Desperately seeking desperate art.
February 9, 2010 5:12 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for paintings on desperation.
Looking for famous paintings that depict some form of desperation (to use in a presentation). Famous as in made by a prolific painter instead of someone's talented but still tragically unknown neighbor. The depiction of desperation doesn't have to be very literal. The more subtle the better. Non-gory paintings are preferred.
Bonus points if the painting is colorful, and/or in the Renaissance or Baroque styles.
Looking for famous paintings that depict some form of desperation (to use in a presentation). Famous as in made by a prolific painter instead of someone's talented but still tragically unknown neighbor. The depiction of desperation doesn't have to be very literal. The more subtle the better. Non-gory paintings are preferred.
Bonus points if the painting is colorful, and/or in the Renaissance or Baroque styles.
Best answer: Neither Renaissance nor Baroque, but how about The Scream by Edvard Munch?
There's also Poussin's The Massacre of the Innocents - or Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa...
And how about Sorrow by Van Gogh?
posted by HandfulOfDust at 5:42 AM on February 9, 2010
There's also Poussin's The Massacre of the Innocents - or Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa...
And how about Sorrow by Van Gogh?
posted by HandfulOfDust at 5:42 AM on February 9, 2010
Best answer: "Christina's World" by Wyeth
posted by bunny hugger at 5:49 AM on February 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by bunny hugger at 5:49 AM on February 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
What about La Vie by Picasso? There's nothing quite like his blue period.
posted by Mizu at 6:05 AM on February 9, 2010
posted by Mizu at 6:05 AM on February 9, 2010
Best answer: Munch painted a work called "Desperation." It's similar to the Scream, set on the same bridge.
How about Sappho by Antoine-Jean Gros?
Have a look at the works of Eugene Carriere. Very dark, symbolic with a lot of poverty and illness.
posted by fire&wings at 6:07 AM on February 9, 2010
How about Sappho by Antoine-Jean Gros?
Have a look at the works of Eugene Carriere. Very dark, symbolic with a lot of poverty and illness.
posted by fire&wings at 6:07 AM on February 9, 2010
A lot of Beksinski falls into this category. Here's my favorite.
posted by sanka at 6:16 AM on February 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by sanka at 6:16 AM on February 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
Goya's black paintings are pretty full of despair.
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:30 AM on February 9, 2010
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:30 AM on February 9, 2010
Francis Bacon's work may be relevant, I thought first of his Three Studies at the Base of a Crucifixion.
posted by greenish at 7:42 AM on February 9, 2010
posted by greenish at 7:42 AM on February 9, 2010
Macaccio's Adam and Eve, Brancacci Chapel frescoes, Florence Italy
posted by Elsie at 8:06 AM on February 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Elsie at 8:06 AM on February 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
Oops: http://www.firenzeviva.com/Santo_Spirito/masaccio.jpg
posted by Elsie at 8:07 AM on February 9, 2010
posted by Elsie at 8:07 AM on February 9, 2010
Best answer: Kollwitz's Death and the Mother always freaks me out in this way.
I don't know if photography's ok but some of Cindy Sherman's stuff has this feel to it too. Not so much the more well known film stills as the Disaster series stuff that gathers emotional momentum from the tropes of all that retro female horror/terror film stuff.
posted by ifjuly at 10:56 AM on February 9, 2010
I don't know if photography's ok but some of Cindy Sherman's stuff has this feel to it too. Not so much the more well known film stills as the Disaster series stuff that gathers emotional momentum from the tropes of all that retro female horror/terror film stuff.
posted by ifjuly at 10:56 AM on February 9, 2010
Um, ooops. Saw you wanted paintings only now of course. Sorry. Mods can delete the above if they like.
posted by ifjuly at 10:56 AM on February 9, 2010
posted by ifjuly at 10:56 AM on February 9, 2010
Response by poster: Mefites never disappoint. Many of the recommended works so far are exactly what I am looking for. I still a few more, though, so please keep 'em coming awesome folks!
ifjuly: actually, photography is just fine. Especially if the photography is in B&W and is historical.
posted by howiamdifferent at 11:33 AM on February 9, 2010
ifjuly: actually, photography is just fine. Especially if the photography is in B&W and is historical.
posted by howiamdifferent at 11:33 AM on February 9, 2010
Response by poster: *still need a few more. Sigh.
posted by howiamdifferent at 11:39 AM on February 9, 2010
posted by howiamdifferent at 11:39 AM on February 9, 2010
More Van Gogh with On the Threshold of Eternity.
posted by radiomayonnaise at 11:45 AM on February 9, 2010
posted by radiomayonnaise at 11:45 AM on February 9, 2010
I hate to say it, but Jackson Pollock's work could easily be interpreted to have a certain desperate quality.
Also, Hieronymus Bosch, though that is more literal.
Funny, someone said Christina's World...that was the second one that came to my mind. I thought it was weird that I thought of it...weirder still that someone else did.
posted by Xoebe at 1:13 PM on February 9, 2010
Also, Hieronymus Bosch, though that is more literal.
Funny, someone said Christina's World...that was the second one that came to my mind. I thought it was weird that I thought of it...weirder still that someone else did.
posted by Xoebe at 1:13 PM on February 9, 2010
Most Caravaggio. All of it if you wanna fight about it.
posted by cmoj at 2:08 PM on February 9, 2010
posted by cmoj at 2:08 PM on February 9, 2010
Best answer: Masaccio's Adam and Eve as suggested by Elsie above is indeed gruelling; but maybe Cranach's version is more fitting, given the 'desperate' theme?
And as photography's allowed, how about Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother?
posted by HandfulOfDust at 4:58 PM on February 9, 2010
And as photography's allowed, how about Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother?
posted by HandfulOfDust at 4:58 PM on February 9, 2010
Best answer: Ingres, Jupiter and Thetis.
Schiele, Portrait of Albert Paris Gutersloh. (Not the most desperate work of Schiele's by some distance, but probably the most appropriate for your purposes.)
He's not quite a household name, but Ivan Albright devoted the whole of his art to ruin and despair: That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (The Door), And Man Created God in His Own Image, Into The World There Came A Soul Called Ida, Picture of Dorian Gray.
posted by Iridic at 7:33 PM on February 9, 2010
Schiele, Portrait of Albert Paris Gutersloh. (Not the most desperate work of Schiele's by some distance, but probably the most appropriate for your purposes.)
He's not quite a household name, but Ivan Albright devoted the whole of his art to ruin and despair: That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (The Door), And Man Created God in His Own Image, Into The World There Came A Soul Called Ida, Picture of Dorian Gray.
posted by Iridic at 7:33 PM on February 9, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by MegoSteve at 5:41 AM on February 9, 2010