Last Judgement Day
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| Last Judgement Day | |
|---|---|
| Artist | Jean Thomassen |
| Year | 2006-2011 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas/wood |
| Movement | Absurd realism |
| Dimensions | 90 cm × 240 cm (35 in × 94 in) |
| Owner | Private collection, Belgium |
Last Judgement Day is a painting by Dutch artist Jean Thomassen (born 5 September 1949) , whose unusual and unpredictable paintings have made him a controversial figure in the genre of 'absurd realism'.[1][2][3] He lives in Heiloo in the Netherlands.
The painting is a triptych in the style of Jeroen Bosch. Last Judgement Day was painted between 2006 and 2011 and depicts some youthful stories about Last Judgement Day now interpreted by a mature artist. It was exhibited for six months at the Museum Slager in Den Bosch, Holland in 2016.
Although this painting is known as a triptych, the left and right hand panels unusually also have pictures on the reverse, so it could more accurately be described as a pentaptych.
Centre panel[edit]
Last Judgement Day is depicted as a commercial occasion. Coaches full of tourists, in the form of fish and snakes, sit on the front row to watch a unique spectacle. The climax is that a very surprised God in heaven is blown up by the biggest nuclear bomb ever made. The artist depicts a poisoned world full of pipelines and cities, portrayed as a large skull on which the word ‘Necropolis’ is written.
On the top right of the panel the horseman of the Apocalypse is seen emerging from hell.[4][5][6][7][8]
Left wing[edit]
The sign on the blue 'Heaven Hilton' houseboat reads 'Jasenovac - God's pride and joy'. Jasenovac was a notoriously brutal extermination camp in occupied Yugoslavia in World War II. The houseboat also carries the sign 'It's only make believe'.
A sign the bottom of the painting sign carries the message 'Heaven closed, sorry no-one was interested' signed by G. Ott [Gott: God]. To the right of the sign is the last Chinese Peking duck that is finishing eating a human being who earlier ate other members of the duck’s family.
Three stones steps in the lower left corner lead to heaven. The centre one carries the message '3 steps to Heaven', a reference to the song 'Three steps to Heaven' by the American rock musician Eddie Cochran.
In the sky is a flying saucer, lit by five burning candles, inspired by 'Flying Saucer Rock'n'Roll' (a spoof of a 1950s black and white science fiction movie) and '16 Candles' (a song performed by the American group The Crests).[4][5][6][7][8]
Right wing[edit]
The artist suggests that Hell already existed in Nazi extermination camps such as Treblinka, Sobibor, Jasenovac and Auschwitz-Birkenau. Hell is therefore depicted as a ‘wall of fame’ at the bottom of this panel. A brick wall has niches in which are the heads of dictators such as Stalin, the Pope, Jesus, Mengele and Himmler. Accepting that he is a heretic, the artist leaves one niche empty for himself.
On a billboard is Adolf Hitler. Hitler's message reads: ‘I am Jesus, your free host here’. To the left of the billboard is the door to one of the gas chambers of the Auschwitz ‘Fun Centre', over which a sign reads 'Gas chamber: Muslims, Christians, cardinals, mulahs and other scum'. The Nazi’s ‘Top resorts’ are noted with names like Bergen Belsen, Auschwitz and Nordhausen [Mittelbau-Dora].
A wagon is being pulled up a steep slope by a naked Rabbi, Pope and Mufti whom Thomassen depicts as being obese after a lifetime of delicious meals, drink and paedophilia. A skeleton of one of their victims lashes them with his whip to demand more action.
In the right arch, Christian clergymen are being burned, while on the roof is an enormous pair of scissors that is being used to cut off the heads of Muslims.[4][5][6][7][8]
Left wing (back)[edit]
This panel is full of incongruous details so typical of this artist. In the centre, a large carrot with wilting leaves is rather strangely shown with a window. The family of the commissioner of 'Last Judgement Day once lived in the small Belgian village of Wortel; in a play on words, the Dutch for 'carrot' is 'wortel'.
There are many other typical 'Jean Thomassen' elements in this picture. Numerous fried eggs appear in the sky, and a large safety pin is mounted on the wall of the leaning building on the left. In the grassed area alongside the carrot in the centre three matchsticks can be seen, while the heads of three large tacks can be seen in the water alongside.
The houses that are depicted appear to be existing ones that are known in Brussels, a city famous for the statuette of Manneken Pis, shown prominently in this picture.
The group of figures shown at the foot of the painting includes the wife of the commissioner of the painting wearing a red dress and his daughter with a cowbell around her neck.[4][5][6][7][8]
Right wing (back)[edit]
In the centre of this picture two very prominent eyes are looking at the viewer: the eyes of the commissioner of the triptych who also seen playing the bagpipes. The father has the legs and the tail of the devil, and ‘Satan rules!’ is written on his shirt. Nobody seems to be listening to the bagpipers performing in a strange ruin – perhaps once a cathedral.
The audience is made up of a bunch of weirdos, including cartoon figures that are well known in Belgium, such as Suske and Wiske, Tintin and detectives Jansen and Janssens. Most of the people stare forwards from behind a plank of wood.
At the front on the right is a fat man whose tongue is pinned to the wood with a small nail. The wife of the commissioner of the triptych, shown on the back of the left wing, is shown again here on the left of the crowd where she has the fangs of a vampire which are in fact parts of a lobster. The couple’s daughter is also repeated here, this time again behind a wall of wooden planks.
In a style typical of Jean Thomassen, a strange flying machine appears overhead, with a fish slung beneath. The sky again contains numerous fried eggs.[4][5][6][7][8]
References[edit]
- ↑ Van Hulst, Gerard (1995). The Absurd Reality of Jean Thomassen (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Van Soeren & Co. ISBN 9068810553.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
- ↑ Old Masters of Tomorrow: The Daan Enneking Collection (Oude meesters van morgen: De Daan Enneking Collectie) (in Dutch). 1998. ISBN 9068811045.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
- ↑ Habata, Prof. Gerhard (2013). Lexikon der phantastischen Künstler (in German) (2nd ed.). Vienna: Palais Palffy. ISBN 9783848263073.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Himmelblau, Ulrich Goette (2015). 42 Masters of Realistic Imagery. pp. Artist no 44. ISBN 9783981347470. Search this book on
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Fantasmus (2015). Imaginaire VII, Cotemporary Realism. Fantasmus. pp. 110–111. ISBN 9788799393664. Search this book on
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Fantasmus (2013). Imaginaire V, Contemporary Realism. Fantasmus. pp. 90–91. ISBN 9788799393640. Search this book on
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Salome, Marcel (2013). Dreamscapes V. pp. 172–173. ISBN 9789490668051. Search this book on
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Janes, Glenn (2019). Absurd Realism. U2pi. pp. 177–189. ISBN 9789087598419. Search this book on
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