Horrifying pictures. Still life of masks

Among the noble works of art that delight the eye and only evoke positive emotions, there are paintings that are, to put it mildly, strange and shocking. We present to your attention 20 paintings by the brush worldwide famous artists that make you terrified...

"Failure of Mind to Matter"

A painting painted in 1973 by the Austrian artist Otto Rapp. He depicted a decomposing human head placed on a birdcage containing a piece of flesh.

"The Hanging Live Negro"

"Dante and Virgil in Hell"

"Hell"

"The Great Red Dragon and the Sea Monster"

"Spirit of Water"

"Necronom IV"

"The Flaying of Marcia"

"The Temptation of Saint Anthony"

"Severed Heads"

"Scream"

"The Death of Marat"

"Still life of masks"

"Gallowgate Lard"

"Saturn Devouring His Son"

"Judith Killing Holofernes"

"Nightmare"

"Massacre of the innocents"

"Study of the Portrait of Innocent X Velazquez"

"The Garden of Earthly Delights"

Some works of art seem to hit the viewer over the head, stunning and amazing. Some draw you into thought and in search of layers of meaning, secret symbolism. Some paintings are shrouded in mystery and mystical riddles, and some surprise you with an exorbitant price.

Edvard Munch "The Scream"

1893, cardboard, oil, tempera, pastel. 91×73.5 cm

National Gallery, Oslo

"Scream" counts significant event expressionism and one of the most famous paintings in the world.
“I was walking along a path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red, I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned against the fence - I looked at the blood and flames over the bluish-black fiord and the city - my friends moved on, and I stood, trembling with excitement, feeling the endless scream piercing nature,” Edvard Munch said about the history of the painting.
There are two interpretations of what is depicted: it is the hero himself who is gripped by horror and silently screams, pressing his hands to his ears; or the hero closes his ears from the cry of the world and nature sounding around him. Munch wrote 4 versions of “The Scream”, and there is a version that this painting is the fruit of manic-depressive psychosis from which the artist suffered. After a course of treatment at the clinic, Munch did not return to work on the canvas.

Paul Gauguin "Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?"

1897-1898, oil on canvas. 139.1×374.6 cm

Museum fine arts, Boston

Deep philosophical picture post-impressionist Paul Gauguin was painted by him in Tahiti, where he fled from Paris. Upon completion of the work, he even wanted to commit suicide, because “I believe that this painting not only surpasses all my previous ones, and that I will never create something better or even similar.” He lived another 5 years, and that’s what happened.
According to Gauguin himself, the painting should be read from right to left - three main groups of figures illustrate the questions posed in the title. Three women with a child represent the beginning of life; middle group symbolizes the daily existence of maturity; in the final group, according to the artist’s plan, “the old woman, approaching death, seems reconciled and indulged in her thoughts,” at her feet “a strange White bird...represents the futility of words.”

Pablo Picasso "Guernica"

1937, oil on canvas. 349×776 cm

Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid

The huge fresco painting “Guernica,” painted by Picasso in 1937, tells the story of a raid by a Luftwaffe volunteer unit on the city of Guernica, as a result of which the city of six thousand was completely destroyed. The painting was painted literally in a month - the first days of work on the painting, Picasso worked for 10-12 hours and already in the first sketches one could see main idea. This is one of best illustrations the nightmare of fascism, as well as human cruelty and grief.
Guernica presents scenes of death, violence, brutality, suffering and helplessness, without specifying their immediate causes, but they are obvious. It is said that in 1940, Pablo Picasso was summoned to the Gestapo in Paris. The conversation immediately turned to the painting. “Did you do this?” - “No, you did it.”

Jan van Eyck "Portrait of the Arnolfini couple"

1434, wood, oil. 81.8×59.7 cm

London National Gallery, London

The portrait supposedly of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife is one of the most complex works Western school of painting of the Northern Renaissance.
The famous painting is completely filled with symbols, allegories and various references - right down to the caption “Jan van Eyck was here”, which turned it not just into a work of art, but into historical document, confirming a real event at which the artist was present.
In Russia recent years The picture gained great popularity thanks to portrait resemblance Arnolfini with Vladimir Putin.

