Art To Get You Into The Halloween Spirit

Celebrated each year on October 31, the tradition of Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. Celts believed that on the night of October 31, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred, and that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. Still associated with the idea of the haunted, ​the holiday is celebrate​d​ by dressing in costumes and telling tales of witches and ghosts. Pumpkins are carved into glowering jack-o'-lanterns. Children parade from house to house, knocking on doors and calling out "Trick or treat!" hoping to have their bags filled with candy.

For Halloween, ​we dedicate this week's roundup in looking at scary and spooky themes in art.​ ​Among all the peaceful and soothing art pieces, there are some that give audiences a more disturbing view on creativity. Often centered around death and the dark sides of life these art pieces go from mildly unsettling, weird or strange to absolutely shocking and deranged. Depicting death, darkness, blood, dark magic, decay, nightmares, body or existential horror, and other horrifying imagery, these artworks capture the attention the audience at the very first glance, leaving them unsettled at least.