Pietá 1926

Albin Egger-Lienz made this painting, called Pietá, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century, and its all about how paint can convey really heavy emotions. Look at the brown tones: the ochres and umbers. It's not just what's depicted, but the way the paint itself seems to embody grief. The brushwork is simple, direct, almost brutal – like he’s wrestling with the paint to get it to show what he feels. It's pretty sombre, right? Check out the hands of the figures at the top. They're just there, suspended, useless. And then there's the body. The pale flesh against all that brown makes it pop, but in a mournful way. The texture is matte, like dried earth, and it makes the whole scene feel ancient and timeless. This piece reminds me of some of Goya's darker works. Both artists aren't afraid to look at the raw, painful sides of life. What’s interesting is how each artist sees the world, and how the conversation of art goes on and on, across time.