Last Judgment Day triptych

 Last Judgment Day   2006-2011

Triptych:   Sidewings Oil on wood   

                   Central part Oil on canvas

opened wings: 240 cm x 100 cm

closed wings: 120 cm x 100 cm

Last Judgment Triptych

Sidewings closed    Oil on wood   

120 cm x 100 cm

In the newspapers of December 2008 there were articles about a large collection of paintings amassed by Daan Enneking. As noted earlier, highlights from the collection were displayed in the Westfries Museum in Hoorn in 1999. There were plans for the building of a new Museum where these masterpieces could be put on display. They were all in storage when disaster suddenly struck and the entire collection was destroyed by fire. Thomassen was left in stunned silence when he heard the tragic news. The loss of his works shocked him more than the death of his parents. “You must be a genuine painter to understand this”he said. His monumental work Egyptian was lost forever. A few months later, a collector persuaded Thomassen to accept a commission. Although the man did not realise it, he was responsible for the rebirth of the artist who had become so depressed after many of his works, including those in the legendary Enneking Collection, had been lost in the disastrous fire. “What is the point of painting if the best things you have created burn down?”he asked. The response was: “Jean, that is true at all times – this is the moment to start all over again. Paint me a triptych in the style of Jeroen Bosch, but do not copy him. It must be an original work, a genuine Jean Thomassen. Take your time and try to create a masterpiece”. A triptych is a painting that is divided into three sections – a broad central one with two wings that are often hinged so that they can be folded shut or displayed open. The form arises from early Christian art when they were used as altar pieces partially closed. in cathedrals or churches. The inner panels are usually the only ones to be painted, but in the work of Thomassen, the outside of the folding wings are also painted, making it effectively a pentaptych.The result was Last Judgement Day. This extraordinary work was painted between 2011 and 2016. It was exhibited for six months at the Museum Slager in Den Bosch, Holland.  After recovering from a potentially fatal illness Thomassen was told stories about God and heaven by his mother who had become very religious following her son’sseemingly miraculous recovery. “It must be a miracle from the Lord. Be aware of Last Judgement Day and be prepared for the coming of the Lord and the future world with its new Jerusalem where the people who believed in Him will live on in happiness forever with their loved ones. You are doomed forever if you don’t come to believe,”his mother often warned. Young Jean did not believe in the existence of any God. “It is impossible that God is in the air”he told his mother. ‘“Why do you think that?”she asked, surprised. “God would fall down with his chair because there is no floor, and by the way who are God’s parents?”His mother looked at him and told him that God had no parents. “Then he must be an imposter – everyone has parents, even a whale or a flea!”Some of the stories Thomassen heard in his youth are depicted on the triptych. Of course the ideas on this subject, initially as seen through the eyes of a little boy of seven or eight years old, are interpreted now by an old artist who has seen everything in life. As a youngster, he was told that everyone who had died in the past would rise again from their grave on Last Judgement Day. Animals were also creations of God and they too would come back for revenge. The Queen of Shock Rock and Punk, Wendy O. Williams (1949-1998) from the Plasmatics, foretold in an interview: “Those now eating, soon will be eaten…”That means that lobsters will eat humans, cooked alive of course, in a fancy restaurant with roasted humans on the menu – as depicted in the central panel of the triptych. But what is to be thought of a dinosaur on Judgement Day? As a child, young Jean heard the inspiring story of Noah and his Ark – ‘the driving Zoo’. “If this Last Day should happen in the way that my mother saw it, then dinosaurs will have their revenge too,”he later explained. He asked his mother: “Why were the dinosaurs not allowed in the Ark?”She told him that it was not possible because they were so enormous that they would damage it, but the young boy was not satisfied with this explanation and replied: “But why did they not collect their eggs instead?”His mother was desperate – she did not have an answer to this ridiculous question, and what did she do wrong to have such an heretic as a son? So, what is actually intended in this painting? In Thomassen’s view, Last Judgement Daywill be very a very commercial occasion. Coaches full of tourists will pay a lot of money to sit on the front row to watch this unique spectacle. They are shown in the central panel of the triptych, although one coach is full of fish and snakes. The climax is that a very surprised God in heaven will be blown up by the biggest nuke ever made. In the artist’s view, the present world has become poisoned and is full of pipelines and cities that he portrays as a large skull on which the word ‘Necropolis’ is written. Thomassen says: “Our world will burst open on that final day, and all the millions who were killed and gassed in the Second World War and all other wars will return. Imagine how many people that will be and what a mess they will cause searching for all of their bones!”We read a warning to ‘check all your bones before leaving graves!’ There is ‘no refund on: brains, blood and money’. It is unclear what will happen to those people who were cremated – will they come back too? On the upper right of the central panel the horseman of the Apocalypse is seen emerging from hell (see below). Thomassen comments: “He is already dead, being poisoned by cyanide and radioactivity. Humanity did something terrible to

