ESL Blogs

Ever thought what the last works of some of greatest artists throughout history looked like? What if I told ya that you're in luck? It just so happens that after doing a little bit of research I've found some final masterpieces from some of the world's most renowned artists. You can find it all, ya know? From Picasso to Rafael. (By the way, he ain't one of those terrifying 3D monsters that are tryin' to pass themselves off as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that I grew up with. Why do you keep ruinin' my childhood, Hollywood? Jeez!)

Raphael: The Transfiguration (1520)

"Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (1483 – April 6, 1520) known as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and he formed the trinity of masters of that period. His last work was The Transfiguration (1520). It was commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de Medici and it can now be found in the Pinacoteca Vaticana in Vatican City."

Rembrandt: Simeon With The Christ Child In The Temple, Unfinished (1669)

"This painting by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) was found uncompleted in his studio prior to his sudden death aged 63. It now hangs in the National Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. The painting depicts an old man holding an infant, a subject he had painted twice before. The work illustrates a passage from the Gospel of St. Luke, in which Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem. The figure in the background was probably painted afterwards by somebody else. Some people think she's Maria, while others say she's the prophetess Anna."

Claude Monet: Water Lilies Murals (1926)

"The Grandes Décorations (1920-26) are a collection or murals that comprise Claude Monet's last works. They depict his beloved water lilies and he painted them when both his eyesight and health were failing. As his sight worsened due to cataracts, his works turned from fresh, bright colors to blurred visions of heavy browns and reds. He wrote letters to friends, how colors were getting dull, and it was hard to tell them apart, and how he had to label tubes of paint. Monet specified that when he died he wanted to be buried like "a local man," adding "Above all, remember I want neither flowers nor wreaths. Those are vain honors. It would be a sacrilege to plunder the flowers of my garden for an occasion such as this.”

Titian: Pieta (1576)

"Tiziano Vecelli, or Tiziano Vecellio, known in English as Titian, was an Italian painter born in 1490. He is thought to be one of the most versatile of Italian painters and was equally adept with landscapes, portraits, and mythological and relgious subjects. Titan died of a fever when the plague hit Venice in 1576. His last work was Pieta, a dramatic, nocturnal scene of suffering." 

Edgar Degas: Two Dancers Resting I

"Edgar Degas was a French artist known for his paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints. He is often associated with the subject of dance, and more than half of his works depict dancers in some form or another. Two Dancers Resting I is thought to be his final pastel painting, which he created at a time when his eyesight had almost completely gone. His vision began to decline when he was 36, and he had lost his central vision by his forties due to a form of retinopathy. The artist died in 1917, aged 83."

Vincent Van Gogh: Tree Roots (1890)

"Wheatfield With Crows (1890) is often considered to be Vincent van Gogh's last work, perhaps because the ominous setting was in fact the place he chose in real life for his final, successful suicide attempt. It is however more likely that his final work was Tree Roots, painted in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, shortly after he left an asylum in Saint-Rémy." 

Andy Warhol: The Last Supper (1986)

"Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was an American artist and leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His work explores the relationship between celebrity culture, artistic expression, and advertising. His final series of paintings, called "The Last Supper," was made in late 1986 and can now be seen at the Guggenheim Museum SoHo. The series was a commission, and the idea was thought up by the late Paris dealer, Alexander Iolas, who arranged for the work to be paid for by the Milan bank Credito-Valtellinese. The pictures were hung in the bank's new premises, just across the street from the Church of Santa Maria della Grazie, where Leonardo da Vinci's noble, dilapidated original can be seen. Warhol, as he often did, used commercial reproductions as his source material."

 Henri Matisse: La Gerbe, One Of His Last Works (1953)

"French artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was a revolutionary and influential painter of the early 20th century, best known for the expressive color and form of his Fauvist style. His last work was Le Gerbe (1953), a piece made from ceramic tile embedded in plaster. It was his only west coast commission and it can be found in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)."