with love, christ in the storm
September is finally here!
Shocking, I know. When the fuck did this happen?
I’m not complaining tho, September is my favourite month.
It acts as my personal new year. A beautiful time for change, inner work and reflections.
Like a mental hibernation for the intense and necessary shadow work.
The storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1633
This painting by Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1667) shows an intense travel at sea filled with a brutal storm that’s scaring the shit out of everyone except Jesus. He’s just chilling, just woken up from a nap, while his disciples are stressed out with one of them vomiting over the railing and the other one looking directly at us as if waiting for us, the viewer, to help them. Uhm no, help yourself. Why are you even there? Leave the sea alone.. damn.
This artwork is absolutely stunning! The colours and colour palette are muted and deep, yet still pop out enough to still be pleasing to the eye. There’s much going on but you don’t feel overwhelmed by looking at it. So beautifully detailed from the expression on their faces to the point where one can hear the sound of the water hitting against the small boat, the panic in the voice of Jesus’ disciples and even smell the ocean.
Fun fact!
Rembrandts painting is one of 13 other pieces of art stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston on March 18th 1990. Their whereabouts are still a mystery ’til this day and poor Rembrandt had three of his paintings stolen; The storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633), A lady and gentleman in black (1633) and Portrait of the artist as a young man (1633).
It reminds me so much of the painting Liberty leading the people by French artist Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) although created 197 years later and obviously depicting two totally different scenarios. But I always catch myself, for some reason, singing along to Lost! by Coldplay whenever I see these two (see below). Good thing that the song is amazing.
If you want to learn more:
Paintings by Rembrandt
Other artworks that I’ve written about: Lover of art
The art of painting
Pope makes love to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Portrait of a black woman
Jesus Christ
Carl Vilhelm Holsøe
