From Frida Kahlo to Mark Rothko: The 10 final paintings by iconic artists
Humans have painted since the prehistoric era, with the oldest paintings dating back 42,000 years. Present in all cultures, people often painted on cave walls, typically using animals as subject matter, although explanations as to why are still debated. Regardless of the whys and wherefores, the fact that painting has existed for such a long time across all cultures signals the innate human need to create art.
Over the centuries, the subject of art has shifted from classical and religious depictions to allow for more abstract, expressionist and conceptual ideas. The medium possesses the possibility to convey emotions uniquely in a way that can cross borders and languages, making it the most dominant and familiar art form.
A painting can reveal an awful lot about the artist that painted it, from their mental state to their physical surroundings. Therefore, it’s fascinating to look back at some of art’s most iconic names and visit their final paintings before passing away. Many of the paintings below seem to harness an awareness of the artist’s impending mortality, making them all the more chilling and moving to view.
In some instances, the paintings remain unfinished – a macabre reminder that death does not stop for anyone, even if they’re a world-renowned painter in the middle of a potential magnum opus. So, from Frida Kahlo’s haunting omen Viva La Vida, Watermelons to Gustav Klimt’s revealing unfinished work, The Bride, here are ten final paintings of famous artists.
10 final paintings of iconic artists:
Viva La Vida, Watermelons – Frida Kahlo (1954)
Frida Kahlo used painting as a medium to express and question themes of gender, class, race, and chronic pain. Her work mixed autobiography with magical realism and surrealism, depicting her experience of womanhood with unwavering dedication, often resulting in harrowing images, such as the loss of her baby reflected in Henry Ford Hospital. The artist’s final painting was Viva La Vida, Watermelons, a still life spread of the fruit, a traditional symbol of life and fertility in Mexican culture, often used in Day of the Dead celebrations.
The painting was completed just eight days before her death in 1954, and the watermelon slice at the front of the image reads “viva la vida”, meaning “long live life”. The cause of her death was declared a pulmonary embolism, although many have speculated that Kahlo took her own life. During this time, Kahlo depended on painkillers after her leg was amputated, and she was severely depressed. Her final painting suggests that she was anticipating her life’s end.
Unfinished Painting – Keith Haring (1989)
Keith Haring used his distinctively colourful paintings to advocate for safe sex and AIDS awareness, making him a key figure in the 1980s New York art scene. Emerging from the city’s graffiti subculture, Haring gained popularity for his drawings that appeared in subways, often depicting outlines of dogs and people. In 1988, Haring was diagnosed with AIDS, and he used art to spread awareness about his illness in the last two years of his life.
In 1990, at the age of 31, Haring passed away. His final painting takes up the top left quarter of the canvas, with bright purple paint dripping down like blood. Unfinished Painting represents a life tragically cut short, leaving behind a wealth of talent and potential.
The Beyond – Georgia O’Keeffe (1972)
As an extraordinary modernist painter, Georgia O’Keeffe became known for her paintings of erotic flowers and hallucinatory landscapes. Born in 1887, O’Keefe’s artwork looks distinctively ahead of its time. Her innovative approach to painting continued for decades until the early 1970s, when her eyesight rapidly deteriorated. Although O’Keeffe attempted to keep painting with the help of assistants until her death, aged 98 in 1986, her final unassisted painting was completed in 1972.
Created in her eighties, O’Keeffe’s final painting, The Beyond, seems to contemplate death, with almost half of the canvas dominated by black. The top half depicts an unknown stretch of what appears to be the sky and sea, a distant mystery.
Study of a Bull – Francis Bacon (1991)
Striving to create “the brutality of fact” within his art, Francis Bacon’s work explored self-portraiture, sexuality, violence and religion. From his mesmerising Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X to Triptych May-June 1973, depicting the death of his lover George Dyer, Bacon left his mark on the art world through his cerebral pieces.
In 1991, the painter began working on Study of a Bull, one of many works revolving around his obsession with bullfighting. Inspired by Pablo Picasso’s bull artwork and Federico García Lorca’s poetry on the subject, Bacon painted multiple scenes involving the animal. He suffered from pneumonia whilst painting this piece, which made him extremely weak; thus, he attempted to paint a symbol of great strength. He died in 1992 from a heart attack.