Mikhail Vrubel "The Seated Demon"

1890, oil on canvas. 114×211 cm

Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The painting by Mikhail Vrubel surprises with the image of a demon. The sad long-haired guy doesn’t at all resemble the common human idea of ​​what he should look like evil spirit. The artist himself spoke about his most famous painting: “The demon is not so much an evil spirit as a suffering and sorrowful one, at the same time a powerful, majestic spirit.” This is an image of the strength of the human spirit, internal struggle, doubt. Tragically clasping his hands, the Demon sits with sad, huge eyes directed into the distance, surrounded by flowers. The composition emphasizes the constraint of the demon’s figure, as if squeezed between the upper and lower crossbars of the frame.

Vasily Vereshchagin “Apotheosis of War”

1871, oil on canvas. 127×197 cm

State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Vereshchagin is one of the main Russian battle painters, but he did not paint wars and battles because he loved them. On the contrary, he tried to convey to people his negative attitude towards the war. One day Vereshchagin, in the heat of emotion, exclaimed: “More battle paintings I won’t write - that’s it! I take what I write too close to heart, I cry (literally) for the grief of every wounded and killed.” Probably the result of this exclamation was the terrible and bewitching painting “The Apotheosis of War,” which depicts a field, crows and a mountain of human skulls.
The picture is written so deeply and emotionally that behind each skull lying in this pile, you begin to see people, their destinies and the destinies of those who will never see these people again. Vereshchagin himself, with sad sarcasm, called the canvas a “still life” - it depicts “dead nature.”
All the details of the picture, including the yellow color, symbolize death and devastation. Clear blue sky emphasizes the deadness of the picture. The idea of ​​the “Apotheosis of War” is also expressed by scars from sabers and bullet holes on skulls.

Grant Wood "American Gothic"

1930, oil. 74×62 cm

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

"American Gothic" is one of the most recognizable images in American art XX century, the most famous artistic meme of the XX and XXI centuries.
The picture with the gloomy father and daughter is filled with details that indicate the severity, puritanism and retrograde nature of the people depicted. Angry faces, a pitchfork right in the middle of the picture, old-fashioned clothes even by the standards of 1930, an exposed elbow, seams on a farmer’s clothes that repeat the shape of a pitchfork, and therefore a threat that is addressed to everyone who encroaches. You can look at all these details endlessly and cringe from discomfort.
Interestingly, the judges of the competition at the Art Institute of Chicago perceived “Gothic” as a “humorous valentine,” and the people of Iowa were terribly offended by Wood for portraying them in such an unpleasant light.

Rene Magritte "Lovers"

1928, oil on canvas

The painting “Lovers” (“Lovers”) exists in two versions. In one, a man and a woman, whose heads are wrapped in a white cloth, kiss, and in the other, they “look” at the viewer. The picture surprises and fascinates. With two figures without faces, Magritte conveyed the idea of ​​the blindness of love. About blindness in every sense: lovers do not see anyone, we do not see them true faces and we, and besides, lovers are a mystery even to each other. But despite this apparent clarity, we still continue to look at Magritte’s lovers and think about them.
Almost all of Magritte’s paintings are puzzles that cannot be completely solved, since they raise questions about the very essence of existence. Magritte always talks about the deceptiveness of the visible, about its hidden mystery, which we usually do not notice.

Marc Chagall "Walk"

1917, oil on canvas

State Tretyakov Gallery

Usually extremely serious in his painting, Marc Chagall wrote a delightful manifesto of his own happiness, filled with allegories and love. “Walk” is a self-portrait with his wife Bella. His beloved is soaring in the sky and will soon drag Chagall, who is standing on the ground precariously, into flight, as if touching her only with the toes of his shoes. Chagall has a tit in his other hand - he is happy, he has both a tit in his hands (probably his painting) and a pie in the sky.

