First official portrait of King Charles unveiled by Jonathan Yeo

CNN
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Buckingham Palace unveiled the first official portrait of King Charles III since his coronation on Tuesday, and it proved divisive with its bright red brushstrokes.

The 8.5 x 6.5-foot painting is by British artist Jonathan Yeo, who has painted high-profile subjects throughout his career including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, actress Nicole Kidman and education activist Malala Yousafzai.

Yeo, who began the project while Charles was still Prince of Wales, depicts the king dressed as the Welsh Guards, sword in hand, against a fiery red background that seems to almost swallow him whole, as the butterfly looks as if it is about to engulf him. Land on his shoulder.

“Like the butterfly I painted hovering over his shoulder, this image has evolved as the person’s role in our public life has shifted,” Yeo said in a statement issued by Buckingham Palace.

“I do my best to capture the life experiences etched into the face of any individual sitter. In this case, my aim was also to reference the traditions of royal portraiture but in a way that reflects 21st century royalty and, above all, communicates the profound humanity of the subject.”

Yu had four sessions with the king, and also worked on drawings and photographs according to the palace.

The work was commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary^y The anniversary of Charles’s membership of Drapers, which funds educational initiatives among other charitable efforts, will be on public display from May 16 to June 14 at Philip Mold Gallery in London. It will later hang in Drapers Hall from the end of August alongside other royal portraits.

The King and Queen are said to be happy with the photo – Yu Tell “Yes, I’ve got it,” Camilla told the BBC after seeing the result, while the royal was “a little surprised by the strong colour, but otherwise seemed to be smiling approvingly” – and there was no shortage of comments on social media. Media.

Commenting on the photo posted on the royal family’s Instagram account, one user wrote: “With the outfit and this color, it looks like a visual representation of the massacre committed by the colonizers,” and one of them said: “I loved it.” That is, if this is any color other than red. He really captured his essence in his face, but the harshness of the red didn’t match the softness of his expression. “Looks like he’s going straight to hell,” another post read.

Art historian Richard Morris He said on

While the famous artist mainly works in oils, he has dabbled in another medium: collage. In 2007, after a failed commission to paint former US President George W. Bush, he decided to pay a “ridiculous tribute”, according to his website, by piecing together excerpts from explicit pornographic magazines to create a portrait of the then US president. A satire of “the supposed moral superiority of the far right in American politics.”

It was the first in a broader series depicting public figures “understood to have trafficked in their sexual morality,” including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sarah Palin, Silvio Berlusconi, and British conservative activist Mary Whitehouse.

As for the image of the king, Yu On his website The bright colors of the glass “not only resonate with the royal heritage found in many historical images but also inject a dynamic, contemporary jolt into the genre through their strong, uniform color – providing a modern contrast to the more traditional images.”

He added that the butterfly symbolizes beauty and nature and highlights the king’s passion for the environment.

Yu’s paintings are included in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

the king He is an artist himselfA collection of his watercolors will be displayed in London in 2022. He has previously done so described He considers drawing “one of the most relaxing therapeutic exercises I know,” adding that it “refreshes parts of the soul that other activities cannot reach.”