Macabre

In honor of Hallowe'en (or Samhain if you prefer), I thought it would be fun to post some examples of art that reflect this season that revels in the dark side.  I wish you all a very happy celebration as the border with the Otherworld grows thin!

The American neo-expressionist Jean-Michel Basquiat died at the age of 27, his young life ravaged by drugs, alcohol and mental illness.  This is one of his last paintings, inspired by a da Vinci drawing, and surely a blatant reflection of his state of mind and a foreboding of the near future.

Riding with Death (1988), Jean-Michel Basquiat

Bocklin is one of my favorite symbolists.  His Ruine am Meer is a great example of the extreme eroticism and morbidity of most of his work.  Bocklin loved the classical mythology of the Mediterranean, and most of his great works were set in this landscape.  The Victorians, who loved a good haunting, must have been very attracted to pictures like this.

Ruins by the Sea (1880), Arnold Bocklin

The avant-garde Belgian artist James Ensor had a thing for skeletons, painting them in colorful tableaux.  In fact, the bright, lively colors in this painting seem to me the creepiest thing here, as the main subject of the picture is clearly death.  This painting was in fact a re-worked portrait.  It started out as a family member, looking through a book of Japanese prints in the family home.  Ensor decided that a skeleton was more interesting.

Skeleton Looking at Chinoiseries (c. 1885), James Ensor

The devil is in the details, literally, in Bosch's immortal triptych which warns of the consequences of life's temptations.  Here, in one of the picture's hundreds of scenes, a demon inflicts his torments on a man.

The Garden of Earthly Delights, Detail (c. 1500), Hieronymus Bosch

When Fuseli's masterpiece was shown at the Royal Academy in 1782, it became the talk of the town, because it was interpreted to be all about sex.  It was said to have influenced later Gothic novels, poems, and centuries later even films.  This compelling image is in fact not just sexual, but is a melange of helpless innocence, power, evil, folklore, witchcraft, and the unconscious.

The Nightmare (1781), John Henry Fuseli

I'm just going to say what most of us think:  Edvard Munch was weird, or at least his paintings were delightfully so.  He always makes us wonder, 'what in the heck is going on here?'  This is my favorite of his works.  Set in the small Norwegian town of Aasgaardstrand, a group of women appear to be gathered for some purpose.  What are they doing?  Where is the woman in white going?  The depiction of night and mystery and ritual here are so gorgeously realized.

The Storm (1893), Edvard Munch

 Rotting jack-o-lanterns, carved while still on the vine, lend a playful sense of eeriness in Jamie Wyeth's painting.  Halloween is a favorite subject for Wyeth, featuring rural symbols like scarecrows and especially pumpkins.  I love his very effective mastery of light and shadow.

Warm Halloween (1989), Jamie Wyeth

No surprise that my little collection here includes a Goya, for depicting witchcraft and unfettered flight was his way of celebrating the freedom of the Enlightenment against the fantastical fears of the Dark Ages.  But I also think that Goya must have had a sense of thrill himself in painting subjects like this.  I feel that he was deeply attracted to the dark aspects of imagination.  And...I love their fantastic hats.

Witches Flight (1797), Francesco de Goya