r/ArtHistory • u/GingerStoat • 2d ago

Discussion Is there a sadder, angrier looking eye than Cabanel's Fallen Angel ?

Basically the title. I've been looking for the most desperate, angry looking faces in painting for a while, I'd love your opinions on that subject.

189 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

55 comments sorted by

164

u/KAKrisko 2d ago

Ivan the Terrible and his son, Ivan by Repin is right up there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_the_Terrible_and_His_Son_Ivan

28

u/Various-Panic-185 2d ago

Oh man, this one gave me goosebumps. Absolutely heart wrenching

11

u/SurviveYourAdults 2d ago

"shouldn't have done that"...

2

u/Retinoid634 2d ago

Oh yes. So intense.

1

u/Retinoid634 2d ago

Oh yes. So intense.

1

u/Phiziqe 18h ago

oh it‘s already mentioned here, deleted my comment

68

u/Ball-Blam-Burglerber 2d ago

The painting in question: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fallen_Angel_(painting)

14

u/Platomik 1d ago

Thank you :) It's always great when someone posts the details or source of a work when OP hasn't.

5

u/Ball-Blam-Burglerber 1d ago

You’re welcome!

59

u/Aer0uAntG3alach 2d ago

Auguste Toulmouche, The Reluctant Bride, 1866

This woman is ready to kill.

7

u/GingerStoat 1d ago

I love that look, it's loaded with emotions.

4

u/lindabelchrlocalpsyc 1d ago

I adore this one - good pick. The literal disgust you can see!

2

u/DancingPinkyFlowers 1d ago

This was my first thought!

24

u/11and12 2d ago

Portrait of writer Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin

Who ended his life few days later.

28

u/tugboattoottoot 2d ago

That’s hauntingly beautiful, thank you for pointing me in its direction.
https://www.artchive.com/artwork/portrait-of-writer-vsevolod-mikhailovich-garshin-study-ilya-repin-1883/

0

u/11and12 1d ago

I meant the other one, where he is resting his arms on the table.

9

u/solomonmack 2d ago

It was a few years later, but a few days is a better story, ha!

73

u/Historical_Hope2031 2d ago

My vote is for Anguish by Albrecht Schenck#/media/File%3AAugustFriedrich_Albrecht_Schenck-Anguish-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)

13

u/ellaunderfoot 2d ago

This is so sad…

1

u/Suspicious-Key-3304 17h ago

Such a horribly sad image. I think about this painting all the time. So beautiful and sad.

54

u/callmesnake13 Contemporary 2d ago

Maria Lassnig - You or Me

23

u/dishearthening 2d ago

Oh wow. I've never seen this before and it is... something. Thank you so much for sharing.

24

u/callmesnake13 Contemporary 2d ago

She was 86 when she made it!

5

u/GingerStoat 1d ago

That one is incredible.

5

u/Retinoid634 2d ago

Brilliant.

2

u/arist0geiton 19h ago

This is really good. What a perfect, perfect nude.

16

u/Retinoid634 2d ago

Caravaggio paints rage and chaotic emotions like no one else. Here is his Medusa at the Uffizi:

1

u/GingerStoat 1d ago

He obviously does, thanks :)

28

u/kl2467 2d ago

Cabanel captured so much anger, jealousy, resentment, rebellion, narcissism, self-righteousness, rejection, greed, covetousness, determination, self-pity, destructiveness, hurt, lust for revenge in that one face, I personally don't think it can be topped.

16

u/laffnlemming 2d ago

Lots of the ones they are bringing posted, don't seem angry and sad to me.

Cabanel's is the angriest so far and there seems to be a tear drop.

These others are more crazy eyed.

Depending on the angle, the eyes on the statue of David can look crazily eyed or just angry, but the view face-on from below the nose also seems sad. (I'm not sure how to link the image.)

24

u/ManueO 2d ago

For me, it’s Courbet’s Le désespéré

3

u/SansSoleil24 2d ago

Paul Klee - Angelus Novus

4

u/CrossingOver03 2d ago

Redon's Cyclops perhaps...

1

u/GingerStoat 1d ago

Widely uncanny, thanks for sharing this one.

2

u/Delicious-War6034 1d ago

Those eyes were HOT. (Smoldering) Consider Bernini’s “The Damned Soul”.

2

u/Stunning-Risk-7194 1d ago

I always loved the facial expression in Velázquez’s Christ in the House of Martha and Mary)

1

u/GingerStoat 1d ago

I didn't take time to check the story here, but I can feel a strong bitterness in that look.

1

u/Lucialucianna 2d ago

Goya prints?

1

u/michael-65536 2d ago

Doesn't look like it so far.

2

u/michael-65536 2d ago

P.S. , It's not a painting, but if you like that sort of thing, have you seen Brad Dourif in this scene?

1

u/GingerStoat 1d ago

Brad Dourif has fantastic facial expressions, but I didn't know about this, thanks a lot !

2

u/silvercharm999 21h ago

I love this question! Not all of these are technically "angry", but they all come from my saved list of "intense emotions" paintings, lol

Medusa - Laura Dreyfus Barney

The End of All Things - Maximilian Pirner (lovely detail of demon here)

Medea - Charles Antoine Coypel

Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth - John Singer Sargent

Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind - Jean-Leon Gerome

The Wave - Carlos Schwabe (along with all of its lovely studies)

Last Watch of Hero - Frederic Leighton

I could go on. These are my favorite kinds of paintings!