Genre
Mysterious
Mystery is the picture that refuses to fully explain itself: the veiled allegory, the symbol whose key is half-lost, the scene caught between meanings. The Symbolists made it a method, trusting that what a painting implies can hold the eye longer than what it states.
Key artists
Works
Monju Riding Lion with Attendants
Detail of a Griffin, Tomb of Khety
Fragment of an Inscribed Architrave, Tomb of Amenemhat Surer
Adventure
Guardian Kings: Dhrtarastra and Virupaksa
Mahliqa, Daughter of the Emperor of China, Pointing at the Bird-Man Khwaja Mubarak: A Leaf from a Poetical Romance Relating to Shah Alam I (verso); Stenciled Scenes of Lion and Gazelle (verso)
Sri Nathaji
Mahliqa, Daughter of the Emperor of China, Pointing at the Bird-Man Khwaja Mubarak: A Leaf from a Poetical Romance Relating to Shah Alam I (recto)
Jatayu hinders Ravana’s chariot, trying to prevent the abduction of Sita (recto), from a Kalighat album
The Contemplator
Lohans
Aizen Myōō
The Grotto of Posillipo, Naples
View of the Colosseum in Moonlight
Mural Fragment with Elite Male and Maguey Cactus Leaves
The Ascending Daoist Immortal
Manasa, The Snake Goddess
The Goddess Nekhbet, Temple of Hatshepsut
The Boat of the Ideal
Marsk Stigs døtre
Gebirgslandschaft mit Tobias und dem Engel
Kundry
Inside the Forest
In pursuit of an idea
Dream
In front of the Dragon’s Den – figure for the fairy tale
Asavari Ragini: A Female Yogini (Page from a Ragamala Set)
Kuan Yin and Attendants
Kuan Yin's Attendants
The Parade of the Magi
The Upas, or Poison-Tree, in the Island of Java
Vitré
Entrance to the Bowels of the Earth
Study for a Panel
Le chene et le roseau
Puck Fleeing from the Dawn
Woman
Evocazione creatrice della musica
Mondnacht / Versuchung
Veil
Three Princesses of the Underground Kingdom![The Guardian Generals of the Directions (Lokapalas) Dhritarashtra (East) [top] and Virudhaka (South) [bottom]](https://artifactworldgallery.com/img/the-guardian-generals-of-the-directions-lokapalas-dhritarash--26a8da85b3fb4c5a-w320.webp)
The Guardian Generals of the Directions (Lokapalas) Dhritarashtra (East) [top] and Virudhaka (South) [bottom]
Oyakōkō: Love for One's Parents
Mandala of Vishnu
Ceremonial Offerings to the Dharmapala
Winterlandschaft mit lagernden Zigeunern
L'Evocation (Solitude)
Moon—Night Mood
Interior of a Wood: The Past and the Present
Whale Design House Board
Tantric Manuscript, "Sangrahani Sutra"
Tantric Manuscript "Sangrahani Sutra"
Tantric Manuscript "Sangrahani Sutra"
A Female with a Lyre
Triumph of Chastity
Mythological Scene (Abduction of Europe?) – Fragment of a Cassone
Fountain: Grotesque, Children and Basin (Une fountaine: Masque, enfants et bassin)
The Tomb of Madame Langhans
La Muse malade
Vase Supported by Intertwined Serpents
The Flight into Egypt
The Bookplate of the Printer's Devil
L'Aile (The Wing)
Das Waldfräulein (The Lady of the Forest)
Miss Loïe Fuller
Playing Cards
Twilight (Le Crépuscule)
Putti Leading a Goat
Large Pendant Surrounded by Ten Different Studs
Et la-bas l'idole astrale, l'Apotheose (And beyond, the star idol, the apotheosis)
Illustrations to Fables & Tales by Gellert, Gleim, Hagedorn, Lichtwer and Pfeffel
Ciuis Coloniesis Vxor
Si par une nuit lourde et sombre, un bon chretien, par charite, derriere quelque vieux decombre, enterre votre corps voute (If on a close dark night a good Christian, out of charity, behind some old ruin, buries your arched body)
Figure Standing under a Stone Arch
Fountain: Grotesque, Children and Basin (Une fountaine: Masque, enfants et bassin)
Et il avait dans sa main droit sept etoiles, et de sa bouch sortait une epee aigue a deux tranchants (And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword)
A Lesson in Wisdom
Interior of an Ancient Roman Sepulchre
La fiancee du roi de Garbe: La chevalier
Le Tombeau du Diable
The Towns Behind the Marsh
The Dancer of Tanjore (La bayadère de Tanjore)
Ce logement est un peu cher, pour la place Royale...
