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| Giotto | Last Judgement | Gruesome detail from a fresco at Capella Scrovegni in Padua, commissioned by a foolish banker to secure his place in heaven. |
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| Carlo Crivelli | St. Sebastian | Sebastian, perforated like a pincushion, is the patron saint of pinmakers. While he is normally depicted in this manner, Sebastian actually survived these wounds only to be later clubbed to death and thrown into a sewer. |
| Martin Schongauer | St Anthony Tormented by the Demons | Engraving, c. 1480 |
| Albrecht Durer | The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse | This incredible series of woodcuts in 1498 made Durer's career |
| Domenico Ghirlandaio | Portrait of an Old man with a Child | An old man with a cauliflower nose, an amazing painting for the time |
| Luca Signorelli | Apocalypse | Detail from the fresco in the Chapel of San Brizio, Orvieto |
| Luca Signorelli | The Damned | Detail from the fresco in the Chapel of San Brizio, Orvieto |
| Luca Signorelli | The Damned | Detail from the fresco in the Chapel of San Brizio, Orvieto |
| Luca Signorelli | The Damned Being Plunged Into Hell | Detail from the fresco in the Chapel of San Brizio, Orvieto |
| Fra Angelico | The Last Judgement | Tempera on wood in the Museo di San Marco, Florence |
| Bosch | Seven Deadly Sins | Panel, 1480, in the Prado |
| Bosch | Death Comes to the Miser | Oil on wood, 1490, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC |
| Bosch | The Extraction of the Stone of Madness | Oil on wood, 1476, at the Prado |
| Bosch | The Man-Tree | Graphische Sammlung, at the Albertina in Vienna |
| Dieric Bouts | Hell | Oil on wood, 1450, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Lille |
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| Hans Holbein the Elder | Martyrdom of St. Sebastian | Lime panel, 1516, at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich |
| Leonardo da Vinci | A Grotesque Head | Drawing, c. 1504-7 |
| Giuseppe Arcimboldo | Summer | 1563, at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
| Giuseppe Arcimboldo | Summer | 1573, at the Louvre |
| Giuseppe Arcimboldo | Winter | 1563, at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
| Caravaggio | Judith Beheading Holofernes | One of the more gruesome paintings of the 16th century, 1598, at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome |
| Pieter Brueghel the Elder | The Triumph of Death | All segments of society are equally affected by Death. Much of the iconography in this painting is borrowed from the Dance of Death. Oil on panel, 1562, Prado. |
| Pieter Brueghel the Elder | Fishes | Pen drawing, 1556, Graphische Sammlung, Albertina, Vienna |
| Pieter Brueghel the Elder | The Fall of the Rebel Angels | Painted in 1562 |
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| Jusepe Ribera | The Flaying of Marsyas | At the Musee Royaux des Beaux Arts du Belgique |
| Rembrandt | Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp | The most famous anatomy painting of all time, painted when Rembrandt was only 26. One dissection was permitted annually by Amsterdam's Guild of Surgeons; this depicts the dissection of Aris Kindt, hanged for robbery and dissected on January 16, 1632. |
| Rembrandt | The Flayed Ox | An uncharacteristic subject for Rembrandt, 1655. |
| The Limbourg Brothers | Hell | From the book of hours for the Duc de Berry, perhaps the most sumptuously illustrated book ever created for a private individual. |
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| William Blake | Marriage of Heaven and Hell | Painted 1790 |
| William Blake | Urizen: The Web of Religion | Watercolor and ink on paper, 1794 |
| William Blake | Dante and Virgil at the Gates of Hell | Virgil is Dante's guide during his travels through Hell, in his Divine Comedy. This is from a series of illustrations commissioned by John Linnell. |
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| Francisco Goya | The Third of May 1808 | Goya's most important painting, one of the first of a political nature. Here is captured a scene from the Spanish war of liberation, with Napoleon's troops executing members of the uprising. |
| Francisco Goya | Saturn Devouring His Young | Fresco, 1819, Prado |
| Edouard Manet | The Dead Toreador | Oil on canvas, 1864, in the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
| Vasily Vereshchagin | The Apotheosis of War | Oil on canvas, 1871, at the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow |
| Vincent van Gogh | Skull Smoking a Cigarette | Oil on canvas, 1886, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam |
| Vincent van Gogh | Skull | Oil on canvas, 1887, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam |
| James Ensor | Skeletons fighting over a smoked herring | Painted 1891 |
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| Alfred Kubin | Madness | Drawing, 1904, Graphische Sammlung Albertina in Vienna |
| Gustav Klimt | Death/Life | Oil on canvas, 1908 |
| Marcel Duchamp | Fountain | The public wasn't quite ready for Duchamp's "ready-made" 1917 porcelain urinal, which seemed more focused on selection rather than creation. Is it art, or just a damn toilet? |
| Otto Dix | Cardplaying War Cripples | A work representing the absurdity of The Great War, which we now call World War I. Dix is known for his powerful anti-war statements. Oil, 1920, painting resides in a private collection. |
| Chaim Soutine | Carcass of Beef | Oil on cloth, 1925, Minneapolis Institute of Art. Compare to Rembrandt's 1655 painting above. |
| Frida Kahlo | A Few Small Nips | Oil on wood panel, 1935, Dolores Olmedo Foundation, Mexico City |
| Andres Serrano | Piss Christ | Controversial work in an unusual medium: plastic crucifix in urine with cow's blood |
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