Injured Children: The Art of Gottfried Helnwein

You probably thought this was a photograph when you first saw it (I definitely did); but it’s not. It’s an amazing painting by the renowned artist Gottfried Helnwein. His paintings are unbelievably photorealistic, and they often feature disturbing and provocative representations of children who are bloodied and injured, bandages wrapped around their heads: an allegory for innocence and trauma, emotional injury, the consequences of violence, abuse, and other scarring forces out in the world.

“For Helnwein, the child is the symbol of innocence, but also of innocence betrayed.”

“My art is not an answer – it is a question.”
- Gottfried Helnwein

Tags: bandages, children, injuries, innocence, trauma