The Bride – Gustav Klimt (1918)
Austrian artist Gustav Klimt’s last painting, The Bride, remained unfinished when he died in 1918 following a bout of pneumonia and a stroke. Klimt was known for painting beautiful women, particularly the female form. Often incorporating gold leaf into his work, his art often caused outrage and was labelled as pornographic.
Interestingly, this unfinished work demonstrates Klimt’s obsession with eroticism, painting his women naked before adding clothes on top. In The Bride, fragments of faces and naked bodies can be seen on the left side of the canvas. However, on the right, a nude, headless female body is partially covered by multi-coloured clothing, with Klmit prioritising the depiction of her genitals before her face.
Untitled – Mark Rothko (1970)
Despite his rejection of being pigeonholed into any one movement or genre, Mark Rothko was closely associated with the modern American Abstract Expressionist movement. His canvases of colour field art radically rejected traditionalism, inviting viewers to engage with the emotions evoked by his lucid yet ambiguous pieces. He once said, “I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotions – tragedy, ecstasy, and so on.”
In 1968, Rothko was diagnosed with a mild aortic aneurysm, and two years later, he was found dead in his studio, blood pouring from his wrists, which he had cut with a razor blade. Therefore, his final work, painted in intense bright reds, was tragically prophetic.
Riding with Death – Jean-Michel Basquiat (1988)
Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of Haring’s contemporaries who also emerged from the ’80s New York underground scene, painted Riding with Death a few months before dying of a heroin overdose in 1988. The haunting painting features an abstract brown figure riding on the back of a disjointed skeleton, which seems to have taken a bite of the figure. A barren light brown colour forms the basis of the painting’s background – much bleaker than his typical, brightly-coloured work.
The painting seems to signal Basquiat’s realisation that his habits, such as excessive drug use, would only result in tragedy. The revolutionary artist passed away at age 27 in 1988 at his home in Manhattan.
Transfiguration – Raphael (1520)
Raphael, a master of the High Renaissance, was highly admired during his time, forming a trinity of great artists alongside Leonardo da Vinci and Michaelangelo. His artwork represented the ultimate ideals of humanity, beauty and grandeur. According to Jonathan Bober, a curator at the National Gallery of Art, “Raphael approached style and even his own stylistic evolution in rational, systematic fashion. That meant that he was exceptionally responsive to other styles.”
His final painting, the mighty Transfiguration, took four years to complete. Pope Clement VII commissioned the piece, and many have argued that it exemplifies the development of Raphael as an artist. The painting depicts the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ and the next episode in the Gospels, which was considered unusual. Giorgio Vasari claimed that Raphael died on Good Friday in 1520 due to exhaustion from unending romantic interests. However, historians believe he most likely died from an infectious illness.
Tree Roots – Vincent van Gogh (1890)
Following his death, Vincent van Gogh posthumously became one of Western art’s most well-known painters, completing around 2,100 artworks in his life, which was cut short at the age of 37 when he (potentially) committed suicide. The artist’s struggle with depression and poverty bled into his art – he even painted the field he supposedly shot himself in, leading many to believe that Wheatfield with Crows was his last work.
However, it is commonly agreed that Tree Roots was his final painting, which was painted in Auvers-sur-Oise shortly after leaving an asylum in Saint-Rémy. The twisted roots evoke a painful atmosphere, and Wouter van der Veen, scientific director of the Institut Van Gogh, believes that the painter was working on the piece just hours before his death.
Les Grandes Décorations – Claude Monet (1926)
Claude Monet, a significant Impressionist artist, was most famous for his paintings of landscapes, such as lakes, rivers, gardens and water lily ponds. Between 1920 and 1926, the painter created his final series of water lily paintings, despite the rapid decline of his health and eyesight. He had to build a larger studio to accommodate the massive 91 x 2-metre canvases. Suffering from cataracts, Monet’s final works turned from vivid pastel shades to murky browns and reds.
He often updated his friends, telling them he struggled to distinguish between his paint colours, even having to label the tubes. Monet died from lung cancer shortly after his paintings were finished in 1926, aged 86.
