The Last Painting: Final Works of the Great Masters: from Giotto to Twombly

by Bernard Chambaz

There are no rules, and even less justice. Death takes everyone without discrimination. Sometimes it is accidental - like Signorelli, who fell from scaffolding. Sometimes it is expected, as with the diabetic Cezanne, who wrote "I am old, sick, and I swore to die while painting". But often, researching a painter's death is an easier task than determining which of their works is truly their 'last'. Paintings tend to be dated by year and not month, inciting much debate among art historians. This book embraces this ambiguity, studying 100 examples of works that lay completed for several years, or were left unfinished on the easel, or were finished post-mortem by a friend's grieving hand.

The Last Painting collects 100 terminal paintings from 100 artists, including Dalí, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Goya, Pollock, Rembrandt, Dix, Bonnard, Titien, and many more. Each picture gives us a glimpse into the painter's mind. Did they know death was coming? Did they paint with denial, or acceptance? Did they return to a favorite subject, or decide to embark on a new, original project while they still had time? A poetic and thought-provoking book, The Last Painting is a sensitive exploration of the relationship between art and death.

Genres: Art

240 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2018

Reviews

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an odd, odd book. It's ostensibly a look at the final painting by 100 famous artists. What it really is is a sort of ekphrastic poetry, as the text accompanying each painting does everything except straightforwardly explain the work in question; even the explications it does give are both allusive and elusive.

The other thing to know about this book is that Chambez makes absolutely no effort to meet the reader halfway. If you don't have an absolutely encyclopedic knowledge of art history, including not only iconography, but the biographies and works of every possible artist, you're going to be looking something up in your reference work of choice on every. single. page. I'm...not sure that's the way I would have elected to write this book. Actually, since I don't have a doctorate in art history, I'm certain that it's not.

Anyway, I struggled with what star rating to give this. It's pretentious, exasperating, and gives EXTREMELY short shrift to female and non-Western artists. At the same time, it's weirdly fascinating, and I'm not sorry for the time I spent with it; it's going to stay on my art reference shelf.

[GBL · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is essential reading for anyone interested in the History of Art. The book looks at the probable final work of art produced by a wide range of artists from Giotto to Twombly (Cy Twombly 1928-2011).

Some of the artworks were completed by artists who knew the end was nigh, others are the last known work before the artist’s death. The book shows some of the artists at the end of their long lives, while others are from artists at the height of their powers with so much time ahead - what works would Van Gogh have produced if he had lived another 10, 20 or 30 years?

The text with each picture can be challenging and is not designed to simply splaying the picture or the artist’s life but is more of a reflection on the work of art.

The book gives the reader an opportunity to consider the nature of art and how it relates to the life of the artist; often we think of art without considering its relationship to the life of the artist but this book makes a conscious link between the two.