Freddie Mercury’s World – Part 5 – Art

Two photos side by side. On the left is a painting called Type of Beauty, Portrait of Mrs. Kathleen Newton, by James-Jacques-Joseph Tissot. It is a half-length portrait of a woman posing and looking thoughtful, resting a finger on her lower left cheek, while wearing a black hat and a red top, in front of a flowery background of nasturtiums and geraniums. On the right is the large green door to Garden Lodge covered in graffiti from fans in tribute to Freddie Mercury.

Freddie Mercury didn’t just love the art of music, he was also a keen fan of paintings and prints. For example, in the first part of this series looking through the photos I took at the 2023 A World Of His Own exhibition at Sotheby’s, we saw some of the Japanese imagery that he had in his collection.

So now it’s time to dig deeper and see more of the art that he owned and had on display at Garden Lodge, his residence from which I recently shared many images of his furniture here and here. Most of these pieces were therefore sold in the At Home auction, but there are some from the Evening Sale and Crazy Little Things auctions too.

Towards the end of this post you’ll also see the famous door to the house, which itself is a work of art due to the fan tributes that completely cover it. And on a related note I’ll also show you my own visit to the property – not that you can see anything from the outside, but it still feels nice to say I’ve been there.

So with a reminder that you can click the names of the artworks to read more about them and the images to enlarge them, I hope you enjoy looking through it all!

Contents

Art

Constance Rea

One of the first paintings in the At Home exhibition, Slumber Song, which sold for £16,510, had an important significance. Constance Rea (née Halford) and her husband Cecil, who were both painters, were the first residents of Garden Lodge, nearly 80 years before Freddie moved in, and they designed a north-facing studio to work in. Freddie later made it an important room as well, by placing his grand piano in it and adding a balcony.

An oil on canvas painting called Slumber Song by Constance Rea. It shows a lady in a light-coloured dress playing a piano, with sheet music on a stand in front of her, while another lady wearing a dark robe sleeps in an armchair.

Rudi Patterson

Next, we have several paintings by Rudi Patterson, who was a close friend of Freddie’s, including:

A set of 5 paintings, four of which are a similar large size to one another, while the 5th is tiny in comparison. They depict colourful scenes of tropical plants, flowers and trees.
Watercolour painting showing a large house at night, with at least 11 windows across each of its 3 floors, apart from the entrance in the centre at the bottom, reached by a pathway through a garden, in which large trees are overhanging in such a way that they obscure each end of the house.
Watercolour of a two-storey house at night, viewed from a distance through trees and greenery. Two palm trees tower over the building, being at least three times its height.
2 colourful and very abstract paintings of landscapes by Rudi Patterson.
A photo from Rudi Patterson's Africa series, showing a mixture of animals in vibrant colours.
A photo from Rudi Patterson's Africa series, showing a colourful mix of leafy foliage.

Louis Icart

Another of Freddie’s favourite artists was Louis Icart, and here you can see just a small selection from the many artworks he bought, including:

Colourful artwork by Louis Icart, showing a woman sitting cross-legged on a colourful carpet, her arms out to her sides as if conducting a water fountain that's spraying up next to her. She has large black feathered headwear, with a large bulbous section standing up in the centre, with more plumes of black feathers sticking out at each side where the brim of a regular hat would be.
2 artworks by Louis Icart, one showing a side-on view of a tall nude woman with white curly hair, the other showing a woman in a white robe with her arms outstretched to the sides.
5 artworks by Louis Icart, showing female figures posing in various ways, including one of a nude woman reclining on a bed with her legs crossed, and another of a woman standing one side of a pillar, while a red devil-like figure stands on the other side.
4 artworks by Louis Icart, showing female figures posing in various ways, including one where the woman is the central body of a butterfly, with large wings either side of her.
The Swing by Louis Acart, a painting that shows a lady on a swing, the excess fabric of her white dress spreading out in the air around her. Her arms are bare, as is the top half of her back, and she's kicking a bare leg up in front of her.
Lilies, a print by Louis Icart that shows a lady in a long flowing white dress, sat on the ground so that the skirt of the dress spreads out widely around her. She is looking thoughtful as she holds a bunch of white lilies up to her chest.
Louis Icart, 1888-1950, Lilies (Les lis). From A Collection of Nine Prints
A painting of a woman in a flowing white gown running with three greyhounds, two of which have black fur while the other has light grey fur.

