King Charles’ first official portrait was unveiled last week, and artist Jonathan Yeo is opening up about the struggles he went through before the piece was finished.
Talking to The Times, Yeo, who was commissioned with the portrait in 2020, revealed that he had a heart attack last year while painting the piece.
As per the artist, he felt a ‘weird flushing feeling’ one Sunday, and after pain spread to his arms and 10 minutes after a paramedic arrived, he ‘collapsed’.
“I had this out-of-body experience, where I was being led off and shown another world and you find you're looking down at something chaotic. And it's like: 'Well, do you want to go there or there?’” Yeo shared.
Yeo then recalled how he felt that he still had ‘stuff to do’, and so, felt himself coming back to his body.
“The second you make the decision, you're back in your body with the [paramedic] saying: 'Stay with me',” the artist shared.
Yeo also shared that it may be why the portrait is so ‘red’, saying, “The colour may also have had psychological backing, because I had a heart attack when I was painting this.”
It is pertinent to note that Yeo’s red portrait of King Charles was widely bashed by royal enthusiasts and experts alike, with Loraine Kelly even branding it ‘hellish’.
