Roll out the red carpet for King Charles’ first official portrait
So much of our world these days is cringe-worthy, and King Charles’ first official portrait fits right in.
To begin with, Charles’ likeness is painted entirely in blood-red, which summons the memory of his hacked phone call in 1993 to Camilla Parker Bowles lusting after her while married to Diana.
The British press published the transcript of him telling her of wanting to “live inside her trousers” as a reincarnated Tampon. The portrait bears the bright shade of menstrual fluid.
Of course, an all-red painting, made by noted portraitist Jonathan Yeo, isn’t a first in art history. I’m thinking of Matisse’s “The Red Room,” with the vivid color detailing a table, chairs and wall that adds up to the look of uproarious wallpaper. And in a way, so does the king’s portrait.
“The Red Room” also includes a woman napping, representing Matisse’s aim to make pictures “devoid of troubling or depressing subject-matter... a mental soother, something like a good armchair in which to rest from physical fatigue.”
But it’s hard to reconcile Matisse’s art aim with his screaming palette. It’s also antithetical to his associated with the art movement called Fauvism - from the French word fauve meaning “wild beasts” owing to the use of his raging palette.
Certainly, the portrait of Charles emblazoned in lurid red is far from soothing. In fact, given the life-threatening disease he suffers, his image awash in a blood-red sea is downright morbid.
Yet, red is not normally a morbid color. In fact, it’s just the opposite if you consider Peter Paul Rubens’ paintings of fleshy figures - muscled men and well-endowed women – all flushed in their lustiness. The reds in his works infused them with an animal energy.
Is that what the king’s portrait artist had in mind? No. On Instagram Yeo said he was surprised by the objections to his coloring the king red. But, he added, “it’s strangely reassuring to know a painted portrait can still spark so many conversations in an image-saturated age.
Speaking if saturation, why did Yeo bathe Charles in the color of blood? Even though he had a heart attack while painting the portrait, he insisted that he didn’t make the connection at the time. “I just: I like this color,” he said.
He’s not alone. Red is frequently the choice when people are asked to name their favorite color. Austrian philosopher Hans Biedrmann noted in his 1992 book on symbolism that the preference goes way back.
Cave art in the Ice Age was full of it. And the Neanderthals were known to sprinkle their dead with red pigment to restore life. Biedermann also notes that red is a sign of aggression. Hmm.
The BBC reports that when Queen Camilla saw the portrait, she told the painter, "Yes, you've got him." Maybe she was remembering the hacked phone call in when he wanted to “live inside her trousers.”