King Charles’ new portrait is bloody red
Much like the Royal Family, a new portrait of King Charles has split public opinion.
Art is like beauty. It is in the eye of the beholder. Some people have a religious experience in the presence of a Rembrandt. Others are tickled by the sight of four dogs playing poker. There is no right or wrong in the visual arts.
There is only what you see and feel.
The new painting of King Charles, the first since his Coronation, was unveiled this week in London. In one clip shared by the Royal Family, the artist Jonathan Yeo looks on proudly as the King yanks down the covering for the big reveal.
His Majesty glances at the oil-oncanvas. He backs up a couple of paces.
It’s unclear if he loves it or is scared of it.
Both reactions are reasonable. The “Mona Lisa” is 77 by 53 centimetres. By contrast, this new painting of the King is 8.5 by 6.5 feet. It’s NBA-sized. The first thing you notice is the colour red. The King’s head is bobbing in brush strokes of crimson.
I haven’t seen this much red since Melania Trump’s Christmas display in the White House.
Depicted in his 1975 regimental colonel uniform with the Welsh Guards, the King’s red uniform blends into the red background. Even the monarch butterfly about to land on his shoulder is streaked with burgundy. Red, red, red.
Stare at this portrait for two minutes and you’ll crave a Negroni.
Mr. Yeo is a gifted artist. He has created visually arresting portraits of everyone from Idris Elba to Tony Blair, Malala Yousafzai to Nicole Kidman. His goal is to get inside the head of his subject before he brings them to life with artistic licence.
In his previous portrait of the Duchess of Cornwall, now the Queen, she is holding eyeglasses. The background is pewter and silver vertical stripes. Possible interpretation: “Reading between the lines.”
Yeo’s portrait of the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, blurs shoulders, collar and tie to create a torso depth of field. He then accentuates the Duke’s majestic face with textures and a nod to cubist shadowing. It’s wonderful art, both contemporary and traditional.
So why is his new portrait of King Charles so divisive?
I’m no art expert. But let me state the obvious: Yeo went overboard on the red.
There are lots of famous paintings in which red is the dominant hue. But from Warhol’s “Red Lenin” to Renoir’s “Claude Renoir en Clown” to Raphael’s “Portrait of Tommaso Inghirami,” there was always contrast. John Singer Sargent’s 1881 “Dr. Pozzi at Home” uses a darker crimson oil in the background that somehow makes the cherry-red robe pop.
There is no pop in this King Charles. There is just King Charles looking like he is in a literal bloodbath or doomed to the fiery Seventh Circle of Hell. That might explain why his hands are charred. If I were Prince William, I’d get a copy of this portrait and keep it on hand to flash when the kids are misbehaving.
“Louis, stop throwing crumpets! Or Grandpa Beelzebub will be hiding under your bed.”
When the painting was still a work in progress, reported the BBC, King Charles dropped in for a look-see. Yeo recalled his subject’s reaction: “He was initially mildly surprised by the strong colour, but otherwise he seemed to be smiling approvingly.”
Surprised? I bet he was standing there and thinking, “What the hell is this? I’m the King. I’m not the Queen of Hearts in a deck of Mamluk playing cards. Why am I holding a sword while entombed in a vat of strawberry Jell-O? A butterfly is supposed to conjure metamorphosis, not monochromatism. I look like Deadpool’s uncle!”
Also, it’s impossible to tell if a royal is smiling approvingly. King Charles is not an animated fellow. His expression will barely change, whether he’s watching a butler slip on a banana peel or he climbs into a scalding bath without first checking the temp.
But given everything he’s been through recently, including cancer and the endless melodrama of Harry and Meghan, I hope he was smiling approvingly. And if he ever wants to feel better about his new portrait, he should look at a 2004 painting of Prince Philip.
The Duke is bare-chested with a protruding nose that could double as an aircraft carrier. A blue bottle fly sits on his shoulder. A plant grows out of his index finger.
Possible translation: “I stole Jack’s beanstalk and then harvested his organs.”
So congratulations to King Charles on his first official portrait. It was four years in the making. This art now moves to the eyes of the beholders. Now the plebs can pass judgment:
Masterpiece for the ages or nightmare fuel?