The greatest unknown artist. A terrible drunk.

S2E7 - At the Cedar Tavern, Midge and Benjamin meet Declan, who does a drunken soliloquy atop the bar, then uncharacteristically agrees to sell Benjamin a painting, provided Midge comes along.

S2E7 - Benjamin and Midge come to Declan’s loft, but Declan refuses to sell Benjamin any of his paintings. Benjamin has to check in with the hospital, so he goes to the cafe across the street. While he’s away, Declan asks Midge why she bought the Agnes Reynolds painting, then shows her his secret painting and gives her his sob story. Benjamin gets back, and Midge leaves. As she goes, Declan tells her that Benjamin can take a painting.

BENJAMIN: Declan Howell is the most famous unknown artist in the world. He's considered one of the greats by his peers, but he can't sell his art. Well, won't sell his art, actually.
MIDGE: Why?
BENJAMIN: He's crazy. Just won't do it. And if someone ever does talk him into a sale, he always finds a way to get out of it. Early in his career, he made a very big sale. Peggy Guggenheim. The day she came to pick it up, he sets it on fire right in front of her, and then puts the fire out by… Well, let's just say he did not use a fire extinguisher.
MIDGE: That's not true.
BENJAMIN: There's a story, urban myth maybe, about a painting he painted. It was supposed to be a masterpiece, a thing of such beauty that, when Jackson Pollock saw it, he said he wasn't sure if he would ever paint again. Nothing he could do could come close.
– S2E7

DECLAN: Your face, the color, it's like… cream, or is it milk? It's some kind of… magical dairy product.
MIDGE: I don't know.
DECLAN: I've been trying to find a color like that for years. It's like Vermeer painted you or you swallowed a light bulb.
– S2E7

DECLAN: The Allies have landed. Well, good for them.
– S2E7

DECLAN: I'm never quite as drunk as people think I am.
– S2E7

MIDGE: People should see this.
DECLAN: No, I painted this for me. This was gonna hang in my home. When I had a home. And a family, when I had that life. This was… this was gonna go there. But that was then. And this is now. I will never have that life.
MIDGE: Now, wait…
DECLAN: I'm not trying to spin a melodrama. I'm being very realistic. The chance for that life is gone.
MIDGE: That's ridiculous.
DECLAN: It'll never happen because… everything I have, I put into that. Nothing left.
MIDGE: I think that's very sad.
DECLAN: Well, that's the way it is. If you… if you want to do something great… you want to take something as far as it'll go… you can't have everything. You lose… family. Sense of home. But then… look at what exists.
– S2E7

7. Look, She Made a Hat

• The character of Declan Howell is likely inspired by Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.

• List of Characters