Welcome to Top10Archive! Hey everyone, Jim here! Some artists are known for being eccentric,
but until you really dive into their work, you may not comprehend just how peculiar their
minds are. Various pieces of art throughout time have proven to twist and bend our minds
through the use of incredible, surreal imagery and unusual mediums. The following works of
art are what we’d call the ten weirdest. 10. Cupid Making His Bow
Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens is easily recognized through his cherubic imagery that
made up much of his 17th-century works. Cupid Making His Bow offers no exception to his
typical style, and while many of his images depict twisted and violent acts, it’s this
peculiar work from 1614 that catches our attention. The piece is a copy of the 16th-century work
of the same name by Italian artist Parmigianino, but there’s an uncomfortable devilishness
to Rubens’ version that causes it to stand out. While Parmigianino’s Cupid is painted
with a rigid face, Rubens’ take bears a pleasured look that eerily contrasts the terrified
demeanor of the cherubs at his feet. The 1614 iteration of Rubens’ darker style is unsettling
in a mischievous way. 9. The Temptation of St. Anthony
Judging by Matthias Grunewald’s depiction of the Temptation of St. Anthony, one has
to assume that that temptation was… acid? Maybe mushrooms? If you know the history behind
the subject, you know that the image shows the supernatural temptations that St. Anthony
faced while roaming the Egyptian desert, but a fresh mind to the aged tale will see only
madness and natural abominations. The German Renaissance painter earned his fame as a painter
of religious art, including the Crucifixion, Christ Bearing the Cross, and The Mocking
of Christ, but the Temptation of St. Anthony stands out as his oddest work we've been able
to find. 8. Anatomical Pieces
It’s not uncommon for the morbidity of death to find its way into classical works of art,
but Theodore Gericault took things a step further in 1819 with Anatomical Pieces. The
still life oil painting is simple in nature, but grotesque detailing of the unusual subject
matter makes it more horrific than artistic. The French romanticist is best known for his
1819 work, The Raft of the Medusa, but his admiration and knowledge of anatomy often
twisted his complex style into something far more outrageous and strange, like this piece
of severed body parts. 7. Behemoth
H. R. Giger’s mix of mechanical and organic elements led to the creation of Ridley Scott’s
xenomorph for Alien, and while his more erotic imagery tends to get more praise, our eyes
were drawn to the stand-out weirdness of Behemoth. All of Giger’s art is so alien and filled
with adult imagery that the giant cat head, or what we assume to be the behemoth, seems
so incredibly out of place. The surrealist created so many unusual images but his weirdest
just so happened to be the one with the most recognizable element to it.
6. Immersion Not all art is touched to a canvas or depicts
some infamous struggle. Some are simply meant to be expressive or, in the case of Andres
Serrano’s Immersion, controversial. The subject of the 1987 image is simple: Serrano
submerged a small plastic crucifix into a glass of his own urine and, wouldn’t you
know, quickly became the subject of much Christian backlash. Despite what the strange, award
winning image portrays, Serrano claims it wasn’t a means of denouncing the Christian
faith but rather alludes to how commercialized iconic religious figures like Jesus Christ
have become in modern culture. 5. Figure with Meat
Produced in 1954, Francis Bacon took a portrait of Pope Innocent X and twisted it to a gruesome
quality to feature a man sitting between a bisected cow. Where the Pope’s portrait,
which was painted by Diego Velazquez, is without emotion, Bacon’s take instills a fear on
his version of the Pope, a deranged man who seems to be screaming in terror. Without context,
Figure with Meat looks to be ghostly and powerful, as if capturing the brutality of the butchering
industry as the slaughtered cow hangs over a rich-looking figure. Knowing the context,
however… well, the image doesn’t get any less weird.
4. Self-Portrait with Gun The style of Self-Portrait with Gun is quite
unique, definitely more-so than the title, but it’s otherwise a normal image of a young
lad with a gun, right? Kind of. You see, artist Chris Trueman stepped outside of the box when
deciding the best medium for his latest work and, somehow, landed on the idea to use dead
ants. To create the 2010 portrait of his younger brother, Trueman used over 200,000 dead ant
bodies. The piece got a lot of attention and Trueman found himself receiving high-dollar
offers that far exceeded the weirdness of the image itself. According to Trueman’s
own blog, the image was eventually sold to Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
3. Lunch Monkey In 2008, surreal horror artist Karl Persson
took his brush, a selection of oil paints, and somehow ended up creating this nightmarish
little devil. Aptly titled Lunch Monkey, the creation is everything we expect to see in
our most terrifying of dreams. The 21st--century artist may not have the recognition of more
classic painters, but there’s no forgetting the wide-mouthed, wrinkly-skinned figure of
Lunch Monkey. One look at this painted monstrosity and the name “Karl Persson” will be embedded
in your brain forever. 2. The Scream
Just because a painting is famous and has been reproduced on countless occasions doesn’t
mean it can’t also be “weird.” Edvard Munch’s expressionist style took full form
in 1893 when he brought to life what he described as "an infinite scream passing through nature.”
While walking along an inlet above the sea, Munch found himself inspired by the blood-red
color of the sky, as if it were bleeding. Combining the scream of nature with the bloody
clouds overhead, Munch created The Scream, a strange work that has received much acclaim
and garnered a lot of money. 1. Saturn Devouring His Son
Calling to mind paintings like the Massacre of Innocents, which portrayed Herod the Great’s
infanticide to protect his throne and Francisco Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son, it’s
safe to say that patriarchal insecurities were a big thing in historic texts. Between
the two vastly different images, the latter has a melancholy to it that is disturbing,
whether or not you know the story behind it. According to legends, prophecies told of a
son of Saturn that would overthrow him, so to prevent it from coming true, Saturn ate
each child as they were born. The morbid image, Saturn’s wide eyes, the child’s limp body
– they all come together in an odd, morose display of art.