Satan III 1925 - 1927

Georges Rouault made this intaglio called ‘Satan III’ using etching and aquatint techniques, giving it that grainy, almost bruised look. The blacks are velvety and dense, carved into the plate, while the grays feel like a dusting, a whisper of tone. Look at the way Rouault built up the face – those heavy outlines, the crude almost comical teeth, and the shading like rough smudges. This isn’t about smooth representation; it’s about raw emotion, about getting at something hidden and maybe uncomfortable. The mouth is a particularly strange focal point – you almost don’t know if he is grimacing or smiling. Rouault often depicted outcasts, clowns, and the downtrodden and you might relate this work to that of Otto Dix or even Francis Bacon, both artists who wrestled with the darker sides of human existence, using paint and printmaking to expose what polite society prefers to ignore. Art, after all, isn't just about beauty; it's about confronting the whole messy, contradictory business of being human.