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Occasionally, a brilliant artist passes away before they can release their complete body of work. This often leads to the posthumous publication of essays, portraits, letters, or personal diaries. In some instances, it includes entire albums or novels, serving as a final tribute to their legacy and a poignant reminder for devoted fans of what has been lost.
However, the outcome isn’t always as expected. At times, the unfinished works of an artist provide an unsettling glimpse into their mind. These creations can range from oddly eccentric to genuinely disturbing.
NOTE: Some of the external links provided below are extremely NSFW. Proceed with caution.
10. L.S. Lowry Created Art Depicting Domination Themes
Even if his name isn’t familiar, L.S. Lowry’s artwork is unmistakable. Known for his depictions of “matchstick men” in industrial settings, his paintings gained immense popularity in Britain, cementing his reputation as a national icon. Lowry, a reserved and seemingly asexual figure from northern England, came to symbolize understated English culture.
After Lowry’s death in 1976, a vast collection of notes, sketches, and loose papers was discovered, nearly filling his home. It wasn’t until the 2000s that experts thoroughly examined these materials. Among them were surprising finds: a series of 1970s drawings depicting young girls bound, crying in stocks, being whipped, and dominated by grinning women.
Though not explicitly pornographic, the drawings were undeniably provocative. One notable piece featured a young girl in a tight corset accentuating her cleavage, while another showed her with exposed breasts, crying in terror. When these sketches were unveiled in 2013, curators described them as revealing a hidden, darker aspect of Lowry’s psyche.
9. Percy Grainger Held White Supremacist Beliefs
Percy Grainger, the renowned composer from Melbourne, was a towering figure in 20th-century music. His works have been performed by legends ranging from Leopold Stokowski to Fozzie Bear. However, he was also a self-absorbed individual who believed he was superior to Mozart and openly engaged in S&M practices. The most shocking revelations came from his personal letters, published posthumously, which exposed his deep-seated white supremacist ideologies.
Beyond his blatant admiration for the Nazi party and anti-Semitic views, Grainger’s letters disclosed that his primary motivation for composing was to safeguard the musical heritage of the Nordic race. His fixation was so intense that he criticized peers for performing “non-Nordic” music and even crafted his own version of English, modeled after Scandinavian grammar rather than Latin. He invited correspondents to “tone-feasts” instead of concerts, asked them to critique his “tone-art” (music), and inquired about their “call-to-mindment” (memories).
Grainger harbored a peculiar fixation on blue eyes, associating them with racial superiority, and held outdated views on interracial marriage that could charitably be termed regressive. Additionally, he openly detailed his S&M fantasies in his invented language, resulting in some rather bizarre reading material.
8. William Golding Attempted To Assault A 15-Year-Old
William Golding, the acclaimed author of Lord of the Flies, is among the rare writers whose works are both studied and appreciated by students. However, he struggled with alcoholism and inner turmoil, some of which may have stemmed from an incident where he attempted to rape a 15-year-old girl.
In 1930, Golding, an 18-year-old Oxford student, earned money by teaching piano. One of his students was a girl named Dora, whom Golding later described in his memoir as “already as sexually provocative as an ape” at just 14. Believing she desired “intense physical relations,” he admitted to attempting an assault, only for her to resist and escape.
If the story had concluded there, it would have been disturbing enough. However, it took a stranger turn. Two years later, Golding and the girl met again and engaged in sexual activity in a field. Coincidentally, she had previously been intimate with Golding’s brother in the same location. Golding became convinced that she orchestrated the encounter so his father could spy on both brothers through binoculars. He viewed it as retaliation for his earlier assault and labeled Dora as “morally corrupt.”
7. Osamu Tezuka Created Erotic Mouse-Themed Art
Osamu Tezuka, often hailed as the “godfather of anime,” is the creative force behind iconic Japanese animations like Akira and Attack on Titan. His 1963 series Astroboy laid the groundwork for many anime tropes we recognize today. However, Tezuka also had a rather unusual hobby: he enjoyed creating erotic artwork featuring anthropomorphic mice.
After Tezuka’s death in 1989, a locked desk was discovered in his possession. It remained unopened until the 2000s, when it revealed a collection of drawings, including numerous depictions of a female mouse with exaggerated features in suggestive poses. While not as explicit as some anime-related materials, these illustrations were undeniably erotic. Many focused on the mouse’s prominent breasts, while others highlighted her curvaceous figure.
Rumiko, Tezuka’s daughter, who uncovered the sketches, admitted they likely served an erotic purpose. However, she also described the mouse character as “adorable.”
6. Eric Gill Engaged in Bestiality With His Dog
At the time of his death in 1940, Eric Gill was one of Britain’s most renowned artists. Beyond creating the widely-used Gill Sans typeface, Gill was a prolific sculptor commissioned by prestigious entities like the BBC and the Catholic Church. However, he harbored deeply disturbing secrets, meticulously documented in his diary, including the abuse of his underage daughters, incestuous relationships with his sisters, and repeated sexual acts with the family dog.
These shocking details came to light in 1989 when Fiona MacCarthy examined Gill’s diaries for a biography. Rather than concealing his actions, Gill had explicitly chronicled every sordid encounter in graphic detail. One entry recounted an encounter with a family member, followed by the blunt statement: “continued experiment with dog after and discovered that a dog will join with a man.”
The diaries also shed light on the darker inspirations behind some of Gill’s sculptures. A semi-pornographic piece in the Tate Britain, titled
5. Stieg Larsson Subscribed to Bizarre Conspiracy Theories
Unlike many on this list, Swedish author Stieg Larsson achieved fame only after his death. His trilogy of thrillers had just been approved by publishers when he passed away from a heart attack at 50. Within four years, he became a globally recognized name. Shortly after, journalist Nick Cohen from the Observer uncovered Larsson’s obscure, Swedish-only book on honor killings, revealing a side of him that went beyond mere creativity.