Vase Supported by Two Sphinxes
The Master's Carpet
Te Faruru (They are Making Love Here)
The Finding of Moses
Dawn
The Chamber Idyll
Beatrice Addressing Dante from the Car
Pino
Liebeswirbel
L'apparition
Offerings to Mahakala
Small coffered ceiling panel with geometric motifs
The Bodhisattva Monju (Manjushri) with Five Topknots
Le centaure et le dragon
Bon Deity Trowo Tsochog Khagying
Le cattive madri
Statui în parc
Fixsterne
Νέκια V
Figurkomposition
Flacăra albastră
Painting
painting
Mukhtar throws his wife Maimuna into the pit, but she saves herself, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twenty-fifth Night
名繪集珍 冊 晉顧愷之洛神圖
Woman pierced by Moons
Svati
Untitled
Baul singer
Abhisarika Nayika
Joshua commanding the Sun to stand still
Untitled
Lemminkäinen ja karjapaimen
Άτιτλο
Pantheon
Kiljuva sänky
Asociere
Άτιτλο
Untitled
Αλχημικό Άλφα
Kullervon sotaanlähtö
Γάτα Κ5
cavaliere di coppe
Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as Etain
Untitled
Untitled
Hanuman, Rama and Sita
Untitled
The Legend of St Eustace
Liberation
Tomb of Henry III in Westminster Abbey
Drawing for illustration to 'The Snow Queen'
Jatayu hinders Ravana’s chariot trying to prevent Sita’s abduction (recto), from a Kalighat album
Jægerens øje
Rock Tombs at Myra, Asia minor
Two figures with a Unicorn
Tomb with Death Standing
L'Allemagne feedale
Negro Musicians in the Jungle
Columns
Άτιτλο
Moonlight
High Mountains
Seven Nymphs in a Grotto
Hoa Nghiem Cave, Grotto of the August Transformation
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Tomb with Death Standing
Ελαιόδεντρα (Ölbäume)
Bas-relief of a goat and two archers in terra cotta
Pasărea serii
Δήλος
Creanga de aur
Duo des Troyens
The Buddha
L'Evocation d'Erda
The Forest Maiden
It Is a Skull Wreathed with Roses. It Dominates a Woman's Torso of Pearly Whiteness
Noa Noa: L'Univers est créé (The Universe is Created)
The Vine
And Another Angel Came Out of the Temple which is in Heaven, and He also Having a Sharp Sickle
The Sickly Cryptogam
And He Had in His Right Hand Seven Stars; and Out of His Mouth Went a Sharp Two-Edged Sword
The Lady and the Rooks
A Glove: The Abduction
Light
First frontispiece for Fables and Fairy-Tales by Thierry-Faletans
Miss Loïe Fuller
Herodias: Frontispiece, Herodias appeared, coiffed in an Assyrian mitre to which a chin strap was attached to the front
I. Ancestral Heads
Untitled
Le Mystere
Sculpture Simulation
The Concealment of Baldness
Dawn
II. Divine Kingship
Gelam Nguzu Kazi
Untitled
Portfolio I, Plate 39: Alhkidókihi-Navaho
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Frequently asked questions
What is Mysterious?
Mysterious is a mood in painting. Mystery is the picture that refuses to fully explain itself: the veiled allegory, the symbol whose key is half-lost, the scene caught between meanings.
How many Mysterious works does Artifact World Gallery have?
Artifact World Gallery holds 215 public-domain Mysterious works, all free to view and download.
Who are the key Mysterious artists?
Key Mysterious artists in the collection include Paul Gauguin, Maurice Denis and Francesco di Giorgio.