Why was Marc Chagall, 1887-1985, a Shetl Jew, so preoccupied with Jesus on the cross?
“White Crucifixion” by Marc Chagall | Circa 1938 | Sourced from Google
Marc Chagall | Photo by Li Erben | Sourced from Google
Chagall’s inspired use of color | Title unknown | Sourced from Google
And why does Georges Henri Rouault, 1871-1958, a Gentile, born in a Parisian cellar, paint Jesus on the cross, again and again?
Is there a connection? They both lived in Paris at a time of nihilism, an intense loss of meaning, “an abandonment of future hope”, when many artists and intellectuals committed suicide.
The Power of Ideas
They were both in Jacques and Raïssa Maritain’s circle of friends. The Maritains were philosophers, who had made “a joint suicide pact and stepped back only because at the last minute they recovered faith in a transcendent Being”. (David Lyle Jeffrey artway.eu)
Raïssa was born in a Hassidic Jewish community in the same area as Chagall and encouraged him to read the New Testament.
Georges Henri Rouault | “Perhaps the most passionate Christian artist of the 20th Century” | Wikipedia
Georges Henri Rouault | “Perhaps the most passionate Christian artist of the 20th Century” | Wikipedia
The Cross Today
So where is the cross in our turbulent world, today?
What is the cross for me in my little, cluttered, everyday life?
“The cross in the Kitchen”