The article analyses the process of expressive deformation and iconoclastic devastation found in some works of the second half of the twentieth century, directly inspired by "classical" subjects of sacred or religious art. This unusual path sees three different personalities placed in a reciprocal dialogue, between affinities and contrasts. The overcoming of the physical limits of the face in its physiognomic description passes from Francis Bacon to the expressive experiences of Arnulf Rainer, towards images that betray a deep iconoclastic desire. The reflection on the complex link between life and death expressed in these works leads to the modern iconography of vanity, revisited by Andy Warhol. The iconographic desecration of the face, although through different and apparently irreconcilable languages, is a necessary key to interpreting the image of the sacred in the art of the second half of the twentieth century.
Milena Cordioli (Tue,) studied this question.