Pietà (The Lamentation Of Jesus Christ)

Vincent van Gogh • Painting, September 1889, 73×60.5 cm
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About the artwork
Art form: Painting
Subject and objects: Religious scene
Style of art: Post-Impressionism
Technique: Oil
Materials: Canvas
Date of creation: September 1889
Size: 73×60.5 cm
Artwork in selections: 46 selections
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Description of the artwork «Pietà (The Lamentation Of Jesus Christ)»

Pieta — one of the Catholic iconography of the virgin, which is quite common in the art of Western Europe. A scene depicting the virgin with the dead Christ on her knees, depicted in the paintings of many prominent artists. Among them van Gogh's painting "Pieta" — a work whose plot is quite typical for the artist.

In Italian, "Pieta" means "pity". The name fully corresponds to the depiction of the figure of the mother by her dead son and grieving and detached. The main difference from scenes of the Lamentation of Christ with a seemingly identical subject, is the number of actors and the position of the corpse in the space. Pieta implies the absence of witnesses, and that Christ lying on the virgin's lap.

In the paintings of van Gogh, despite the deep religious beliefs of the painter, rarely were scenes of biblical themes, such as the Pieta. The right to write of Christ he recognized very few: according to van Gogh, such skill possessed only by Rembrandt, Delacroix and millet. Your own sketch, dedicated to Christ, Vincent van Gogh destroyed. Artist all his life to seek spirituality, to the study of religious concepts and the preaching, I didn't find forces and possibilities to go in the most accessible way — to transfer their beliefs through art. However, he fully mastered the direction that most clearly conveys the thoughts and feelings of the author that reveal his personality — post-impressionism.

The basis for van Gogh's painting "Pieta" was the same lithograph work painted by Delacroix— painter whose work with color Vincent was considered a genius. The reason for the creation of the work was for Vincent a small incident: lithograph by negligence was stained with paint and oil. It upset the artist and prompted to make a copy.

The story of van Gogh's painting "Pieta" is completely identical to the story of the works of Delacroix. But the colors chosen by Vincent — alarming blue-yellow. A similar combination of colors indicative of emotional depression of the painter, tendency to depression vulnerability. It is in this state, in all likelihood, van Gogh was in the last months of his life. "Pieta" was written almost a year before the suicide of the artist, but the signs of irreversible changes in mentality was noticeable already then. Many researchers of creativity of Vincent van Gogh's believe in Jesus Christ his only religious painting the artist has depicted himself — a lonely, misunderstood and tormented, who devoted his life to God and art.
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