Answer these questions and we'll find the painting most likely to TERRIFY you
Start at your own peril...
This painting is part of Goya's 'Black Paintings', a series of murals he painted on the walls of his house outside Madrid between 1820-23. It depicts the mythological god Saturn eating his own son. Although it is a gory image, perhaps it is Saturn's frantic expression which is most confronting - his eyes are frantic, he seems to have lost his mind, but there is also a sense of fear and disgust at his own actions. Some have suggested that Goya has depicted Saturn as a personification of the fear of losing one's power (and mind).
The disturbing, haunting themes of the 'Black Paintings' in many ways reflect Goya's own fear of insanity (he had survived two near-fatal illnesses) and his bleak outlook on humanity (having been witness to the Napoleonic Wars and the chaos of the changing Spanish government).
Getting this image as your answer suggests that you are probably most scared of the potential for humans to carry out terrible acts, and of losing control and perspective in the process. Make sure that you don't let this cynicism overwhelm you, though - remember that there is so much good and kindness in the world, too.
This depiction of Hell will probably terrify you - such surreal, bizarre scenes of torture and pain are not just uncomfortable to look at, but you are also scared by the mind that could imagine them. Hieronymous Bosch wanted this nightmare vision of Hell to have a big impact on his viewers, to hopefully set them on the right path (and avoid going to Hell).
For you, the things that scare you the most are ordinary objects or situations which have something sinister lying beneath the surface. Here, Bosch depicts a world full of people busy going about their own activities, with precisely observed everyday objects, but nothing is ordinary about the scene. There's a knife which has ears, self-playing pink bagpipes, and a big pair of buttocks being used as a hymn book by the choir...
Your imagination is one of your greatest traits, but it does mean that you can get carried away, not always in the best way - so make sure to take time to ground yourself!
This ukiyo-e woodblock is made up of three parts: to the left, a princess recites a spell to summon a giant apparition of a skeleton, which appears out of the black void to the right. In the middle, Mitsukuni (the emperor's official) glares up defiantly up at the skeleton, as he strikes an enemy with the back of his sword.
Getting this image as your answer suggests that you tend to believe in the power of the paranormal and supernatural. Ideas of sorcery, curses and haunting spirits can really scare you, although you're not always sure where that fear comes from. Perhaps it shows your desire to learn about other ways of viewing the world and the human mind, in all of its subtleties and complexities.
This detail from Michelangelo's Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel really gets under your skin (pun intended). You are squeamish - blood and gore always gives you the creeps. Here, Saint Bartholomew holds a flayed skin in one hand, and knife in the other - these are his attributes as a matryed saint (according to legend, he was skinned alive). But some art historians suggest that the face of the flayed skin is also a self-portrait by Michelangelo, which would had another level of creepiness to this...
This smiling spider was made during Odilon Redon's 'noire' period, which was infused with bizarre and grotesque black lithographs and charcoal drawings. The fusion of natural and fantastical is associated with the Symbolist movement, and Redon's interest in the unconscious in his art later had a big impact on the Surrealists; he was fascinated by psychiatry and dream research, Darwin's evolutionary theories and natural history, and scientific images only visible under the microscope.
If you've got this image as your answer, you probably really don't like spiders. But whether or not that part is true, it mainly suggests that you are a very curious person who finds it both fascinating and terrifying to think about just how little we really know about the world and the human mind.
If you've got this image, then you are probably a very squeamish person! Blood, guts and gore give you the creeps, and the snakes in this painting just make it so much worse.
Interestingly, the snakes have been attributed not to Rubens, but to another Flemish painter called Frans Snyders, who specialised in animal painting and still lives. The level of detail and naturalism in the snakes is amazing on a technical level - but the way they visually reflect the bloody insides of Medusa's head really just gives you the creeps.
This undated work is said to be a self-portrait of the artist in clown form. His face is distorted and his expression is difficult to read. Although there is much beauty in this painting, if you've got this image as your answer, it is probably because a) you are terrified of clowns and/or b) you find it really scary to thinkabout the disturbing inner workings of the human mind. Pscyhological terror will always scare you more than anything bloody or gory, especially when it is about someone's inner demons. It's important to remember, of course, that humans also have an immense capacity for good and kindness!
It is interesting to note that the image of the pierrot (or clown) in art history has had many different meanings for various cultural movements: the symbolists, for example, saw him a lonely sufferer, the modernists saw him as a silent, alienated observer of the mysteries of the human condition. The 'sad clown' has been an recurring figure in the postmodern era; even David Bowie sang "I'm Pierrot, I'm Everyman".