Erté

The next clear favourite of Freddie’s was French artist Erté (aka Romain de Tirtoff). Several of his works were shown alongside a nice set of three Lalique ‘Chêne’ etched glass and chrome wall sconces that sold for £15,240:

3 paintings by French artist Erté. Two show a dancer wearing an outfit consisting of a red body surrounded by piano keys or musical notes on the collars, cuffs and hems. The other picture is a more sketch-like image of a group of people dancing. To the left of the paintings is an ornate glass ornament.
4 paintings by French artist Erté. They all show the same dancer, with blonde hair and wearing a black eye mask and a skin-tight leonard on their very slim frame. In each artwork, their arms are stretched out to the sides as they move, with large bat wings attached.
Paintings by French artist Erté called Chang-Ti, s showing a figure dressed in a very colourful oversized kimono. They have very long, thin fingernails, while both sides of their thin moustache and their thin beard stretch down so far that they almost touch the floor.

There was also an Erté painting featured in the Evening Sale called Moulin Rouge, which sold for £25,400. You can find out a lot more about the artist in the details for that item.

Painting by Erté called Moulin Rouge, which shows 2 female dancers, each naked except for elaborate colourful neck and head wear and a red triangular patch over their groin area. The lady on the left has a tiger-skin train flowing down behind her, and she's holding up the two-part looping train of the lady in front, which is orange with red patches and white stars all over it. The lady in front is holding up a colourful leafy prop.

Sir William Russell Flint

Sir William Russell Flint is also well represented, with paintings such as:

Watercolour painting called Gossip In A Park by Sir William Russell Flint. It shows two ladies, one standing and one sitting, by a wall next to a lake.
A watercolour painting by Sir William Russell Flint called Disputation at the Well. It shows. It shows a topless lady standing by a well, facing two ladies who are sitting down, one of whom is also topless, and other's dress is very low cut.
Watercolour painting by Sir William Russell Flint called Silver Shade, Languedoc. It shows two naked women dipping in a pool in the shade beneath a large stone archway held up by thick pillars.
Painting by Sir William Russell Flint called Gabrielle. It depicts a nude lady reclining on a red sheet against a blue pillow, on a yellow piece of furniture, with a large pink curtain in the background.

Salvador Dali

There are a few collections by surrealist Salvador Dali as well, including:

7 paintings by Salvador Dali, showing very surreal imagery, such as one with drawers coming out of their body, another with a fish tail coming out of their head and frogs legs out of their mouth.
4 paintings by Salvador Dali, showing very surreal imagery, including a woman in a long dress that appears to be putting her hand into the mouth of a silhouette of a rhino.
A set of 6 sketches by surrealist Salvador Dali, mainly black and white but with occasional elements of colour. It's hard to determine exactly what they're meant to show, though one appears to show the head of an old lady standing in a pool of water.
Salvador Dalí, 1904-1989, Les Amours de Cassandre (Ten Plates).
A set of 4 sketches by surrealist Salvador Dali, mainly black and white but with occasional elements of colour. It's hard to determine exactly what they're meant to show, though one appears to show a female figure with 2 heads, and instead of faces the heads each have a hole in the centre from which black lines are spraying out.
4 prints by Salvador Dali from his Mythology series, in a surrealist style showing people and creatures, mainly in black and white but with occasional areas of colour.
4 prints by Salvador Dali from his Mythology series, in a surrealist style showing people and creatures, mainly in black and white but with occasional spots of colour.
2 prints by Salvador Dali from his Mythology series, one showing a naked body on the ground with a whirlwind behind, while the other includes a galloping horse.
6 prints by Salvador Dali from his Mythology series, in a surrealist style showing people and creatures, mainly in black and white but with occasional areas of colour. his Mythology series, in a surrealist style showing people and creatures, mainly in black and white but with occasional spots of colour.
Salvador Dalí, 1904 – 1989, The Mythology (Michler & Löpsinger 116-131; Field 63-3).

