‘Sometimes he cast spells over them’: the raging beauty of Derek Jarman’s black paintings

From his unfinished film about a murdered director to a stunning series of doomy oil paintings, Derek Jarman’s work could be angry, dark and disturbing – not to mention highly relevant in these bleak timesIn recent years, the late artist and film-maker Derek Jarman has been celebrated for his house, Prospect Cottage in Kent, which was saved for the nation in 2020. Visitors flock to its extraordinary garden, in the shadow of Dungeness nuclear power station, in search of solace and relaxation. Yet focusing on this artistic haven threatens to overshadow Jarman’s actual work, which was far from tranquil and domestic, and often angry, dark and disturbing.Two examples of this more challenging side of Jarman’s output are about to resurface. The first is the publication of a treatment for an unfinished film called The Assassination of Pier Paolo Pasolini in the Garden of Earthly Delights, which Jarman wrote in 1984 as he was struggling to get his film Caravaggio made. Like Jarman, Pasolini was a queer film-maker (and writer) whose work often expressed a cri de coeur against political and sexual repression. “I think Derek related to Pasolini because he carved his own path and made films in a very singular, distinctive way,” says Tony Peake, Jarman’s biographer. “He was also someone who stuck his neck out.” Continue reading...

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