Art Analysis

For this art assignment I studied the artist F.N. Souza and analysed his painting 'Crucifixion' to the best of my ability.

I chose to write about this painting by Francis Newton Souza because even though I am Roman Catholic and have been extensively exposed to this scene in Jesus' life from a young age, I have never come across a painting that portrays the Crucifixion of Christ in such an animated manner. A crucifixion scene without the wooden cross, the disproportion of the figures, the absurd teeth, and hair, the colors that have been used is something I have never seen before.

Some of the descriptions I came across say this painting depicts the mental side of the agony of the crucifixion. This is what I find very unfamiliar because generally, the way this scene is captured in movies and paintings has always shown me that although Jesus is going through immense physical suffering, mentally he is alright. After all, he knows what he's doing this for. The nails hammered into his flesh, the flow of blood and water from the pierced side of his torso are all seen here as well. But the portrayal of Jesus' sadness behind this sacrifice, his unhappiness, is what I find compelling.

Helplessness is the expression I see on all three men in the painting. I say helplessness because I find it similar to the ones I've seen on the faces of the men in orange suits in the ISIS videos. This is one of the reasons why this painting touched me the most from the other few I came across on this subject. I also see hopelessness in the way Jesus' eyes in the painting are completely black and not looking in any particular direction. I think that the use of the color black for all the figures is what captivates the feeling of sadness.

However, I still see traces of the traditional portrayal of crucifixion i.e. through physical emphasis. The way one eye is smaller than the other makes it look like that eye is swollen. The fragile, broken, and naked body of Jesus compared to the bigger, clothed bodies of the two disciples, the thorns on his knees joints, the crown of thorns in which his hair seems to be entangled, impart this side of the pain as well.

Nevertheless, I think the artist has tried to maintain that feeling of greater good in this sacrifice with the light colors used in the background. The bright colors of the garments are also uplifting.

In the end, the most striking feature in the painting to me is how Jesus' hands look more like wings (while the disciples have human hands), which I think is a play on his non humanly existence. The way his body is painted higher than the other two figures and how his hands span over their heads implies the idea of a savior from above.

Thank you.