planet Earth”. Thomassen says: “Hell must already have existed as was seen in the extermination camps such as Treblinka, Sobibor, Jasenovac and Auschwitz-Birkenau where they threw wagon loads of small children directly into fire pits to save using bullets. The few screaming ones that tried to crawl out were kicked back by laughing Nazis. In hell we may expect a ‘wall of fame’ as depicted at the bottom of the right panel. A brick wall has niches in which are the heads of dictators such as Stalin, the Pope, Jesus, Mengele and Himmler who were responsible for the killing of millions of people. One niche is left empty for the heretic Jean Thomassen. To the left of this empty niche a small candle burns for their souls”. On a billboard is Adolf Hitler who was responsible for the Second World War, and as a consequence about 50 million victims. His message reads: ‘I am Jesus, your free host here’. The Nazi’s ‘Top resorts’ are noted with names like Bergen Belsen, Auschwitz and Nordhausen. It is known that enormous rats lived there. The years of the Second World War were the ‘Golden Times’ for the rats with hundreds or perhaps thousands of them in concentration camps like Nordhausen trying to eat from the still barely living, exhausted or dying people. Thomassen

says: “God did not help any of his believers or his favoured Jewish people. He seemed to be on holiday during the Second World War”. A wagon is being pulled up a steep slope by a naked Rabbi, Pope and Mufti whom Thomassen depicts as being obese. He comments: “These lazy ones, who robbed humanity with their nonsense about God, are now being made to work after a lifetime full of delicious meals, drink and paedophilia. They were responsible for wars and killings and will get their reward in hell”. A skeleton of one of their victims lashes them with his whip to demand more action. Behind him are the gas chambers of Auschwitz ‘Fun Centre,’ and an awful creature representing Evil sits between worms and blood is about to devour two humans. Between two arches to the left of the middle of the right panel is a crucified Pedo-Inri (‘Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews’) who seems to be looking at the viewer. In the right arch, Christian clergymen are being burned, while on the roof is an enormous pair of scissors that is being used to cut off the heads of Muslims. Below are worms and fish enjoying eating an enormous number of corpses. Hell is not always associated with cruelty in extermination camps. In the lower left of the right panel is a green bottle containing a human being one whose only friend is alcohol. They are living in hell just like a person who is addicted to gambling. They often lose everything in life and are alone and left behind with their addiction. ‘Blue Heaven’ is empty after being closed by a lack of volunteers wanting to live there. A message on a sign reads: ‘Heaven closed, sorry no one was interested. G.Ott’. In the foreground is the last Chinese Peking duck that is finishing eating a human being who earlier ate other members of the duck’s family. There is the ‘splendid’ Jasenovac – God’s Pride and Joy. Jasenovac was arguably the most cruel ‘Vernichtungslager’ or extermination camp that is known from the Second World War. Instead of pits, children were thrown alive into burning ovens or had their throats cut so that they would bleed to death – again to save using bullets. It is very bizarre that the Camp Commander was known to be very dedicated to God. He was a pious clergyman of the Catholic Church who cruelly

