I Did Not Know That Van Gogh Painted a Pieta

10/18/2023

As noted earlier on this blog, I have a soft spot for pieta depictions in art. As a result, I have familiarized myself with many pietas, including Michelangelo's iconic pieta sculpture, housed in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Unfortunately, I could not access the basilica during my recent visit to the Vatican and missed seeing the sculpture in "real life."

However, as consolation, I did stumble upon Van Gogh's version of the pieta, tucked away in a small room near the exit of the Vatican Museum.

The discovery was memorable because I had been ignorant of Van Gogh's pieta before coming across it quite unexpectedly near the end of my museum visit.

Pieta - Vincent Van Gogh - 1889

7 Comments

bruce g charlton

10/18/2023 21:16:53

What do You think of this VG? I don't think it's much good! (Perhaps that's why they hid it...)

Francis Berger

10/19/2023 08:58:56

@ Bruce - Certainly among Van Gogh's weaker works, that's for sure.

The painting did not make much of an impression on me. For starters, Jesus appears alive -- as if He is taking a break, reclining and leaning on his elbow, after a long day of work. And Mary looks like a washing woman! Also, the characteristic color scheme Van Gogh employs in his other paintings does not work at all with this subject matter.

The only real highlight was discovering that VG had painted a pieta.

I found it strange that I had never heard of it before. Perhaps the poor quality of the composition helps explain why it's one of VG's lesser known and lesser advertised works.

Francis Berger

10/19/2023 09:01:53

@ Bruce - One additional point, the painting does not evoke pity or compassion, which is what pieta depictions ultimately aim to do!

Wade McKenzie

10/19/2023 15:30:12

It's the first time I've seen this, but what stands out to me is that Van Gogh appears to depict himself as Jesus. That could be taken as a deep personal identification with Jesus (as I would indeed be willing to construe it), or as parody.

Re: Mary looking like a washer woman... What's she supposed to look like? Isn't it of a piece with Van Gogh's emphasis on the lowly?

bruce g charlton

10/19/2023 15:37:38

This is very ignorant of me, but (not being a Roman Catholic) I did not know that a Pieta depicted Jesus after death -- I just had some vague notion that this VG was a sad picture of Mary with an exhausted Jesus - maybe after him carrying the cross and before crucifixion.

I didn't notice the hole in Jesus's hand (or, maybe I thought it was a pebble), and I never crossed my mind that Jesus was supposed to be dead.

Widening the subject - I looked around a Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, and I did not like most of his work, especially the early stuff.

The same applied to an exhibition of Degas - a lot of the pieces were poor.

No artists works entirely at the highest level; but when some artists are bad, they really fail. Others are able to produce a decent baseline level of work, even on their off days.

Partly this is due to technical giftedness. I would not regard either VG or Degas as being more than sufficiently competent as draughtsman.

And partly to whether they are aiming high... In most things, to aim high is to increase the chances of failing badly. It was like that in science, too.

Francis Berger

10/19/2023 18:32:21

@ Bruce - One thing I do like about Van Gogh is the way he manages to depict the aliveness of the world -- the aliveness of the stars, trees, rocks, soil, sky, etc. Everything is swirling, breathing, seeking, interacting, moving. In this sense, I think he does an admirable job depicting the energy and life in Creation, at least in some of his paintings.

Francis Berger

10/19/2023 18:27:37

@ Wade - I certainly hope Van Gogh was aiming for identification rather than parody. Concerning Mary, there is nothing wrong with depicting her as humble or lowly, but VG's depiction of Mary fails to convey the depth of emotion a pieta should convey - hence my washer woman analogy.

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I Did Not Know That Van Gogh Painted a Pieta

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