Eugen von Blaas

Eugen von Blaas is another highly regarded artist whose work commands high prices, and I saw these 2 pieces in the exhibition:

  • The Water Carrier (£63,500) – Sold as a Premium lot.
  • A Rose (£69,850) – Included in the Evening Sale, so the description has a lot of information about the artist.
Oil on canvas painting by Eugen von Blaas called The Water Carrier. It depicts a young Venetian woman posing in contemporary costume that has puffy and short white sleeves, with two copper kettles resting on her arm, while a colourful red and green shawl is draped over her shoulders.
Oil on canvas painting by Eugen von Blaas called A Rose. It depicts a woman in a dress that has a colourful flowery top and plain skirt. She is sitting on a brick wall, leaning back against a taller brick wall behind her, smiling as she looks at a pink rose she's holding in her hand.

Other Artists

I’m not going to mention every single piece of art of course, but some others that stood out to me across the galleries included:

A print by Pablo Picasso called Jaqueline au chapeau noir, with a heavily morphed representation of a woman's face.
A print by Joan Miró called Le Matador, which is an abstract image made of bold black lines and a few colours. The central part appears to be an oval-shaped face, with an eye in a blue section on the left and another eye in a red sight on the right, with a larger empty green section between them. The entity then has a short blue neck and a black body beneath.
Painting by Marc Chagall called Chloe's Judgement. It depicts a naked couple, with the woman in blue while the main is a more normal skin colour, standing together, the man holding some foliage from a nearby tree over the lady's groin area. A woman dressed in red sites and watches them from the side.
An oil on canvas painting by John Bagnold Burgess called The Offering. It depicts a woman wearing a colourful stripy shawl looking down at the small basket of pink flowers she's holding. She's standing next to a brick wall and just above her to her right is a small opening with a few vertical bars across it. Someone inside the room is reaching a hand through the bars towards the lady, but we can only see the top of their head down to their eyes.
Oil on canvas painting by John Bagnold Burgess called A Spanish Girl. The girl in question is wearing a white shawl around her head, with shining silvery going down it, over a golden yellow robe. She's holding a small bunch of flowers, most of which are pink, but there's also a red one and a yellow one.
Oil on canvas painting by Frederick Yeates Hurlstone called The Queen of the Spanish Gipsies at the Cuesta of the Alhambra. It depicts a woman with curly black hair in a robe that's mainly red with colourful stripes and motifs, holding an ornately decorated fan.
3 framed Chinese painting, each depicting a male figure with a moustache and pointed beard wearing a sumptuous colourful costume.
Painting by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen called Summer, Cat on a Balustrade. It shows a tabby cat with yellow eyes relaxing on a thick wooden railing.
The painting Carriage Match at Newmarket by John Bodger. It shows 5 people on horseback, arranged as one leading two pairs, pulling a simple vehicle that's just a narrow platform with 4 big wheels, while one more person on horseback follows behind. They are moving at speed through a landscape with hills in the background.
A bold, colourful painting showing a woman in a sleeveless top and a long skirt lounging on a seat, sitting back with one arm reaching around the back of her head. There are leafy plants and a pond in the background.
A black and white painting of a woman in a sleeveless v-neck top looking thoughtful as she rests her chin on her hand.
A painting of a young boy in a blue jumper sitting cross-legged on the ground with a pad on his lap, as he paints a carnation that's in front of him.
2 paintings of animals, one showing three cats watching a mouse in a cage, the other showing 3 dogs looking at a black crow.
  • 10 decorative prints (£6,096), of which there are 4 shown here, the owls being particularly striking.
A painting of a group of women in large dresses, along with a very thin looking man wearing an outfit with a large ruffled collar, enjoying refreshments being given to them by servants who are wearing large ruffs around their necks as part of their outfits.
Two paintings. One shows a fairy and other small creatures and children running together through a landscape dotted with trees and foliage. The other shows a man, naked except for a cloth draped over their waist, sitting casually on the ground, his left arm resting on his left knee, with his left foot flat on the ground, as he looks up at bubbles floating around him.
A painting of 3 owls perching together. The middle one has its beak wide open and its eyes closed.
A painting of 3 carp swimming around, the middle one being orange in colour while the other two have black skin on the top and whiter skin on their undersides.
A painting of a group of ten children holding hands in a circle, with another child standing in the middle.
A painting of red horse silhouette against a black background.
  • A collection of travel posters and prints (£20,320) – The most notable of these is the one for National Benzole Mixture – a type of car fuel – with a woman exclaiming “Oh, Mr Mercury, you did give me a start!”
A collection of 10 travel posters and prints, 7 of which are for Air France to various destinations, while the others are for Ferrari, Rolls Royce and National Benzole Mixture.
A poster showing a family driving a large red Rolls Royce car out of a big set of metal gates. Behind them is a curving path, lined with grass on either side, leading to a mansion. Text at the top of the poster says Rolls Royce, the best car in the world.
An advert for National Benzole mixture. White text at the top says it has set the pace since 1919. Below this, a smiling lady sitting at the steering wheel of a car is saying to a man next to her Oh, Mr Mercury, you did give me a start! Text at the bottom then says National Benzole Mixture, the spirit of startability.