killed hundreds of women and children with passion in the name of the Lord. He was convinced that he was doing something good for the Church, just like the dedicated monks who burned witches in the 16th and 17th century in Europe. Thomassen comments: “They did their best to conquer the world in the name of God, and everyone who did not want to become a Christian was murdered or burnt. It is sad to notice that humanity has not learnt anything from history and this fascism of the mind”. In his presentation of Last Judgement Dayat the Museum Slager (see p. 178), Thomassen said that everyone should be able to believe in whatever he or she likes. He said: “The problem is that those who believe in whichever God they choose expect youto believe in the same one – they even use weapons to try and convince you”. He continues: “If Heaven is really a place in which to feel fine, we can take pills and use drugs, and of course you can gamble there. While some people are very happy with that and feel ‘heavenly’ when they gamble or have forced sex by bullets, there are gallows for those who would like to use them for kinky ‘strangle sex’. People must be blind when they believe in Heaven, that’s why we see all those eyes pickedup. The existence of heaven is paved on millions of murdered people to enjoy that Mr. G. Ott. In the lower left hand corner of this painting we see three steps leading to heaven – indeed referring to the song by Eddie Cochran, ‘Three Steps to Heaven’. It is where they strangled that bastard G. Ott years ago. There is a real flying saucer in the sky. It needs lights, hence it has burning candles. Such an idea came into my mind while painting and listening to Billy Lee Riley singing ‘Flying Saucer Rock and Roll’ and The Crests singing ‘Sixteen Candles’.Of course, if heaven exists, we will find a Hilton Hotel there”. The reverse of old fashioned triptychs were always painted – the outside usually depicted the man who gave the commission, often together with his wife, kneeling down and looking very serious. However, on Thomassen’s fantastic triptych this is somewhat different.

RIGHT WING OUTER PANEL

Two very prominent eyes are looking at the viewer. These are the eyes of the man who commissioned the triptych. He is also seen giving a ‘concert’ with his son, both of whom are playing bagpipes. The father has the legs and the tail of the devil, and even horns. ‘Satan rules!’ is written on his shirt. This kind of portrayal has not been seen before on a triptych. The audience is made up of a bunch of weirdos, including cartoon figures that are well known in Belgium, such as Suske and Wiske, Tintin and detectives Jansen and Janssens. Nobody seems to be listening to the bagpipers performing in a strange ruin – perhaps once a cathedral. Most of the people stare forwards from behind a plank of wood. At the front on the right is a fat man whose tongue is pinned to the wood with a very small nail. There is a fascinating woman whose image is repeated twice, firstly dressed in a fine red Shanghai dress at the front of the left panel, and secondly on the lower left of the right panel where she has the fangs of a vampire, which are in fact parts of a lobster. This is the wife of the man who commissioned the painting. Is it possible that she would like to see herself portrayed on a painting like this? The couple’s daughter is also painted twice but at different ages – firstly at the front lower left with a cowbell around her neck and again behind a wall of wooden planks. Her nickname is Bel – from Isabelle. Thomassen’s father is shown standing between the two portraits of Isabelle, and perhaps John Lennon or the artist himself once again – it is unclear, but probably the latter.

 LEFT WING OUTER PANEL

A large red carrot with wilting leaves is rather strangely painted with a window. In Dutch, a carrot is called a wortel, and this family once lived in a small village called Wortel. The houses that are depicted appear to be existing ones that are known in Brussels. The city is of course famous for the statuette of Manneken Pis, the beloved child of Brussels residents since the 17th century. The frame of the triptych is painted black and looks remarkably like a type of stone that is used in houses for floors and doorsteps in Belgium. The man who commissioned the triptych was delighted, and he surprised Jean Thomassen by giving him a very unusual present – not a bottle of champagne that he often received, but a very thin slide from a piece of a meteorite that came from the moon. “Now you really can touch the moon, and there will not be many people in Holland who can say that”, the man said.