Hieronymus Bosch "The Garden of Earthly Delights"

1500-1510, wood, oil. 389×220 cm

Prado, Spain

“The Garden of Earthly Delights” is the most famous triptych of Hieronymus Bosch, which got its name from the theme of the central part, dedicated to the sin of voluptuousness. To date, none of the available interpretations of the painting has been recognized as the only correct one.
The enduring charm and at the same time strangeness of the triptych lies in the way the artist expresses the main idea through many details. The picture is filled with transparent figures, fantastic structures, monsters, hallucinations that have taken on flesh, hellish caricatures of reality, which he looks at with a searching, extremely sharp gaze. Some scientists wanted to see in the triptych an image of human life through the prism of its futility and images of earthly love, others - a triumph of voluptuousness. However, the simplicity and certain detachment with which individual figures are interpreted, as well as the favorable attitude towards this work on the part of the church authorities, make one doubt that its content could be the glorification of bodily pleasures.

Gustav Klimt "The Three Ages of Woman"

1905, oil on canvas. 180×180 cm

National Gallery contemporary art, Rome

“The Three Ages of a Woman” is both joyful and sad. In it, the story of a woman’s life is written in three figures: carelessness, peace and despair. The young woman is organically woven into the pattern of life, the old woman stands out from it. The contrast between the stylized image of a young woman and the naturalistic image of an old woman becomes symbolic meaning: the first phase of life brings with it endless possibilities and metamorphoses, the last - unchanging constancy and conflict with reality.
The canvas doesn’t let go, it gets into the soul and makes you think about the depth of the artist’s message, as well as the depth and inevitability of life.

Egon Schiele "Family"

1918, oil on canvas. 152.5×162.5 cm

Belvedere Gallery, Vienna

Schiele was a student of Klimt, but, like any excellent student, he did not copy his teacher, but looked for something new. Schiele is much more tragic, strange and frightening than Gustav Klimt. In his works there is a lot of what could be called pornography, various perversions, naturalism and at the same time aching despair.
"Family" is his last work, in which despair is taken to the extreme, despite the fact that it is his least strange-looking picture. He painted it just before his death, after his pregnant wife Edith died of Spanish flu. He died at 28, just three days after Edith, having painted her, himself, and their unborn child.

Frida Kahlo "Two Fridas"

The story of the difficult life of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo became widely known after the release of the film “Frida” with Salma Hayek in leading role. Kahlo painted mostly self-portraits and explained it simply: “I paint myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the subject I know best.”
In not a single self-portrait does Frida Kahlo smile: a serious, even mournful face, fused thick eyebrows, a barely noticeable mustache above tightly compressed lips. The ideas of her paintings are encrypted in the details, background, figures appearing next to Frida. Kahlo's symbolism is based on national traditions and is closely related to the Indian mythology of the pre-Hispanic period.
In one of best paintings- “Two Fridas” - she expressed the masculine and feminine principles, connected in her by a single circulatory system, demonstrating her integrity.

Claude Monet "Waterloo Bridge. Fog effect"

1899, oil on canvas

State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

When viewing the painting at close range, the viewer sees nothing but the canvas, on which frequent thick oil strokes are applied. The whole magic of the work is revealed when we gradually begin to move further away from the canvas. First, incomprehensible semicircles begin to appear in front of us, passing through the middle of the picture, then we see the clear outlines of boats and, having moved away to a distance of approximately two meters, they are sharply drawn in front of us and line up in logical chain all connecting works.

Jackson Pollock "Number 5, 1948"

1948, fiberboard, oil. 240×120 cm

The strangeness of this picture is that the canvas of the American leader of abstract expressionism, which he painted by spilling paint on a piece of fiberboard laid out on the floor, is the most expensive painting in the world. In 2006, at Sotheby's auction they paid $140 million for it. David Giffen, a film producer and collector, sold it to Mexican financier David Martinez.
“I continue to move away from the usual tools of an artist, such as an easel, palette and brushes. I prefer sticks, scoops, knives and flowing paint or a mixture of paint and sand, broken glass or something else. When I'm inside a painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. Understanding comes later. I have no fear of changes or destruction of the image, since the picture lives its own own life. I'm just helping her out. But if I lose contact with the painting, it becomes dirty and messy. If not, then it’s pure harmony, the ease of how you take and give.”

