Triptych - Apocalypse
- Artist: Oskar Kokoschka
- Date: (January to July) 1950
- Medium: oil and tempera on canvas
- Museum: The Courtauld Gallery
- Collection record: The Courtauld Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is the Triptych – Apocalypse by Oskar Kokoschka. Commissioned by Count Antoine Seilern for the ceiling of his London home at 56 Princes Gate, the work was completed between January and July 1950. Kokoschka mixed oil and tempera on canvas, creating a dynamic, almost theatrical space that once hung above visitors’ heads.
The triptych’s center panel bursts with a biblical Apocalypse, while the left panel shows Persephone fleeing Hades and the right one depicts Prometheus being punished. Kokoschka deliberately juxtaposed these scenes to warn against the dangers of “man’s intellectual arrogance.” After living through the war, he felt civilisation had lost its compassion in the chase for technological progress. He sought to counter the prevailing abstract trend—what he viewed as cold and two‑dimensional—by reviving the vigorous figural movement and emotional intensity of the Baroque, drawing on masters like Rubens and Tiepolo.
His brushwork is turbulent, the perspective plunges, pulling the viewer into the pictorial space. Through this, Kokoschka believed art could awaken society to the looming crisis, insisting that emotion and humanity were essential for civilisation’s survival.
See it in person
Triptych - Apocalypse hangs in The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, London. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
