Peter Engels painted Michael Jackson, Passion and Pain on the island of Lombok, Indonesia. With no professional easel available, a local islander built Peter a strong studio easel and a wooden frame for the canvas. Under the palm trees, in the warm atmosphere of Lombok, Peter created one of his most emotional portraits.
Painted with the palette knife in dark sepia tones, the work carries Peter’s signature strength and texture. To give the painting an even more authentic surface, Peter mixed real beach sand from Lombok into the paint.
Next to the portrait, on a narrow separate canvas, Peter painted Michael Jackson’s quote:
“If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?”
The painting later travelled to Miami during Art Basel Miami, New York, Knokke, Monaco and Cannes. Then, during a stormy night, water entered the gallery where the work was hanging. The water touched the canvas, but only one place reacted: one of Michael Jackson’s eyes.
It looked as if tears were running down his face.
Peter could have restored the painting completely. Instead, he decided to keep the tears. They gave the work a truth and emotional force that could never have been planned. Considering Michael Jackson’s life story, his pain, his suspicious death and the public campaign that followed him, the tears became part of the meaning of the painting.
Peter’s explanation is rational. The Lombok beach sand may have changed the way the paint reacted to water. But the result feels almost symbolic.
Mother Nature made it perfect.
Today, with renewed attention for Michael Jackson’s artistry, humanity and legacy, Michael Jackson, Passion and Pain stands as a powerful collector’s piece. It is a portrait about belief, pain, talent and survival.
The original painting is available for acquisition.
Enquiries: art@peterengels.eu