster Medusa. His Medusa is terrifying, gory, and perfect for spooky season. The piece depicts the severed head of Medusa, one of Greek mythology’s darkest and most horrifying characters. According to legend, Medusa was one of the three Gorgons, monstrous sisters with snakes instead of hair. Medusa hers...

Dragon (1892) Source: WikiArt October is the season of monsters. No Halloween celebration would be complete without guests dressed as vampires, mummies, and werewolves. However, my favorite monster is something a little larger and more fiery: a dragon. Fortunately, there is one artist who celebrates mythological creatures in all their glory: Theodor Severin Kittelsen. Kittelsen—a Norwegian artist—is well-known today for his paintings and drawings representing Scandinavian legends and fairy tales. His style is charming and whimsical, imbued with the spiritual and emotional fervor of the Romantic movement. Well, Kittelsen is especially well known for his drawings and paintings of Norwegian trolls, he also produced many illustrations of dragons throughout his career. The painting I’m featuring today depicts the skeleton of a dragon, made even more fearsome and terrifying in death. The desiccated corpse lays in a shadowed cave, surrounded by scattered pieces of gold and treasure, decorated...

Knight, Death, and the Devil Source: MET Museum There are few individuals who have revolutionized art more than Albrecht Dürer. Dürer—a German printmaker and painter who worked during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries—is known today for being one of the first artists to trademark and mass produce his work for sale to the public. Because of this, Dürer’s work achieved great popularity during his lifetime, which has continued to this day. One of his most famous prints is entitled Knight, Death, and the Devil . This spooky name makes it the perfect piece to include in my October art collection; however, the actual content of the print is a little more mundane. The piece depicts a knight on horseback, riding through a rocky gorge. Two horned figures, one representing the devil and one representing death on a pale horse, leer at the knight. Death carries an hourglass, a reminder that death comes for everyone, even the knight. According to my research , Dürer chose to craft the print as ...

The Stroll Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum When you think of October and Halloween, what do you picture? In The Stroll —a deceptively simple painting executed by American artist Gertrude Abercrombie—we see a tall woman dressed completely in black walking along a path lit by moonlight with a black cat by her side. Where she is going and why she is taking a stroll in the middle of the night is unclear. However, if The Stroll doesn’t bring to mind the subtle creepy and spookiness of October, I don’t know what will. In my imagination, the woman in The Stroll is a witch of immense power, walking a lonely and difficult path that brings inner strength and profound magic. But, that’s probably my literary imagination running away with me. In actuality, it is probably more sensible to interpret this wonderfully witchy painting as a metaphor for life and all the troubles it brings. The woman in the painting walks along with her back straight and her head held high, the picture of streng...

A Visit to the Haunted Chamber Source: Wikimedia Commons British painter William Frederick Yeames is probably best known for history paintings, which often depict scenes from England’s past, focusing especially on events from the Tudor and Stuart dynasties. Yeames’ style is clean and precise, reminiscent of the neat, smoothness of the Neoclassical style.  However, the painting I’m going to talk about today is much creepier (and more comedic) than any of Yeames’ historical dramas. A Visit to the Haunted Chamber is a contemporary comedic scene with a spooky twist. The piece depicts two young women of the Victorian age entering a bedroom in what seems to be a very old house. The Victorians were very interested in history, which they used as a vehicle to understand their position in the modern world. During this time, historical fiction and other romanticized narratives about history became increasingly popular. A Visit to the Haunted Chamber depicts the common pastime of visiting a hi...

Out Hunting for Teeth Source: MET Museum Francisco Goya’s print series Los Caprichos is widely considered to be one the most influential artistic projects of its time. The Caprichos were not widely known at the time of their publication, but they had a resounding impact on art over the next hundred years. Although the Caprichos series explores themes of the Enlightenment—which is usually associated with logic and reason—many of the prints are incredibly dark, full of violence, chaos, and black magic. Thus, they’re perfect for Spooky Season (a.k.a. October). A Caza de Dientes (which translates to Out Hunting for Teeth ) is one of the most disturbing scenes in the series. The piece depicts a young woman reaching into the mouth of a hanged man to extract his teeth. Her face is turned away in horrified disgust and she holds a cloth up to her cheeks as if it will defend her from the repulsive act she performs. The corpse hangs from a rope of the right, hands bound together and feet bare...

Faun by Moonlight Source: Wikimedia Commons If you want to create a spooky atmosphere in your home this fall, look no further than the work of Belgian artist Léon Spilliaert. Spilliaert’s art is characterized by dark color schemes, enigmatic subjects, desolate landscapes and lots of drama. Spilliaert’s uniquely gloomy style emerged from the Symbolist movement. The Symbolists felt that artists should seek a higher truth in their work. Like the Romantics before them, Symbolists turned toward an emotionally rich and psychologically complex visual lexicon. However, while the Romantics often accomplished this through painting the natural world, Symbolists pursued a more abstract approach. As the name suggests, Symbolist artists used a symbolic language to convey an internal world of thoughts and emotions. Spilliaert achieved this through a dark and dramatic form of introspection, which is on display in paintings like Faun by Moonlight . The piece depicts a faun playing pipes as he leads a h...

Posthumous Remorse Source: Pinterest As the third day of Spooky Season (a.k.a. October) begins, I want to talk about the art of Carlos Schwabe, who created some of the weirdest and creepiest paintings in all of Western art. The work of Schwabe—who was part of the Symbolist movement—ranges from bloody and horrifying to Romantic and touching. Yet, all his work exhibits a fiercely original mind and an expansive imagination. Like all Symbolists, Schwabe was interested in seeking a higher truth through art. Like the Romantics before them, Symbolists turned toward an emotionally rich and psychologically complex visual lexicon. However, while the Romantics often accomplished this through painting the natural world, Symbolists pursued a more abstract approach. As the name suggests, these artists used a symbolic language to convey an internal world of thoughts and emotions. Although Schwabe is well known as a Symbolist, his painting Posthumous Remorse is not so complex when it comes to symbolis...