Doctor Who: 10 Huge Questions After The Power Of The Doctor
9. Why Did The Master Deface The Paintings?
Paintings in Doctor Who were very much a feature of Steven Moffat’s time at the helm.
In the last landmark special (The Day of the Doctor), it was a piece of Time Lord art that saved Gallifrey, Van Gogh’s The Pandorica Opens was a prophecy of things to come, and the Doctor himself painted two significant portraits of Clara Oswald in successive regenerations.
The Master, however, shows little appreciation for creative power, preferring instead to infiltrate seats of political power, like Heads of State - so it’s unusual to find him interested in some paintings. But we quickly learn that for him, art only exists to be defaced, to make a statement, to draw attention to himself.
With typical self-obsession (like the day he literally turned everyone into his clones), here he butchers various famous paintings by making him their subject. It also serves as a foreshadowing of his forced regeneration of the Doctor. The Doctor - like the Mona Lisa, the Christ of the Last Supper, and the face of The Scream - will become the Master.