Richard Upton Pickman

**Richard Upton Pickman** is a character in Netflix's *Cabinet of Curiosities*, appearing in "Pickman's Model." He is portrayed by Crispin Glover.

## Profile

Richard Upton Pickman is an artist. The son of wealthy parents, his mother committed suicide and his father went mad shortly afterwards. From this experience, he came to see the darkness of the world and his paintings reflect this. His paintings seem to have a strange pull over William Thurber, who seems to experience a sort of madness upon seeing them.

## History

### The meeting

One day, Richard Upton Pickman arrives as a new student in a drawing class at Miskatonic University, also attended by William Thurber. The instructor has a nude model pose and asks the class to draw what they see. Thurber completes his own work early and finds himself strangely enchanted by Pickman's unusual and rather disturbing drawing.

Later, Thurber discusses the new arrival with his friends. They compliment Pickman on his imagination. They also reveal that Pickman is a wealthy man who collected a huge inheritance after his mother committed suicide and his father went mad shortly thereafter.

Fascinated by Pickman, Thurber goes to visit him in the graveyard where he is working. He finds Pickman drawing a dead cat and wonders about it. He suggests that Pickman enter his drawings in a competition for a prize, but Pickman tells him that he is not interested in prizes. When Thurber asks what he *is* interested in, he tells him that it is darkness, ugliness and corruption that interests him. He tells him that suffering is living and that people cannot be blinded by altruism or sympathy when it comes to finding the dark truths of the world. When Thurber asks him where one would find these truths, he tells him "where fear lives."

Thurber comes with Pickman to his mansion, where he shows him more of his work. Thurber finds it completely disturbing, suffering a mental breakdown of sorts. He ends up in bed having no recollection of how he got there. The next day, he sees strange phantoms during a high society event that he is attending along with his fiance. She accuses of him of being drunk and orders him away. Thurber then cuts off all contact with Pickman and marries the woman, Rebeca, the two eventually having a child, James. Thurber does not see Pickman again for over fifteen years.

### The return

One day, a large, thing rectangular package is delivered to Thurber's household. Thurber ignores the package at first, but that evening has a disturbing dream, similar to the visions he experienced after first seeing Pickman's paintings. He goes downstairs and unwraps the package, discovering it to be a new painting by Pickman. He takes a knife and starts to point it at the painting, but then finds himself pointing it at his own head before being interrupted by Rebecca.

Later in the morning, Thurber meets with a man in his office. He orders the man to remove the painting from his home and return it to the sender, along with the check that came with it. Afterwards, however, during a committee meeting, one of his fellow committee members introduces a man who he says he wants the group to consider his artwork for their next exhibition: Mr. Richard Upton Pickman. Thurber is aghast and pleads with the others not to do it, but they take him for a bad sport. Later, he returns home, only to find Pickman there, being hosted by his wife and son and teaching sketching to his son. Before being escorted out by Thurber, Pickman hands Thurber a business card, asking him to think about seeing him again. Thurber continues to have nightmares and his son starts having them as well.

Thurber goes to the graveyard and finds Pickman, demanding to know what he did to his son. He demands that Pickman stay away from him and particularly his family. Pickman agrees, on the condition that he again visit his mansion and see his new paintings. He agrees that if Thurber does this, he'll not only stay away from his family, but also pull out of the exhibition and never bother him again. Thurber, willing to do anything to protect his family, agrees. The two of them go to Thurber's mansion and Pickman leads him to a secret cellar, within which is artwork even more disturbing than any that Thurber has seen thus far. Thurber tells Pickman that he thought it was all in his head, but that it was the paintings the whole time, that they crawl behind his eyes and cause madness. He pulls out a gun and shoots Pickman in the heart. As Pickman bleeds out, he tells Thurber that the paintings come from his life and that it's time to see what awaits us all in the darkness. After dying, he is dragged away by a strange creature into the well in the basement. Thurber sets Pickman's paintings on fire and escapes the blaze.

Later, however, Thurber visits the art gallery with his wife and child, only to discover Pickman's paintings there, seemingly as if never burnt. He finds his friend Joe badly hurt and tells one of the other people at the gallery, Gabriel, to burn all the paintings, and tells his wife and child to flee. When he returns home, he finds his wife preparing dinner at a cutting board. However, she tells him that she knows where fear lives, and then turns to him, her face bloodied. She tells him that they will soon feast and inside the oven is the head of their child, just like the scenario from Pickman's drawings. As voices chant around Thurber, Pickman intones that it's time to see what awaits us in the darkness.