Unknown paintings by Kurt Cobain

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In August 2017, an exhibition was held in Seattle featuring previously unknown paintings by Kurt Cobain. Unlike the works of other authors, the drawings of the leader of the Nirvana group were not for sale. According to the widow of musician Courtney Love, these paintings are too expensive for family members. The exhibited works help to understand what was going on in the mangled soul of Kurt.

Childhood trauma: betrayal instead of love

The future idol of millions was born in the town of Aberdeen in the northwestern United States. His father was a car mechanic and his mother was a housewife. The city was a depressive place: unemployment, alcoholism and drug addiction reigned. The inhabitants lived by growing mushrooms and marijuana.

Early at an early age, Kurt showed a penchant for destruction and vandalism. He liked to throw cans filled with stones at police cars. Doctors diagnosed ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and prescribed tranquilizers. But the therapy was unsuccessful.

When the boy was 9 years old, his parents divorced. It's strongshocked Kurt, he became withdrawn and sullen. Divorce was perceived by him as a betrayal. For a time he lived with his mother, but did not get along with his stepfather. After moving in with his father, Kurt faced the same problem. As a result, he had to take turns living with different relatives.

First drawings: a small window from a stuffy world

The void needs to be filled with something. Kurt painted a lot. The teachers at the school noted his high artistic abilities, which was very important for the boy. He was never praised at home. Once he showed his grandfather a drawing of Mickey Mouse, made from memory, but he did not believe it and said that Kurt simply copied it along the contours. Then the indignant boy grabbed a sheet of paper and immediately gave out drawings of Donald Duck and Goofy. Grandpa was shocked.

The first drawings were illustrations for comics, but Kurt's later work became darker. He began to resort to themes of violence and suffering. Creepy monsters and even Satan appeared in the images. These were truly terrible pictures. Kurt Cobain once drew a close-up of a vagina from a porn magazine and showed it to a classmate. He did not understand anything and asked: “What is this?”

Drug addiction

Even at school, Kurt started smoking marijuana. The weed did not bring relief, on the contrary, the psychoses only worsened. He could break a window or break down a door if he forgot his keys. Sometimes Kurt and his friends broke into some abandoned house and ransacked it. At the age of 18, he became addicted to LSD, which caused terrible visions, further traumatizinghis sick mind.

After creating the first rock band Fecal Matter, Cobain became addicted to heroin. He thought he would not be able to get addicted to this drug, as it was difficult to get it in Aberdeen. In addition, it seemed to him that heroin was created for real rock and roll. Many of Kurt's musical idols used it regularly.

Heroin turned out to be exactly the drug that allowed Cobain to escape from reality and brought temporary peace. Due to lack of funds, Kurt could not always buy an expensive drug and replaced it with cough mixture. He was never able to get rid of this addiction for the rest of his life.

Nirvana: Incesticide album cover

After the unexpected success of Nevermind, the band decided to make another record different from the previous one. The work dragged on for a year. As a result, In Utero became the last album. Kurt Cobain spent a lot of time with his newly born daughter, so the record company decided to release the Incesticide compilation.

The album cover was designed by Kurt himself. A child with a broken skull looks at a poppy flower and pulls a strange bony creature by the hand. The picture, as it were, is a continuation of another, earlier one, which depicts an embryo in the womb of a drug addict mother. Many noted the possible influence of the work of Edvard Munch - the same state of despair and loneliness, from which there is no way out.

He alth problems

In addition to the nervous breakdowns that were the result of ADHD and regular drug use,Cobain suffered severe stomach pains. Given the lifestyle, systemic treatment was out of the question. Kurt prescribed himself a medicine - the systematic use of heroin. The pain went away, but returned again when the dose stopped working. The scary pictures of Kurt Cobain, the psychology of their plots - all these are just mirrors reflecting the torment that he experienced.

In addition, the musician suffered from chronic bronchitis since childhood, and in recent years he began to lose his voice. During the next exacerbation, Cobain flew to Rome for treatment. Presumably, then he made his first suicide attempt, swallowing a pack of sleeping pills and drinking champagne.

Existential Horror: Chilling Drawings

In Seattle, all paintings were exhibited in original wooden frames made by Cobain himself. In addition to the well-known Incesticide, one could see the equally creepy "Fistula", which depicts a green man with the body of an insect. From the jointed limbs, the strings go up, like a puppet doll.

Spooky pink ghost face; raccoon-like wild animals clinging to the branches of a burnt tree; a skinny figure (presumably a self-portrait); a man against a background of bright flowers with a bloodied anus; a few black and white comics - this is not all the pictures of Kurt Cobain.

Madness and genius often go hand in hand. Masterpieces are born through unbearable mental and physical pain. Modern art critics are sure that Kurt Cobain could become a great artist if he chosemain occupation is drawing instead of music. But even those works that he left behind have become an invaluable contribution to alternative painting.