This post is nothing more than an impulse to collate the last paintings of some of my favourite artists. One cannot help but feel that they knew their time was coming.
Pablo Picasso
Painted in 1972. His last self-portrait.
Powerful eyes, weak body.
Francis Bacon
Painting held in a private collection and has never been publicly displayed.
Martin Harrison, art historian, maintains that Bacon knew that he was close to death when he was working on this particular piece; “Bacon is ready to sign off … he was so ill… He knew exactly what he was doing here.”
Mark Rothko
Painted just before his suicide on 25th February 1970 when he was found in a pool of blood in his New York Studio after having cut his wrists.
The same day, 9 paintings originally destined to be murals in the dinning room of the Seagram building, arrived at the Tate Gallery.
Jackson Pollock
“Black Red and Silver”
(1956)
Painted as a gift for his mistress.
Pollock died in a car accident,. almost certainly whilst under the influence of alchohol.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
“Riding with Death”
Whilst it is uncertain that this was actually his last painting, it was produced shortly before his death, by heroin overdose, in 1988, aged 28.
Salvador Dali
“The Swallow’s Tail”, 1983
The last in a series based on his interpretation of the mathematical Catastrophe Theory.
It looks self-referential to me.
Marcel Duchamp
“Étant Donnés”, 1966
Translation variously: “Waterfall” or “Illuminating Gas”.
A conceptual installation visible only through a pair of peepholes (one for each eye). Some parts of the installation move as a result of hidden motors.
Duchamp was working on this project in secret for the last few years of his life. He had publicly given up art in favour of competitive chess for his last 25 years.
He left a detailed “Manual of Instructions” for the work to be assembled and disassembled. The work was transferred to Philadelphia Museum of Art, where it was to be viewed after his death.
Work first encountered by me on 20th July 2022 via a dedicated documentary.
Andy Warhol
“The Last Supper”, 1986
If Warhol were to have planned his life in advance, it would have been difficult to find a better swan song (if perhaps a tad aggrandising).
Georgia O’Keeffe
“The Beyond”, 1972
Generally considered to be O’Keeffe’s last unassisted painting (later pictures required help due to her macular degeneration).
My view: glimpse into the sublime.
René Magritte
“The Empire of Lights”, or one of that series unfinished 1967.
From the start of the 1960’s, Magritte was achieving fame and recognition. This work was commissioned by young German art collector.
A fabulous idea and collection – a most interesting read. This could be very valuably be extended into a much more comprehensive piece ie we’re these really really their last works and how much were they aware of their impending doom. 👍👍👍
Kevin.
Thank you for your encouraging comments.
I had a few practical considerations in addition to self-indulgently selecting only my favourite painters. For example I an a great fan of Dorothea Tanning, however her late work up to 1998 was mainly floral to accompany the poetry she was writing at the time. Not really my thing. Plus she went on to live for 14 years after hanging up her paint brushes. So she doesn’t really fulfil the brief.
I have tried to comment on circumstances of their death, e.g., illness in case of Francis Bacon and suicide for Rothko. Pollock and Basquiat were living self-destructive lives accelerated no doubt by their sudden fame and fortune.
Thank you again for commenting.