Joan Miró "Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement"

1935, copper, oil, 23×32 cm

Joan Miró Foundation, Spain

Good name. And who would have thought that this picture tells us about the horrors of civil wars.
The painting was made on copper sheet during the week between October 15 and October 22, 1935. According to Miro, this is the result of an attempt to depict a tragedy Civil War in Spain. Miro said that this is a picture about a period of anxiety. The painting shows a man and a woman reaching out to embrace each other, but not moving. The enlarged genitals and sinister colors were described as "full of disgust and disgusting sexuality."

Jacek Yerka “Erosion”

The Polish neo-surrealist is known throughout the world for his amazing paintings, in which realities are united, creating new ones. It is difficult to consider his extremely detailed and, to some extent, touching works one at a time, but this is the format of our material, and we had to choose one to illustrate his imagination and skill. We recommend that you read it.

Bill Stoneham "Hands Resist Him"

This work, of course, cannot be ranked among the masterpieces of world painting, but the fact that it is strange is a fact.
There are legends surrounding the painting with a boy, a doll and his hands pressed against the glass. From “people are dying because of this picture” to “the children in it are alive.” The picture looks really creepy, which gives rise to a lot of fears and speculation among people with weak psyches.
The artist assured that the picture depicts himself at the age of five, that the door is a representation of the dividing line between real world and the world of dreams, and the doll is a guide who can guide the boy through this world. Hands represent alternative lives or possibilities.
The painting gained notoriety in February 2000 when it was listed for sale on eBay with a backstory saying that the painting was “haunted.” “Hands Resist Him” was bought for $1,025 by Kim Smith, who was then simply inundated with letters from creepy stories and demands to burn the painting.

Artistic art can be different - beautiful and cute, impressive or frightening, touching the soul or turning inside out. But there are several paintings in the world that no collector wants to see in his home. Pictures that are creepy to the point of horror and take away souls...

1. "Hands That Resist Him" ​​(Bill Stoneham)

The painting, created by Bill Stoneham in 1972, does not look entirely terrible at first glance. If you don’t know that the pictured girl with a doll’s face is a guide to THAT world, and don’t see the palms on the other side of the glass. And also not knowing how many deaths it caused.

2. “The Scream” (Edvard Munch)

It’s not for nothing that this picture is one of the most terrible. All people who came into contact with her very soon fell ill and died.

3. Gallowgate Lard (Ken Curry)

Self-portrait famous artist you probably won't want to hang it above your bed. After all, seeing him awake, you can end up in a mental hospital for a long time.

4. “Still life of masks” (Emil Nolde)

Emil Nolde's painting in the style of expressionism rightfully occupies a place in the ranking of the most scary pictures. They say that if you look at his original for more than 10 minutes, you can go crazy.

5. “Two Old Men Eating Soup” (Francisco Goya)

The plot from the cycle of paintings painted on the walls of the house of Francisco Goya reminds nightmare. Seeing this painting really makes you feel creepy.

6. “Severed Heads” (Theodore Gericault)

The mere fact that the painting depicts real heads (the artist copied them from skulls taken from the morgue) is terrifying.

7. “The Crying Boy” (Bruno Amadio)

The plot of this picture is not scary at all. However, there is one thing that many people avoid. According to popular belief, it causes fires in the room in which it is located.

8. “Water Lilies” (Claude Monet)

The painting “Water Lilies” is a true masterpiece of world art. But wherever it hung, fire broke out everywhere. What is this accident? Coincidence? Or maybe it’s already a pattern?

9. “Venus at the Mirror” (Diego Velazquez)

Not a single art lover wants to have such a harmless painting in his collection. Legend has it that if you hang it in own home, a dark streak will immediately begin in the owner’s life.

