Art is not only the depiction of beauty but also the depiction of the grotesque. Many viewers prefer the beauty of Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earing, Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, and Rogier Van Der Weyden's Portrait of a Lady. Some might say that the following paintings that will be discussed are not true works of art due to their nature of gross and malformed portraits but the opposite is quite true.
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| Portrait of a Lady by R. Van der Weyden |
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| Girl with a Pearl Earing by Vermeer |
Soutine, a Russian Jew born in 1893, was an artist in which all his portraits were painted in a deformed manner. His admirers believed that he painted what could not be seen with the eyes, and he portrayed the inner aspect of each of his sitters. It is true that he failed the drawing entrance exam on his first try, to the School of Fine Arts in Vilna, but he later was accepted in Vilna and also attended the École des Beaux-Arts of Paris in 1913. His unique works attracted many collectors who could see a miserableness and a deepness within in each of his paintings.
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| Woman in Red by Soutine |
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| Woman Knitting by Soutine |
The Ugly Duchess by Quentin Matsys is a great example of a grotesque portrait. The woman is portrayed in such a hideous manner, with saggy and wrinkled breasts and a large ogre like face that one can only imagine after dreaming of a terrible succubus. Art history claims that this portrait made fun of those wealthy older women that attempted to behave like young and beautiful maidens. It is now believed that this was the true appearance of the sitter and that she had suffered from a rare disease, Paget's disease. The important question is why had Quentin Matsys painted such a beautifully and ardently detailed painting of The Ugly Duchess.
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| The Ugly Duchess by Matsys |
Another well known painting by the very talented artist Goya is Saturn Devouring His Son. It is a nightmarish painting invoked from greek mythology. He painted this and other paintings onto the walls of his home, it was later put onto canvas after his death. The civil problems in Spain and his own close call to death due to illnesses are believed to have influenced these paintings. A painting of a mad cannibalistic figure devouring and tearing the flesh of his own young, only Goya truly knew of his true intentions of painting such a chilling portrait and its true eerie significance.
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| Saturn Devouring His Son by Goya |
One of my favorite artists, Francis Bacon's truly grotesque portraits are haunting and show the terrifying fears deep inside the human psyche and at times such raw emotions can only be shown through such form of art. The screaming pope and the study of a self portrait are able to cause shivers down one's spine.
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| Screaming Pope by Francis Bacon |
Many people are aware of certain paintings that use the special placement of vivid fruits and vegetables to create images of people and objects. Giuseppe Arcimboldo is greatly known for his quite unusual and gruesome depictions or portraits of people. He places each individual grape or squash in such a manner that a frightful image of a person's face is brought into existence.
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| Summer by Arcimboldo |
What is the true purpose of such horrid and hideous painted portraits? Is it just an attempt to shock people, or is it honest portrayal of human nature and the horrible truths that are hidden deep within each individual?