And there were a few statues, sculptures and figurines as well:

A small bronze statue of a man crouching down low, with one hand on his chin while he's deep in thought.
Two small earthenware pottery sculptures in a vibrantly colourful Egyptian style, each featuring a robed figure squatting in front of a pedestal table that has a curved slot in the centre.
An oval mirror being held by a bronze sculpture of a maiden holding a rose next to a tree stump.
A white marble bust of the ancient Roman goddess Diana, showing her head and upper chest surrounded by an ornate gold design.
Chinese porcelain figures with highly detailed and colourful decorations, the largest of which represents a deity.
Four clay figures of Japanese children. One of them is being hugged by their mother, but its trousers are pulled down slightly, revealing its buttocks.

Freddie’s Final Painting

In the mid-1870s, James Tissot met a beautiful lady called Kathleen Newton. They fell very much in love and ended up living together, despite society shunning them because she was a divorcee. So he was devastated when she died of TB at the age of just 28 in 1882.

She sat for many of his portraits during their time together, and this particular one – entitled Type of Beauty: Portrait of Mrs. Kathleen Newton is the last work of art that Freddie ever bought. He acquired it on 25 October 1991, a month before he died.

It isn’t clear if he knew of Kathleen’s premature passing and if that was a factor in his decision, or if he just liked the painting. You certainly couldn’t blame him either way, she’s beautiful. In any case, it was hung on the wall in Garden Lodge where he could see it from the sofa, and it sold in the Evening Sale for £482,600.

A painting called Type of Beauty, Portrait of Mrs. Kathleen Newton, by James-Jacques-Joseph Tissot. It is a half-length portrait of a woman posing and looking thoughtful, resting a finger on her lower left cheek, while wearing a black hat and a red top, in front of a flowery background of nasturtiums and geraniums.

Freddie’s Art

Freddie Mercury himself was a very talented artist, more so that just in the musical sense. You can see the evidence of that in his clever reinterpretation of the One Thousand & One Nights fairy tale as an advert for soap, called The Story Of The Sultan & Imperial Leather. It is believed to have been produced while the young Freddie Bulsara was at Ealing College of Art studying graphics in 1968-69. Unsurprisingly, therefore, this collection of watercolour illustrations fetched a high price, selling for £158,750.

Two watercolour illustrations by Freddie Mercury, from his youth when he was named Freddie Bulsara. The left one shows a group of men carrying boxes on their shoulders as they head down a winding path to a city in the far distance. Text at the bottom reads A never-ending trail of suitors bearing gifts came from far and wide, but the Sultan was twice as bored. The right artwork then shows the sultan sitting cross-legged on the floor holding several round bowl-like objects, while somebody runs across the scene in the background carrying something in their hands. The text at the bottom says The Sultan was soon knee deep in joy and Imperial Leather.

There was also some very personalised art gifted to him, such as this beautiful animation cell by Walt Disney Studios of his beloved cat Delilah, which was withdrawn from sale for unknown reasons.

An animation cell by Walt Disney Studios of Freddie Mercury's cat Delilah, with brown and black striped fur on its back, tail and the top of its head, and white fur on its front. The cat is wearing a thin yellow collar and has a smiling face.

In the description of the lot, it’s interesting to note that Walt Disney Studios produced the animation in the US music video for Queen’s 1991 song These Are The Days of Our Lives, which isn’t seen in the much more familiar UK version.