10. “Woman of the Rain” (Svetlana Taurus)

The last painting in today's rating is the work of the Venetian artist Svetlana Taurus. She drew it back in 1996. I was able to sell it only a few years later. She should have been happy with the sale, but only after 2 weeks the buyer returned the canvas. The reason is the feeling of the presence of someone else in the apartment. The same thing happened with the second and third buyers. Now the painting hangs modestly in one of the shops in Venice.

Gloomy pictures - Wikipedia

Art can not only inspire, but also charm and even frighten. Creating unusual artists embody the most secret images, and sometimes they turn out to be very strange. However, such creations almost always have many fans.

What are the most unusual paintings world, who creates them and what can they tell about?

"The hands resist him"

This eerie picture begins its story in 1972. It was then from California that I found it in my archives old photograph. It depicted children: Bill himself and his sister, who died at the age of four. The artist was surprised that the photograph was taken in the house that the family acquired after the girl’s death. Mystical incident inspired Bill to create this unusual painting.

When the canvas was presented to the art critic, he soon died. It is difficult to say whether this can be called a coincidence, because the actor John Marley, who bought the painting, soon died. The canvas was lost and then found in a landfill. The little daughter of the new owners of the painting immediately began to notice something strange - she insisted that the painted children were fighting or coming to the door to her room. The father of the family placed a camera in the room with the painting that should have responded to movement, and it worked, but every time there was only noise on the film. When the painting was put up for online auction at the beginning of the new millennium, users began to complain about bad feeling after watching it. Nevertheless, they bought it. Kim Smith, small owner art gallery, decided to buy something unusual as an exhibit.
The story of the painting does not end - the evil emanating from it is now noted by visitors to the exhibition.

"Crying Boy"

When mentioning unusual paintings by famous artists, one cannot fail to mention this one. The whole world knows about the “cursed” painting called “The Crying Boy”. To create it, he used his own son as a model. The boy could not cry just like that, and his father deliberately upset him by scaring him with lit matches. One day a child shouted to his father: “Burn yourself!”, and the curse turned out to be effective - the baby soon died of pneumonia, and his father burned alive in the house. Attention to the picture was drawn in 1985, when throughout Northern England fires started to happen. IN residential buildings people died, and only a simple reproduction of a crying child remained intact. Bad reputation pursues the painting even now - many simply do not risk hanging it in their home. Even more unusual is that the whereabouts of the original remain unknown.

"Scream"

Unusual paintings constantly attract public attention and even provoke attempts to repeat the masterpiece. One of these paintings, which became iconic in modern culture, is Munch's "The Scream". This is a mysterious, mystical image, which to some seems like the fantasy of a mentally ill person, to others - a prediction environmental disaster, and for some, a completely absurd portrait of a mummy. One way or another, the atmosphere of the canvas attracts you and does not allow you to remain indifferent. Unusual paintings are often full of details, but “The Scream,” on the contrary, is emphatically simple - it uses two main shades, and the depiction of the appearance central character simplified to the point of primitivism. But it is precisely this deformed world that makes the work especially attractive.

Its history is also unusual - the work was stolen more than once. Nevertheless, it has been preserved and remains in the museum, inspiring filmmakers to create emotional films, and artists to search for stories no less expressive than this one.

"Guernica"

Picasso painted some very unusual paintings, but one of them is especially memorable. The expressive “Guernica” was created as a personal protest against Nazi actions in the city of the same name. It is full of the artist’s personal experiences. Each element of the picture is full of deep symbolism: the figures are running away from the fire, a bull is trampling a warrior whose pose resembles a crucifixion, at his feet are crushed flowers and a dove, a skull and a broken sword. in the style of a newspaper illustration is impressive and has a strong impact on the viewer’s emotions.

