Losing a beloved one is something everybody goes through, yet experiencing it feels like an unparalleled pain that can disrupt every single aspect of your life. That feeling of powerlessness before death, that losing sense that keeps telling you, there was nothing you could do, the despair of knowing you won’t be able to see that person ever again, the anger towards them for leaving you, that fear of forgetting details about that person little by little while trying to keep up with your life, and the guilt of moving on without that person are all painful emotions that overflow your mind and soul.
Talking about them is even worse. Trying to express with words all those emotions and sensations can be as challenging as trying to feel better. The moment those words try to reach your mouth they get trapped in your throat, making you feel as if your body was trying to keep all that excruciating grief inside you. Talking about grief is as hard as dealing with it and most of the times art can express better all those emotions better than words. These following artists took their easels and brushes to express what words can’t.
Inconsolable Grief by Ivan Kramskoi (1884)
Ivan Kramskoi, the notable Russian painter from the 19th century, was well-known for managing to bring human emotions into life through his paintings. As we see her, the image of the widowed woman keeping herself together while concealing her pain behind a handkerchief is as moving and realistic as it gets. She might be hiding her face but the intensity of grief portrayed in her eyes is really moving.
Weeping Nude by Edvard Munch (1913-14)
Edward Munch became an art idol with his iconic painting of The Scream, but the intensity of emotions we see in that famous painting is present in all his artwork. The Norwegian expressionist artist had a quite tormented life, and his work embodies all the angst and pain he experienced, including the deaths of his mother and his beloved sister. What makes this painting so impressive is how he managed to evoke all that despair and pain through the body expression of the woman, who is covering her face completely. The posing of the body with the color palette chosen evokes all that angst.
Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity’s Gate) by Vincent Van Gogh (1890)
We don’t need to say much about the tragic life of Vincent Van Gogh, and although most of his artwork evokes more vivacious and, in a way, feisty emotions with his sunflowers and his lovely landscapes, he also had a talent for portraying human emotions and, more importantly pain. This was a painting that Van Gogh reworked several times over the passing of the years. It portrays the war veteran Adrianus Jacobus Zuyderland, a character that moved the famous artists to his core. He even wrote once that he had made him think deeply about life and death, and the countenance portrayed in the paintings is a reflection of it
Doña Juana “la Loca” by Francisco Pradilla (1877)
The famous painting now resting at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, portrays one of the most moving moments in the life of this iconic and, poorly treated queen of Spain, Joanna of Castille, popularly known as Joanna “the Mad.’ After the sudden death of her beloved husband Philip “the Handsome,” the grief invaded Joanna’s mind and soul. To make sure that no one would do anything to her beloved Philip, she walked along the coffin crossing Spain and would even open it every night to make sure he was still there. This painting shows the maddening sorrow of the misunderstood Queen.
Anguish by August Friedrich Schenk (c1878)
Some artists chose to express grief in other characters like sheep, as we can see in this painting by the German artist August Friedrich Schenk. The powerful image of a Sheep grieving while a group of crows ominously waiting to feast provides a strong image. The two sheep alone become reminiscent of the famous biblical topic of the pietà (the scene where Mary holds Jesus after he’s taken down the cross) also giving a powerful image of grief. The painting draws inspiration from Charles Darwin’s study The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals where he assures that feelings have biological origins and thus, animals share them with us. The painting also comments on the cruelty of society, symbolized by the crows, in our opportunistic nature.
Penitent Magdalene by Artemisia Gentileschi (1622–1625)
A penitent or mourning Mary Magdalene has become a popular theme in art, especially during the Renaissance, and who better than Artemisia Gentileschi, the master of chiaroscuro to express in one popular theme the sorrow and penitence of being a woman and being judged at moments of extreme pain as is mourning. There are other versions of this painting made by Gentileschi, one of them sitting at the Soumaya Museum in Mexico City.
Isabella and the Pot of Basil by John William Waterhouse (1907)
As it was common among Romantic artists, mythology was one of the best inspirations to convey universal human emotions. This painting by John William Waterhouse, shows the story of Isabella holding and caressing the pot of Basil where the head of her beloved Lorenzo (whose life was taken by her brothers) lies. This scene was also painted by many artists of the time, but this one, in particular, evokes not only the emotional pain Isabella is experiencing but also the physical toll of mourning accompanied by insomnia and extenuating tiredness.
The Death of Seneca by Manuel Domínguez Sánchez (1871)
When the deranged young Emperor Nero accused his teacher, Seneca of treason, the latter decided to end his life with his own hands as an action of scorning and evidencing the terrible government of the Emperor. The powerful painting by Manuel Domínguez Sánchez shows the moment Seneca is discovered by his friends and the pain they all experience to see the life of such a brilliant mind gone just like that.
Andromache Mourning Hector by Jacques-Louis David (1783)
Taking one of the most emotional scenes from Homer’s Iliad, Jacques-Louis David depicts the moment Ancromache is grieving the passing of her husband Hector, after losing to Achilles. In the painting, we can see Hector and Andromache’s son Astyanax trying to comfort her mother while mourning the passing of her father. A moving family portrait that portrays two of the most common attitudes families go through after the passing of a beloved member.
The Sick Child by Edvard Munch (1885–86)
Last but not least, and taking once again a painting by the master of human emotions, Munch, we have a devastating scene of sorrow and excruciating pain as we see a mother grieving her daughter. The painting is said to be a recollection of Munch’s emotions and memories after the passing of her sister Sophie from tuberculosis when she was only fifteen years old. This painting and the colors he chose, became a reflection of that traumatic moment in the life of the artist but also a milestone in his artistic career. As he later reflected, “it was a breakthrough in my art. Most of what I have done since had its birth in this picture.” He would go back to the painting and make several versions of it.
