THE MOST TERRIFYING PAINTINGS IN ART

Hello, friends. All this week we have been celebrating Halloween. We've already seen how costume contests, stories and even videos that have terror as a motive have been held. As @ADSactly also celebrates this date, we have decided to bring you today the most famous and terrifying paintings we have ever seen. On this occasion, we did not want to choose those paintings that respond to the imagination of the artist, that is, that the painter has created from an illusion or fantasy. On this occasion, we decided to select those pictorial works based on real facts, stories or myths. These works are the painter's interpretation of those first stories that are part of our culture and our universe.

For this post we did not stop to know the measures of the works, the techniques used, nor the museums in which they are found, but in the stories or concepts that inspired them. Therefore, if any of the works is visually strong, I invite you to read the stories that accompany them. Perhaps in this way the painter's gaze can be understood. Let's start with the recount:

Rank 5: THE PESADILLA by Johann Heinrich Füssli

Source

As soon as Füssli presented this painting, it became famous for its chilling visual resemblance to anyone's nightmares. The painting was so popular that Füssli painted several versions. The painting blurs the lines, as in the dream, showing both the sleeping dreamer and the content of his dreams. This painting plays with the idea or belief of the incubus, a male demon that seduces women while they sleep. It is believed that they are sexual demons that climb to the top of the victims and do not let them move. Many people who have had this experience say they have felt a person at the top of their body not allowing them to breathe. Some scientists say this is simply what we know as sleep paralysis. Those of us who have lived this experience know that it is horrible and suffocating.

Rank 4: THE HUESCA CAMPANA by José Casado del Alisal

Source

This painting responds to a legend that many believe to be true. Although there are many versions of the story, the most common tell how a king saw his subjects rebelling against him and called an old master to guide him in his actions. The master, taking a sabre, without pronouncing words, began to cut flowers from the plants. When the king saw this action, he sent for some rebels to build a bell that would be heard throughout Huesca. When they arrived at the castle, he sent them all to behead; then he asked them to call the rest of the rebels to see the fate of their companions and take an example. With that punishment, who's going to want to rebel.

Post No 3: JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES of Caravaggio

Source

This painting takes the biblical theme and very specifically the story of Judith. The story of Judith is the fourth book of the apocryphal books of the Old Testament. It speaks of Holofernes, a general sent by the Syrian king Nebuchadnezzar with 120,000 men to conquer Bethulia. After 33 days of siege and when the city was about to surrender, Judith, a young widow, appeared before the priest Uzziah offering to save the metropolis. With her maid, Judith went to the Holofernes camp and asked for asylum on the condition that she could go out to pray outside the camp. Seduced by her beauty, Holofernes invited her to a banquet in his tent. At the banquet, Holofernes gets drunk and falls asleep. Judith takes a sword, decapitates the man, wraps the severed head in a bag and returns with it to her village. Judith was apparently a woman of arms to take.

Rank 2: MEDUSA by Peter Paul Rubens

Source

This painting is inspired by the story of Medusa. According to Greek mythology, it is said that the incredible beauty of Medusa dazzled Poseidon, who in love with her decides to seduce her (some speak of rape), in the temple of Athena. This aroused the wrath of Athena, who punished Medusa by turning her into a being with eyes that emitted such light that those who looked at her directly petrified. Not content with this punishment alone, Athena makes instead of hair, Medusa has snakes. But not everything remained there. From that fortuitous idyll that existed between Poseidon and Medusa, a pregnancy arose that only increased the resentment of Athena, who ordered Perseus to kill Medusa. Perseus obeys Athena's orders and kills Medusa by cutting off her head in a single act. See how far a woman's envy can go.

Rank 1: SATURN DEVOURING HIS SON from Francisco de Goya

Source

This violent, dark and terrible work belongs to the famous Black Paintings of the Spanish artist, so called not only because of the predominant color used in the paintings, but also because of the melancholic style of its subject matter. According to some art scholars, this painting is a metaphor; they explain that the figure of this painting represents the passage of time, which consumes and devours everything. However, beyond metaphor, this painting is also inspired by another Greek myth. Let us remember that according to the myth, Saturn obtained from his older brother Titan the favor of reigning in his place, but he set a condition: "Saturn was not to raise children. Saturn married Ops (Rhea), with whom he had several children, but because of the pact he had signed with his brother, he devoured his children. What some men do to stay in power.

As you can see, many of these works are terrible because behind them there are more terrible stories. In this case, the painters have had the imagination and the ability to recreate those stories, to represent them on canvas.
Well, I hope you enjoyed these paintings and the stories. Remember to vote for @ADSactly as a witness and visit our server on Discord. Until a next smile;)