6 disturbing paintings that make humans want to look away

Art has always been one of the most beautiful mediums to express emotions and connect to people. From the beautiful vineyards, to the pretty water lilies, and from self-portraits to paintings of loved ones, Art has given the world beauty time and again.

But sometimes, this same art turns eerie and horrifying. It scares people, makes them want to look away and somehow tear the canvas apart. And here we mention 6 disturbing paintings that make people want to look away.

Painted in 1875, 'The Gross Clinic' by Thomas Eakins shows Dr. Samuel Gross inspecting a surgery in a huge lecture hall. And while the attendants and the Doctor look normal and unflinching, the woman sitting right in front of the body has moved her eyes away in horror and scare. The patient is lying on the bed with white sheets, and one can clearly see the incision that the doctors have made for the surgery.(Image: rolvatore/Instagram)

Another horrifying painting that makes people squeamish and quickly look away is Gentileschi’s ‘Judith Beheading Holofeness’. And even though there are many versions of this painting by other famous artists (including one by Caravaggio), it is her depiction that makes people want to look away.
The painting is about Judith, a Jewish heroine, beheading the Assyrian general Holofernes to save her people. Gentileschi does not shy away from the brutality, and the painting shows Judith and her maidservant overpowering Holofernes as blood gushes out from his neck. (Image: artofdystopia/Instagram)

A painting often defined as ‘deeply disturbing’, Goya’s ‘Saturn Devouring His Son’ is one that even the strong-hearted do not wish to focus on. This painting was a part of Goya’s ‘Black Paintings’ series, and was hung up on the walls of his home for quite sometime. It features the mythical Saturn trying to swallow one of his children to prevent a prophecy that one of them would overthrow him. He has wild eyes that bulge out of his face, and his face shows no signs of remorse. (Image: artbutmakeitsports/Instagram)

While saying that people look away from this painting even today would be false, but when it was first released by Picasso, it was termed horrifying and scandalous. The painting features five women with distorted, angular bodies and in their eyes is a confrontational feeling, as if they are seeing right through the audience and viewer.(Image: art._echoes/Instagram)

A disturbing painting that makes people look away is ‘The Severed Heads’. The painting features 2 severed heads, one of a man, and another of a woman, and their necks are still bloody and gruesome. There is a sense of extreme realism in the painting of the decapitated heads, and the way the faces of the victims have lost their life, and their mouths are open in pain and hurt, just is haunting. (Image: the_art_advisor/Instagram)

Henry Fuseli’s painting ‘The Nightmare’ shows a woman lying on a bed, in a mix of deep sleep and distress, and there is a demonic creature sitting on her chest. In the background, there is a horse peeping on the girl and the devil from the shadows, and the whole scene screams horror and fear.

What makes people want to look away from it is primarily the demon on the woman’s chest, with a grin-like expression on its face.
(Image: alexspaints3/Instagram)