Infinite Evilness 5/7
Demon doll Félicien Rops
by Pablo Lago
Based on Félicien Rops’ pastel and watercolour ‘Behind the Scenes’, 1890 (Private collection, Brussels, Belgium).
Based on Félicien Rops’ pastel and watercolour ‘Behind the Scenes’, 1890 (Private collection, Brussels, Belgium).
Altough Fèlicien Rops isn’t well known by the general public, he was a Belgian artitst fully respected in the Symbolism and the Parisian Fin-de-Siecle scene, who was creclaimed by his contemporary authors to illustrate their publications, such as Charles Baudelaire or Voltaire among many others. He is best remembered today by his erotic and satanic paintings.
In this work “Behind the Scenes”, Rops shows dressed as a modern Satan who appears to be a producer or director of cabaret or theater intimidating a young woman while she undresses or changes clothes at a backstage.
This scene today clearly reminds us of cases of media scandal such as the producer Harvey Weistein or so many others that have been denounced in recent years.
Source: ‘Art of the Devil’ by Arturo Graf.
Infinite Evilness is a collection that explores different artistic representations of Evil throughout history, transformed into matrioshkas or russian dolls.