Subjects and stories of his paintings were always close to him and taken by some parts of his life (Rutten, 2021). For instance, in spring 1976, Iggy Pop and he left America and they moved to an apartment in Berlin together (VeryPrivateGallery, 2016). Berlin gave him opportunities and inspiration to start a new life (VeryPrivateGallery, 2016). To exemplify, he was inspired by his apartment and painted his Child in Berlin (Rutten, 2021). In the painting, the boy does not look that happy, he might be about to have a tooth pulled because it was claimed that on the 3rd floor of the apartment that he shared with Iggy pop, there was a dentist (Rutten, 2021). His painting style was neo-expressionism. Besides this, it was known that David Bowie was suffering from drug use at that time. Thus, the disturbing and haunted images may not be surprising and they can be seen in his self-portrait paintings (Rutten, 2021). In addition to this, Bowie was influenced by neo-expressionists and this style can be seen as well on his paintings as he used the same language of intimate emotions as the German neo-expressionists did (Rutten, 2021).
While recording his Heroes album in Berlin, the cover of the album was designed by Masayoshi Sukito who took inspiration from Erich Heckel’s 1917 painting called Roquairol for the cover (Rutten, 2021). Bowie also drew a self-portrait similar to his Heroes’ album cover which shows some resemblance to the German expressionists in terms of its techniques (Rutten, 2021).
Furthermore, he portrayed some of his close friends such as the rock star Iggy Pop and pianist Mike Garson (Rutten, 2021). Iggy Pop and he especially were close friends. During the time they had shared the apartment in Berlin, Bowie included Iggy Pop in some of his paintings as James Osterberg.
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On top of that, in 1995 he took a trip to South Africa with his wife (Rutten, 2021). He was fascinated by a story called white ancestor which locals believed in (Rutten, 2021). An exploration of Bowie’s thoughts on the white ancestor, and the artist’s quote on the story was:
“In 1995 Iman and I took our first trip to South Africa. One of the prevailing stories handed down is that when the first tribes saw the white man they presumed they were being visited by their ancestors, as in their mythology the ancestors appear as a ghost-like white form.” (VeryPrivateGallery,2016).
Therefore, this story influenced him in a way and inspired him to paint the series called Ancestors (Rutten, 2021). He still used the expressive painting style and he combined his expressive style with African items such as animal skin patterns (Rutten, 2021).
To conclude, it can be understood that David Bowie was an absolute creative genius and he showed his creative side in multiple areas of art. He mostly influenced by neo-expressionism to which he reflected in his paintings. His painter side definitely blows one away by how someone can be that creative. He will always be remembered for his contributions not only as a musician or an actor but also a painter.
WORK CITED
Rutten, M. (2021). “David Bowie, from Popstar to Neo-expressionist Painter” Daily Art Magazine. Available at
VeryPrivateGallery (2016). “David Bowie Paintings” VeryPrivateGallery. Available at
https://veryprivategallery.com/david-bowie-paintings/
Klimas, M. (2016). “These Paintings By David Bowie Show His Other Artist Side” DeMilked. Available at
https://www.demilked.com/david-bowie-paintings-art/
