Paintings that petrify! 😱

A Halloween special

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Life, death and the spiritual realm

Severed heads, creepy critters, witches' spells and deadly symbols – take a creepy crawl through our more hair-raising paintings and discover why you'll never see birds in art the same way again!

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Watch if you dare

A gruesome Greek tragedy

Uncover why a severed gorgon's head with magical powers is a lifesaver in Luca Giordano's mythical drama.

Duration: 9 minutes

Watch now

Birds and death

What have birds got to do with death? Ed Dickenson reveals some of the hidden meanings in our paintings.

Duration: 5 minutes

Watch now

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Take a creepy look

Beastie bugs

We've searched for some of the tiniest animals in our paintings and unearthed the stories they tell. From Botticelli to Rachel Ruysch, take a creepy crawl through the collection.

Spot these critters

Life, death and mortality

In one of Hals's most captivating paintings, 'Young Man Holding a Skull', we see a fresh-faced youth reaching out of the canvas with a skull in hand – discover the story and hidden symbolism.

Skulls and symbols

Witches' incantations

Beneath a pitch-dark sky, monstrous figures are arranged as if on a stage set, illuminated by scattered pools of light. Explore Salvator Rosa's macabre painting in more detail.

A supernatural scene

Saint Michael and the devil

Bartolomé Bermejo's painting of this scene from the Book of Revelation is filled with extraordinary detail, like the devil, made of reptilian heads, snakes and a crocodile-like tail.

Devil in the detail

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Image credits:
Frans Hals, Young Man holding a Skull (Vanitas), 1626-8 © The National Gallery, London
Luca Giordano, Perseus turning Phineas and his Followers to Stone, about 1660 © The National Gallery, London
Jan van Kessel the Elder, Insects with Common Hawthorn and Forget-Me-Not, 1654 © The National Gallery, London
Frans Hals, Young Man holding a Skull (Vanitas), 1626-8 © The National Gallery, London
Salvator Rosa, Witches at their Incantations, about 1646 © The National Gallery, London
Bartolomé Bermejo, Saint Michael Triumphs over the Devil, 1468 ©️ The National Gallery, London