Christi Auferstehung 1924

Albin Egger-Lienz made Christi Auferstehung using oil on canvas and a restricted palette of browns, blacks, and creams. It's a color scheme that feels very grounded, earthy, almost like it's been dug up from the soil itself. There's a real materiality to this painting. The paint isn't overworked, it's laid down with a kind of directness. Look at the brushstrokes forming the figure’s hands; they’re thick, almost sculptural. Egger-Lienz doesn't try to hide the process, he embraces the physicality of the medium. The texture and color create an emotional experience that feels both ancient and immediate. It's like he's asking us to confront something fundamental about life, death, and what comes after. The painting shares a certain rawness with some of Paula Modersohn-Becker’s figure paintings, that same commitment to emotional truth over idealized beauty. It’s this quality that gives painting its power, it’s ability to speak across time and cultures.