Johnny Depp's new art collection pays tribute to his ex-wife and children
Johnny Depp’s making a comeback at the moment, with a new film out - he’s directed Modi, Three Days on the Wings Of Madness - and now an art exhibition at Castle Fine Art on South Molton Street.
Called Let the Light In, it technically amounts to just two pieces which are available to buy as prints, but is boosted up in the gallery with further works by the actor. The two main paintings were made in the early 2000s, when he was living at Le Hameau in the South of France with his wife Vanessa Paradis and their children, Jack and Lily-Rose; a period which clearly has some poignant memories for Depp, a halcyon time before his later relationship with Amber Heard and the subsequent court drama.
The first piece in Let the Light In is called A Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose. Every year for Valentine’s Day, he’d paint a rose for his young daughter Lily-Rose, and this one here has a certain meaningful vibration to it, swelling with darkness underneath its delicacy. A sweet gesture that has weight behind it; parental worry and protection.
The other piece is a self-portrait from the same era, which depicts Depp in abstracted form where his eyes aren’t visible behind his glasses. It’s almost a non-self-portrait, where the painter is hiding himself even as he depicts himself. He’s called it Add the Light, and commented of the piece: “I’ve been lucky enough to understand through various artists - listening, learning things - the only thing you can really do is add the light to what’s there.” But here he does so where the glare from the light seeks to obscure.
They’re presented quite intimately here and while they aren’t great revelations into the soul of Depp, they do show the softness and even shyness, that exists beyond his wild man image. According to Frankie Washington, the Artist Program Manager at Castle Fine Art, Depp has an instinctive compulsion towards art, with his painting a refuge and an escape from, “what he calls ‘the noise’ of the last few years.”
It would be interesting to see what his current art is looking like after the last few years, but presenting his older work in this manner probably says it all. A longing for the more innocent times that comes with having children.
Elsewhere, we see other pieces from that time. The Bunnyman Genesis (2023) is a Donnie Darko-alike set of images, that references a Bunnyman figure that both Depp and his son Jack had experienced in recurring dreams. In Tarot (2024), the piece The Empress paid tribute to Paradis. These are louds works, making use of Rizla papers, explosions of colour and a certain Lynchian unnerving oddness. These feel like fond and protective moments in time but it’s also tempting to view them as warnings - of the future, or to himself - but it may just be a sign that often the productive creative periods can come alongside the most settled home lives. Depp fans will find much to dwell on.
Let the Light In will be available from 8am on 18 July 2025 via www.castlefineart.com and at Castle Fine Art’s 38 galleries nationwide.