White Crucifixion

White Crucifixion
Artist Marc Chagall
Year 1938 (1938)
Location Art Institute of Chicago

The White Crucifixion is a painting by Marc Chagall. It was painted in 1938 after Chagall had visited Europe, and can be viewed at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Summary

The white crucifixion painting emphasizes the suffering of Jesus and the Jewish people. At the sides violent acts against Jews occur such as the burning of a synagogue and invaders. And in the center, Jesus is shown crucified wearing a prayer shawl as a symbol that he is Jewish.[1] The work is startling as the crucifixion, often seen as a symbol of oppression by the Jewish people, is instead being used to represent their suffering.[2]

A green figure carrying a bundle is shown crossing the foreground. This figure, who appears in several of Chagall's works, has been interpreted as being either a Jewish wanderer from Yiddish tradition or the Prophet Elijah.[2]

Two changes were made by Chagall to the work, a swastika on the armband of the soldier burning the synagogue was overpainted as well as the words "Ich bin Jude" on a placard around the neck of a man.[1]

There is also a Lithuanian flag in the upper right hand of the painting. Lithuania at this time was still an independent state. There was no shortage of anti-Semitism in Lithuania also. Also, in the upper left hand portion of the painting there are the red flags of communism. Persecution of the Jews was not just a Nazi phenomena.

References

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