Despite the popular belief that modern artists strive to shock their audiences, this tendency is not entirely new. It is often assumed that older artworks were limited by the perceived delicate sensibilities and moral standards of their time. However, numerous classical works surpass even the most horrifying aspects of contemporary horror films in terms of their
disturbing nature. Here, we present ten examples of the most unsettling classical artworks.
The Garden of Earthly Delights
The title of this triptych refers to panel two, “a false Paradise given over to the sin of lust.” The panel on the right depicts the true earthly Paradise, the Garden of Eden, while the panel on the left depicts Hell.Naturally, it’s the latter that’s most disturbing. Teeming with demons and tortured souls, it’s as shocking today as in 1505.
The Smiling Spider
As a boy Odilon Redon was a “sad and weak child” who always “sought out the shadows.” It’s a calling that never left him. Asked as an adult what his favorite things to paint were, he simply replied “My monsters.”Drawing on his interests in natural history, psychiatry, and microscopy, his charcoal and lithograph creatures were nightmarish to say the least. Collectively, they’re known as his noirs or “black things.”
The Ghost of Kohada Koheiji
In this woodblock print, Hokusai portrays the ghost of the murdered kabuki actor Kohada
Koheiji. Drowned in a swamp by his wife and her lover, Koheiji came back for revenge.
Interestingly, Edo period officials sought to censor this work not because it was scary but because they thought actors immoral. The yurei-zu genre wasn’t always disturbing; some works portrayed good spirits, such as ubume – dead mothers who long for their kids.
Saisaburo Cruelly Murders Ohagi
Similar to yurei-zu but focused on the living are chimidoro-e (“bloody”) and muzan-e (“cruel”) prints and paintings. The “last great master” of woodblock prinring, Yoshitoshi Tsukioka, was prolific in both of these genres. Drawing on kabuki and noh performances, Tsukioka’s works include : Naosuke Gombei ripping off a face; Shirai Gompachi slashing an assailant by a fire; Furuteya Hachir?bei murdering a woman in a graveyard; and Fukuoka Mitsugi with flying papers, severed head.
The Severed Heads
Géricault was fascinated by death and dissection. So much so that while undergoing surgery for a tumor on his spine, he refused anesthesia so he could watch the operation with a mirror. He died a little while later.The Severed Heads is a grisly still-life of the body parts he kept around his studio. He also kept corpses, which he positioned like mannequins for his studies of the dead.