Photographs

The Evening Sale also included what is accurately described as a “significant” archive of approximately 265 photographs of Freddie at Garden Lodge, mostly from the 1980s, which went for £88,900. They show Freddie snuggling with his cats, hanging out with his friends, visiting different places, wearing a variety of outfits and generally enjoying his life, so they’re wonderful to look through.

A large collection of photographs of Freddie Mercury in his personal life, going out and about, having fun with friends, holding his cats, eating meals, etc.
A large collection of photographs of Freddie Mercury in his personal life, being silly, wearing colourful clothes, posing outdoors, etc.
A large collection of photographs of Freddie Mercury in his personal life, cuddling his cats, being dressed in drag, hanging out with friends, etc.

Garden Lodge

The Door

Last but absolutely far from least, and actually the very first lot in the Evening Sale, was the iconic Garden Lodge Door, covered in messages from Freddie’s fans. It went for £412,750 – over 25 times its £15,000-£25,000 estimate – after a 15-minute bidding war. It truly is a piece of history, a monument to Freddie’s life that illustrates just how much he was loved, given that so many people made the pilgrimage, sometimes thousands of miles, to scrawl on its surface.

The large green door to Garden Lodge, viewed from an angle on the right to show its thickness. The door is covered in graffiti from fans in tribute to Freddie Mercury.
The large green door to Garden Lodge, viewed straight on, covered in graffiti from fans in tribute to Freddie Mercury.
Close-up of fan graffiti in tribute to Freddie Mercury on the large green door to Garden Lodge.
Close-up of fan graffiti in tribute to Freddie Mercury on the large green door to Garden Lodge.
Close-up of fan graffiti in tribute to Freddie Mercury on the large green door to Garden Lodge.
Close-up of fan graffiti in tribute to Freddie Mercury on the large green door to Garden Lodge.

Visiting The House

Today you can barely see the house, which is located near Earl’s Court station, because the high brick wall surrounding the estate is topped by a tall fence with razor wire for obvious privacy and security reasons. Nevertheless, for every Queen fan it’s still one of those pilgrimages that you have to make at some point, just to say you’ve been there, as it still feels very special.

So I popped over to see it after I’d finished at the exhibition, and a passer-by very kindly took a photo of me next to the sealed-off street entrance. He too was conscious about security, thankfully, so rather than take my phone, he took the photo on his device and I temporarily eased the settings on mine so he could airdrop it to me. So I’m very glad I have that as an additional souvenir.

Garden Lodge, Freddie Mercury's former home. The top of the house is only just visible above the security fence lined with razor wire, on top of the tall brick wall surrounding the premises.
The corner of the Garden Lodge estate, with the high brick wall topped by a large fence with razor wire. A small white sign attached on one side of the corner warns of CCTV in operation, while a small yellow sign just around the corner warns of the razor wire. A very large, round hedge is also growing by the wall around the corner.
Close-up of the high slatted fence on top of the wall around Garden Lodge, through which you can see the razor wire on the other side.
A black doorway in the wall of Garden Lodge, which has been completely covered by a large piece of solid plastic, which appears to be bolted to the brick wall around it. The plastic has white text saying Garden Lodge above 3 warning symbols. One says Graffiti Is A Crime below a white scribbling pen in a crossed out red circle. The second says CCTV In Operation with a white icon of a camera inside a white bordered triangle. And the third says Private Property below a no entry symbol, a red circle with a white bar across its centre. A metal intercom device is on the brick wall to the left of the door.
Glen smiling as he stands next to the entrance gate to Garden Lodge, which is shielded by a large plastic screen bolted to the wall. Glen is wearing a black t-shirt featuring the cover from Queen's Made In Heaven album, which shows a silhouette of the Freddie Mercury statue looking out over the water at Montreux in Switzerland.

Conclusion

So that’s that. We’ve finished our look at the art and furnishings of Garden Lodge, which I hope you found interesting. But it’s not over yet, as we’re only halfway through our look at the exhibition. Come back tomorrow and I’ll show you some of the many awards that Freddie won during his career.

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Author: Glen

Love London, love a laugh, love life. Visually impaired blogger, culture vulture & accessibility advocate, with aniridia & nystagmus, posting about my experiences & adventures.

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