Das Kreuz 

Albin Egger-Lienz made this painting, called "Das Kreuz" - or "The Cross" - at a time of enormous social change in Europe. Look closely at the image and you’ll see the artist depicting a crowd of peasants marching, en masse, holding scythes and other agricultural implements. In the center of this mass of people, a golden crucifix is being carried aloft. Painted in Austria, perhaps around the time of the First World War, Egger-Lienz is explicitly linking the suffering of the peasantry to the image of Christ’s crucifixion. The artist seems to be suggesting that the traditional symbol of Christian salvation is now to be found in a radicalised rural proletariat. Art historians can look to sources such as the writings of theologians, newspaper reports, and other artworks to understand more about the meaning of this painting. In doing so, we are not simply revealing the objective meaning of the work, but are also constructing a history of how art and social change intersect.