Otto Dix

This scene from the New Testament depicts Jesus Christ as he kneels in a garden on the night before his death. The landscape is illuminated by a terrifying winged figure representing God the Father, who offers Jesus a golden chalice filled with blood. Acknowledging but fearing his destiny, Jesus prays.

Dix employed a dark palette and broad, gestural brushstrokes in his raw depictions of European society during two world wars. Here he represents Jesus as a common man whose physical and emotional suffering reflect the inhumanity and horror of war.

-Maureen O’Brien, curator of painting and sculpture