Charred Beloved II

Mediums: oil, canvas.
Location: The National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, Canada).

In 1946, the artist suffered several troubles at once: besides the fact that he had to undergo a serious medical operation, his studio burned down together with more than thirty paintings. The artist fell into a severe depression, which then led to a collapse of his family life. These adversities are reflected in the painting of Arshile Gorky, in which you can see all the pain and despair of the artist with the naked eye. After the fire, he immediately created two paintings, “Charred Beloved I” and “Charred Beloved II”, in which the bright and rich colour palette is replaced by ash-grey and black tones, with alarming red glimmers.