Christ and Samaritan Woman 

Jacek Malczewski painted ‘Christ and Samaritan Woman,’ likely in Poland, at the turn of the 20th century. It depicts a biblical encounter freighted with social implications. In the Gospel of John, Christ transgresses social convention by speaking to a Samaritan woman, a member of a group considered heretical by mainstream Jews. Malczewski’s painting updates this scene to his contemporary moment, and it is this moment which gives the painting its significance. The figure of Christ appears with distinctively Polish features, his gaze meeting ours. The Samaritan woman is portrayed as a local village woman in traditional dress. Malczewski was deeply concerned with Polish identity and nationhood. Poland was under foreign occupation at this time, partitioned between Russia, Prussia and Austria. Religious painting at the time can therefore be seen as a subtle form of resistance, asserting Polish culture and values through the use of religious imagery. Looking at exhibition records and patriotic publications from the period can reveal the painting’s place in Polish society at the time.