"Mona Lisa"

Creating unusual paintings with his own hands, Leonardo da Vinci preserved given name in eternity. His paintings have not been forgotten for the sixth century. The most important of them is “La Gioconda”, or “Mona Lisa”. Surprisingly, in the diaries of the genius there are no records of work on this portrait. No less unusual is the number of versions about who is depicted there. Some think it's perfect female image or the artist’s mother, some see him as a self-portrait, while others see him as a student of da Vinci. According to the “official” opinion, Mona Lisa was the wife of a Florentine merchant. Whatever the reality, the portrait is truly unusual. A barely noticeable smile curves the girl’s lips, and her eyes are stunning - it seems as if this picture is looking at the world, and not the audience peering into it. Like many other unusual paintings of the world, “La Gioconda” was made using a special technique: the thinnest layers of paint with the smallest strokes, so elusive that neither a microscope nor an X-ray can identify traces of the artist’s work. It seems that the girl in the picture is alive, and the light smoky light that surrounds her is real.

"The Temptation of Saint Anthony"

Of course, the most unusual pictures of the world cannot be studied without familiarizing yourself with the work of Salvador Dali. With him amazing work"The Temptation of Saint Anthony" is related to the following story. At the time of its creation, there was a competition to choose an actor for the film adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s “Belarus Ami.” The winner was supposed to create the image of a tempted saint. What was happening inspired the artist with a theme that was also used by his favorite masters, for example, Bosch. He created a triptych on this topic. Cezanne also depicted a similar work. The unusual thing is that Saint Anthony is not just a righteous man who saw a sinful vision. This is a desperate figure of a man, faced with sins in the form of animals on thin spider legs - if he succumbs to temptation, the legs of the spiders will break and destroy him under them.

"The night Watch"

Unusual paintings by artists often disappear or end up at the center of mystical events. Nothing like this happened with Rembrandt’s “Night Watch,” but there are still many mysteries associated with the canvas.

The plot is obvious only at first glance - the militia are going on a campaign, taking weapons with them, each hero is full of patriotism and emotions, everyone has individuality and character. And questions immediately arise. Who is this little girl who looks like a bright angel in the military crowd? A symbolic mascot for the squad or a way to balance the composition? But that’s not even important. Previously, the size of the painting was different - the customers didn’t like it, and they cut the canvas. It was placed in a hall for feasts and meetings, where the canvas was covered with soot for decades. It is now impossible to know what some of the colors were. Even the most careful restoration cannot remove the soot from tallow candles, so the viewer can only guess about some details.

Fortunately, the masterpiece is now safe. And at least him modern look carefully guarded. A separate room is dedicated to him, something that not all famous unusual paintings can boast of.

"Sunflowers"

The list, which includes the most famous unusual paintings of the world, is completed by Van Gogh. His works are filled with deep emotionality and hide behind them the tragic story of a genius unrecognized during his lifetime. One of the most memorable paintings is the canvas “Sunflowers”, in which the artist’s characteristic shades and strokes are concentrated.

But that’s not the only reason it’s interesting. The fact is that the painting is constantly copied, and the number of copies successfully sold exceeds those that other unusual paintings can boast of. At the same time, despite such popularity, the picture still remains unique. And no one really succeeded except Van Gogh.

Accustomed to receiving from works of art aesthetic enjoyment and pleasure? But the world of painting can not only surprise you, but also scare you. Over the centuries, great artists have created outstanding paintings that will make viewers' hair stand on end.

Do you feel uneasy when you see Scream? Or is there another drawn “horror story” that is imprinted in your memory? Artifex I have selected 10 paintings for you that you definitely shouldn’t look at before going to bed.

10. Caravaggio, “Judith and Holofernes”, 1599

Opens top realistic canvas Italian master based on the Old Testament "Book of Judith". The legend of a girl who, for the sake of her people, went into the enemy’s camp, won the trust of the commander Holofernes and cut off his head at night, for a long time excited artists all over Europe. Usually she was depicted with a severed head in her hand in the middle of an enemy camp, but Caravaggio decided to reflect the very moment of the murder. Thanks to this decision, the artist conveyed not only the atmosphere of bloodshed, but also the emotions of the killer and the victim.

9. Bouguereau, “Dante and Virgil in Hell”, 1850

French artist XIX century Adolphe William Bouguereau was very fond of Dante's poem " The Divine Comedy" The artist depicted a scene from the XXX song of the part of the poem called “Hell”. On the eighth circle of the underworld, the main characters watch as two damned souls torment a deceiver. Bouguereau worked for a long time on color palette paintings and studied the aesthetic boundaries of man. The painting, according to the artist’s plan, was supposed to convey the fear and horror of what is happening in the underground world. At the Salon of 1850, this work caused disgust among the public.

The famous triptych still holds many mysteries for researchers. None of the interpretations of the work that exist today are considered exhaustive. The triptych showed the fullness of the artist’s imagination and skill. It is dedicated to the sin of voluptuousness, and all three parts reflect Bosch’s main idea in the smallest details. The outer doors of the triptych depict a serene picture of the universe, but when you open them, you plunge into an atmosphere of insane chaos.

7. Munch, “The Death of Marat”, 1907

Do not confuse this painting with the majestic work of the same name, which became a kind of symbol of the French Revolution. Edvard Munch wrote his painting 114 years after David, and focused not on the figure of the revolutionary publicist, but on the moment of his murder. In his inimitable style, the author of The Scream depicts a naked Charlotte Corday moments after she brutally stabbed Marat to death. Forceful strokes and plenty of blood complement the frightening effect of the picture.

6. Blake "The Great Red Dragon and the Sea Monster", 1806-1809

Deservedly considered one of the most mysterious English artists and engravers. This painter was tormented by ghosts and visions since childhood, and later he depicted them in his works. Series Blake paintings dedicated to the Red Dragon from the Revelation of John the Theologian. In this picture, the dragon personifies Satan, towering over another demon - a sea monster. Epic and detailed study monsters are not only frightened, but also admired.

5. Bacon, “Study of the Portrait of Innocent X Velazquez”, 1953

The work is a reimagining of "Portrait of Pope Innocent X". The classic of English expressionism painted about 40 similar paintings, included in the “Screaming Dads” series. The artist changed the color of dad's clothes from red to purple and painted the entire canvas in dark colors. Thanks to the master’s technique, the work does not evoke associations with the original portrait of Velazquez, but it produces a frightening and depressing impression.

4. Dali, “The Face of War”, 1940

This painting by the famous Spanish artist can cause a panic attack in the viewer. Salvador Dali plays not only with symbols, but also with conveying mood. The design of a head shrouded in snakes, ever-shrinking skulls in the eye sockets of what was once a man, symbolizes the endless cycle of death. In the lower right corner the artist “left” his handprint. And the desert and yellow tones typical of Dali’s work give this picture a touch of paranoid madness.

3. Goya, “Saturn Devouring His Son,” 1819-1823

Some engravings can scare even an adult. Among them is an interpretation of the plot from ancient greek mythology, where the titan Kronos devours his children in fear of being overthrown by one of them, seems to be the creepiest. Goya depicted madness on the face of the already ugly monster, which further thickens the atmosphere of horror of what is happening. This work “decorated” the wall in his “House of the Deaf,” but it is unlikely that anyone else would want to pass by such a painting in their home at night.

2. Curry, Gallowgate Lard, 1995

Artist Ken Curry was born in England in 1960. His gloomy canvases reflect the processes taking place in modern world. Curry's paintings affect the viewer's psyche, creating a feeling of hopelessness and fear, but at the same time pushing him to think. The artist's eerie self-portrait is the fruit of his reflection on metaphysical issues related to decomposition modern society and human consciousness.

1. Rapp, “The Loss of Mind to Matter,” 1973

Even just a glance at the picture Austrian artist Otto Rapp, I want to look away immediately. A decomposing human head on a birdcage, an untouched tongue inside it - such a “still life” strains not only the psyche of the audience, but also causes purely physiological discomfort. One can guess what meaning the artist put into the work, but it is quite obvious - this is a truly frightening picture! And if someone dreams of a similar plot at night, then they need to “thank” Rapp’s masterful technique for the nightmare.