Ok so the title of this entry is a bit peculiar but it's really neat. Yesterday, I went to the Museum of Art and viewed the exhibit on Jesus Christ. There was one particular painting that caught my eye. It had very few colors but they were very vibrant and it drew my attention. The painting was of two cloths laid on a wooden floor. The cloths were laid in such a way that you could only really see the wooden floor on the top and bottom. A red cloth was partially covered down the middle vertically by a white cloth so that the left and right sides of the painting displayed the deep red color. On top of the white cloth are three bowls. The first, closest to the bottom of the painting, has a very bright reflection of light so as to not be able to tell what the liquid is. The middle bowl is filled with a dark red liquid. The last bowl is filled with a clear liquid. As I read the caption of the painting I understood the significance of the symbols. I imagine there are many layers of symbolism but I understood the top layer. The scripture that inspired the painting was from Moses 6:59. It speaks of our birth having been of water, blood and of the Spirit. In order to return into the kingdom of heaven we must again be born of water, cleansed by Christ's blood and sanctified by the Spirit.
1 comment:
I certainly enjoyed that Painting as well. You see so many paintings that focus on the actual image of Christ, but rarely do you see an image that merely symbolizes Christ, at least not as poignantly as this one did.
It is one thing to understand that the painting represents the way back to the kingdom of heaven, it is yet another to stand at the foot of that painting and stand awestruck at the beauty of the painting.
The painting brings to mind the last supper, at least in my mind. Imagine being there with Christ at his final meal as a mortal on this Earth... You see how the different bowls represent who he is. The wine as his mortality, the water as his purity, and the spirit as his Godliness. The cloth seemed to make a cross on the painting... perhaps representing his conquest over death, perhaps representing the importance of the three bowls by drawing the viewer's eyes to the painting. Whatever the reasoning behind the piece itself, the piece is one of my personal favorites of the collections at the BYU MoA.
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