#vaticanmuseum

Flooded selfie

Surprised to see the 1938 painting “Der Heilige Christophorus” (Saint Christopher) by the German “degenerate artist” and staunch church critic Otto Dix (born Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix, 1891-1969), on exhibit at the Musei Vaticani, in Roma Italia.

The painting features the Canaanite martyr Saint Christóphoros / Χριστόφορος (Christopher, died 251 AD), whose famous story tells about how he had found his faith when he carried the Christ Child across a swollen river.

Otto Dix created works that compared his horrific experiences of World War 1 (1914-1919) with biblical imagery, which earned him the ire of conservative church officials and society; as well as the German Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei/ National Socialist German Workers' Party). However, it was misunderstood that Dix did criticize the human foibles in the Church, and not an attack on the faith of Christianity.

I was surprised and intrigued by the collection of modern art at the Vatican Museum, as many of these artists were atheists and critics of the Church, or were even once called “degenerates” by the clergy.

The Collezione Arte Religiosa Moderna del Vaticano began when Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 1897-1978) declared in 1964 that he wanted connect with the younger generation by accepting modern art pieces that had themes that which featured aspect of faith. Pope Paul VI’s secretary Archbishop Pasquale Macchi (1932-2006) scourged the Vatican Pinacoteca for 19th and 20th century donated works, as well as accepted new acquisitions from donors.

In 1973 the Collezione Arte Religiosa Moderna del Vaticano was exhibited at the Vatican Museum in 1973. And in 2011 a whole new wing was opened for the collection, with almost 8000 works rotated on display.

The Tyche (Fortune) of Antioch by Eutychides 300 BCE. Roman copy of the Greek original. Vatican Museums, Rome.

"Ungoverned power no one can long retain; controlled, it lasts; and the higher Fortuna (Fortune) has raised and exalted the might of man, the more does it become him to be modest in prosperity, to tremble at shifting circumstance, and to fear the Gods when they are overkind. That greatness can be in a moment overthrown I have learned by conquering. Does Troy make us too arrogant and bold? We Greeks are standing in the place whence she has fallen."

-Agamemnon, The Tragedies of Seneca, Troades 695 ff

Antinous as Vertumnus