Follow me, Satan (Temptation of Jesus Christ) 1903

Ilya Repin made this oil painting called 'Follow me, Satan (Temptation of Jesus Christ)' without a date. The dominant marks are gestural, like whispers of blues, pinks, and browns that feel like a landscape of the mind. I can almost see Repin wrestling with the scene, layering the paint, scraping back, then building up the image again. The paint looks thin, applied in these soft, diffused strokes, creating an almost dreamlike, ephemeral quality. What was he thinking, staring into the abyss of the canvas, trying to depict something so fraught, so internal? Look at the way the figure of Christ sort of emerges from the ground, like a specter or a memory. It's not precise or defined, but feels incredibly evocative. Repin and other artists are in an ongoing conversation, exchanging ideas across time, inspiring creativity that embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations.