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5 Frighteningly Vivid Illustrations of Hell

Is hell a literal place or the dark side of Our Psyche?

By Kamna KirtiPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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Hellscape from The Last Judgment by Jan van Eyck

What happens after we die? Is there an afterlife? Or are we stuck in endless cycles of birth and death? Well, obviously there is no definitive answer to this but a sizable majority believes in heaven and hell.

A recent Pew Research poll showed that 72% of Americans believe in a literal heaven and 58% believe in a literal hell. Liberals believe hell has been rethought as a 'state' and no longer a place of life after death.

Bart D. Ehrman, author of the book Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife explains in his recent book that the physical and psychological torments of hell were neither preached by Jesus nor his original Jewish followers. They emerged in the later gentile converts who did not believe in the Jewish notion of a future resurrection of the dead.

As Christianity evolved, the idea that when we will die, our soul goes into heaven or hell(purgatory) solidified. Dante's magnum opus Divine Comedy penned in the early 1300s brought to life the nightmarish depictions of hell onto paper.

Many prominent artists build their understanding of the afterlife directly on Dante's writings. The artists from the 17th century and onwards drew inspiration from another epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton.

Let's dive straight into 5 frighteningly vivid illustrations of hell.

1. The Crucifixion; The Last Judgment by Jan van Eyck (1440–41)

The Crucifixion; The Last Judgment by Jan van Eyck. Source-Public Domain

The curator Maryan W. Ainsworth describes this painting as a "diabolical invention".

The left panel depicts the crucifixion of Jesus. The right panel illustrates Jesus' life in the heavenly realm at the top and a vivid depiction of the hellscape at the bottom. The ghastly image of purgatory depicts every imaginable torture. The entwining of snakes around naked bodies, the monsters pulling out human skin and the cracking and breaking of bones.

2. The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch (1490 - 1510)

The right panel of The Garden of Earthly Delights

This painting in itself absorbs the wisdom of life and the afterlife. Oftentimes, the vastness of the painting overwhelms me.

Bosch has intricately illustrated the surrealist representation of hell. The doomed world, the monster feasting on a human corpse and the tree man with a human scrotum and penis over his head. The artist's grotesque vision of the underworld still brings chills down our spine 500 years after his death.

3. Satan Calling Up his Legions by William Blake (1804)

Satan Calling Up his Legions by William Blake. Source-Public Domain

This painting conflates several incidents, characters and landscape imagery from Milton's Paradise Lost. The antagonist Satan stands tall in between and calls upon his legions, who have been sent to hell by God. Beneath him sits Beelzebub and at the bottom is Dagon, an upward man and downward fish with scales on his legs.

4. Pandemonium by John Martin (1841)

Pandemonium by John Martin. Source-Public Domain

The movie scenes of Inferno might have been inspired by Martin's Pandemonium.

Martin's body of work reflected death, decay and dystopia almost in all of his paintings. Pandemonium seems like a pinnacle of his work with these depictions.

The hellscape resembles a red hot volcanic lava engulfing the earth. In the foreground, an armored Satan raises his arms. All while a bolt of lightning strikes thunderously through the blood-red sky.

An interesting fact about this painting reveals that hell depicted London's most famous architectural buildings including the towering gates of Somerset House and the arcade of Carlton House Terrace.

5. Inferno by Franz von Stuck (1908)

Inferno by Franz von Stuck. Source-The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This painting reveals the physical and psychological terrors of hell - a snake, a demon, and a flaming pit. The woman at the extreme left is trapped forever. Her dead eyes and an expression of perpetual fright are nightmarish. The woman on the right is entwined in a snake, allegorically representing Eve's expulsion.

When Inferno debuted in an exhibition of contemporary German art at The Met in 1909, critics praised its "sovereign brutality."

Final thoughts

In my opinion, hell is a dark state of our subconscious. No two persons are alike and so experiences such as hell may be dissimilar.

To end this essay on a lighter note: 

Go to heaven for the climate, hell for the company - Mark Twain.

What's your opinion on heaven and hell and which is your favorite representation of hell in art history?

References-

1. 10 Most Famous Hell Paintings

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About the Creator

Kamna Kirti

Art enthusiast. I engage with art at a deep level. I also share insights about entrepreneurship, founders & nascent technologies.

https://linktr.ee/kamnakirti

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