The Secret Splendor of Uncomfortable Art: Aestheticizing Ugliness

An opinion piece argues that ugliness in art constitutes a legitimate aesthetic category with unique power. It contrasts Goya's "Saturn Devouring His Son" and Francis Bacon's "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" as examples of works deemed ugly yet artistically profound. The article traces the historical evolution of ugliness from medieval depictions of sin (gargoyles, Last Judgment scenes) through Leonardo da Vinci's caricatures and Hieronymus Bosch's grotesques, to Romanticism's sublime terror in Turner, Expressionism's deformed colors in Munch's "The Scream," Dada's conceptual provocations, and finally Art Informel and Brutalism. It notes that ugliness cannot be disguised and forces confrontation with truth, serving a cathartic function. The piece references ongoing exhibitions on monstrous creatures in Piedicastello (Trentino-Alto Adige) and the Yèryani of Acquaro (Calabria). It cites Picasso's "Guernica" as an example of art denouncing societal hypocrisy and violence. The article is published in conjunction with the exhibition "Bellezza e bruttezza nel Rinascimento" at Gallerie d'Italia in Milan, coming from Brussels.