Pietá 1926

Albin Egger-Lienz made this large-scale oil painting, titled Pietá, using sombre browns and creams. Imagine him at work, building up these pigments to construct an image of grief. It’s interesting to see how Egger-Lienz departs from traditional depictions of the Pietà, where Mary cradles the body of Christ. Here, the body is presented in a more stark, horizontal way, flanked by two solemn figures. There’s a rawness to the figures, an unflinching look at mortality. The artist leaves the heavy brushstrokes visible in the hands, faces, and limbs, which speaks to me of the weight of the human form and the weight of emotion. I can’t help but think of other painters grappling with similar themes, like Otto Dix or Käthe Kollwitz. Artists are always in dialogue with each other, across time. It's not just about representation, but about embodying feeling and provoking thought through paint.