Night at Golgotha

Artist: Vasily Vereshchagin

Title: Night at Golgotha

Medium: Giclee

Date: 1869

Provenance: Tretyakov Gallery - Moscow

Source: http://www.artchive.com/web_gallery/V/Vasili-Vasilyevich-Vereshchagin/Night-at-Golgotha,-1869.html

Describe: depicts the scene of Jesus's crucifixion. There are three crosses on a hill. People are standing at the bottom on the cliff, watching. There appears to be some sort of fire or light source among the observers. It is night, but the center of the sky is light.

Analyze: the crosses create vertical lines that lead toward the sky. They are pointing up towards Heaven. The cliff also creates a horizontal line, which leads your eye to the group of people standing at the bottom. The colors are dull grays at the top triangle of the painting, while at the bottom the colors are blues, yellows, and reds. The crosses are huge in proportion to the people. While some of the sky is dark, it goes to extremely bright white light. The crosses are emphasized because of their size and the light above them. The people are closed in a smaller square formed by the two cliffs and the horizon.

The crosses leading up to the sky symbolize the importance of Heaven and eternal life, but then the line of the cliff draws your eye back to the people, which also shows the importance of human life. The dull colors show the grim situation of Christian life, while the bright colors of the people show their hope. Because the crosses are so big, they show the importance of Christianity. The light above them is a reminder of what being a Christian leads to. The people are closed in a square at the bottom because they can't do anything about the situation; they are stuck in a box.

Judge: I like this painting a lot. I like how the artist chose to portray this event. It is entertaining to look at, because of the drastic color changes and hidden message. I also think that the artist did a great job of drawing you into the painting, because of the moving lines and proportions.