When Sweden was shaken by the murder of two Kurdish girls by members of their own community, Larsson argued that the media frenzy was a smokescreen to divert attention from the “patriarchal structures of Swedish society.” He also accused activists fighting against honor killings of racism, claiming they aimed to stereotype all immigrants. He concluded his tirade by alleging that Swedish society was preparing to deploy “special operations forces ready to initiate ethnic cleansing.”
Since then, other mainstream publications have obtained English translations of Larsson’s book and have reviewed it positively.
4. Philip Larkin Penned Some Deeply Offensive Material
Philip Larkin, an unassuming English librarian who spent his days in Hull, was also the most celebrated poet of his era. His relatable and compassionate poetry earned him global acclaim. However, it masked a darker personality. In private letters to Kingsley Amis, Larkin expressed deeply offensive views.
In one notable excerpt, he described a hospital visit, stating it was “staffed ENTIRELY by wogs, cheerful and inept.” Another letter expressed his fear of the nation’s future, predicting, “In a decade, we’ll all be hiding under our beds as hordes of blacks loot everything in sight.” He even proposed an election campaign promise to “expel the
When not making racist remarks, Larkin shared his misogynistic views with Kingsley. One letter ranted, “Isn’t it OUTRAGEOUS that men must pay for women’s expenses without being ENTITLED TO SLEEP with them AS A GIVEN?” Another revealed his disturbing fantasies of watching “schoolgirls engage in sexual acts while being whipped.”
Unsurprisingly, these posthumously published letters nearly destroyed Larkin’s legacy. However, in recent years, efforts have been made to rehabilitate his image. Some now argue that Kingsley Amis provoked Larkin’s extreme statements, suggesting they may not reflect his true beliefs. At least, that’s the hope.
3. Several Artists Might Have Committed Murder
While the artists mentioned above have been definitively linked to peculiar aspects of their personalities, there’s another group to consider. Many artists may have been involved in killings, but conclusive evidence remains elusive.
In 1999, criminologist James Tully’s book made the shocking assertion that Charlotte Bronte might have been responsible for her sisters’ deaths. Emily, Anne, and their brother Branwell all passed away in rapid succession, with Charlotte dying a year later. Tully suggested that Charlotte, driven by jealousy, poisoned them with the assistance of her father’s curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls, and was subsequently poisoned by Nicholls after their marriage. Despite Tully’s expertise in 19th-century poisons, the absence of concrete or physical evidence left his claims unproven.
Charlotte Bronte isn’t the sole figure to face such allegations. Walter Richard Sickert, a 19th-century British painter, has been speculated to be a potential Jack the Ripper suspect, owing to a series of his artworks that bear an uncanny resemblance to crime scene images of the Ripper’s victims. Similarly, Lewis Carroll has been accused of being the Ripper, though the method used by his accuser—finding hidden confessions in his books through anagrams—was far from credible.
If you dig deeper, you’ll uncover numerous similar tales with varying levels of credibility—such as the recent claim that mathematician Johannes Kepler poisoned his mentor. Did some of history’s greatest artists carry murderous secrets to their graves? Based on this list, it wouldn’t be surprising.
2. Klaus Kinski Sexually Abused His Daughters
German actor Klaus Kinski was renowned for two things: his erratic behavior and nearly being killed by Werner Herzog during a heated confrontation on set. While colleagues acknowledged his dark tendencies, many attributed them to his overwhelming ego. However, over two decades after his death, his eldest daughter disclosed in an interview with Stern magazine that Kinski had sexually abused her from the age of five.
These revelations cast a disturbing shadow over Kinski’s past work. In a 1977 performance, he controversially remarked on the “absurdity” of imprisoning a man for sleeping with a 12-year-old. His autobiography hinted at relationships with women considered too young. These disclosures also provided context to a 2010 interview with his youngest daughter, who expressed relief upon his death. Like British pedophile Jimmy Savile, Kinski appeared unashamed of his inclinations, yet no one confronted him until long after his death.
1. Henry Darger Was Either A Repressed Pedophile Or A Serial Killer
Henry Darger, a reclusive janitor with no friends or family, passed away in 1973, unnoticed and forgotten. However, his landlord later discovered he had spent over four decades creating a massive illustrated book. This work depicted a fictional war between a group of schoolgirls and demonic Catholic creatures, blending strangeness, beauty, and inspiration. Darger was celebrated as the quintessential outsider artist, with his paintings exhibited globally.
It wasn’t until later that people scrutinized his art and life more deeply. What emerged was a personality more aligned with that of a serial killer than an artist.
Darger’s artwork frequently depicted naked young girls subjected to horrific acts like disembowelment, decapitation, and brutal torture. His nine-million-word novel included endless descriptions of children forced into cannibalism, having their tongues removed, and being beaten with their own intestines. He also drew some of the girls with male genitalia, prompting one critic to label him “the Poussin of pedophilia.”
Some have taken the analysis further. John MacGregor, an expert on the art of the mentally disturbed, theorized that Darger was a repressed serial killer. It’s known that he maintained a shrine to a murdered Chicago schoolgirl. When he lost a photo of her, he pleaded with God for its return. When no response came, Darger wrote graphic scenes of child executions as retribution.
Unlike Eric Gill, there’s no proof Darger ever acted on his disturbing impulses. Nevertheless, these tendencies imbue his work with a sinister undertone, starkly contrasting its vibrant colors and seemingly innocent protagonists.
