Pickman's Model

Pickman's Model is a horror story written by H. P. Lovecraft and first published in 1927.

An unnamed narrator recounts his traumatic experience with Richard Upton Pickman, a very talented artist, but known for his gruesome artwork featuring unspeakable monsters and horrors with a high degree of realism that terrifies everyone who sees them.

The narrator befriends the painter, initially fascinated by his art, and from time to time visits his studio, located in an old and dilapidated basement in Boston.

And on one such visit, he discovers the gruesome source of Pickman's inspiration: his models are real, hideous creatures from the darkest corners of the world and beyond.

"You needn't think I'm crazy, Eliot—plenty of others have queerer prejudices than this. Why don't you laugh at Oliver's grandfather, who won't ride in a motor? If I don't like that damned subway, it's my own business; and we got here more quickly anyhow in the taxi. We'd have had to walk up the hill from Park Street if we'd taken the car. "