Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889

1888–early 1890s

Oil on canvas, 252.6 × 431 cm. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

A huge canvas packs a city street to its edges, with a haloed Christ almost lost in the procession. A religious entry becomes a noisy attack on modern society.

Masks, clowns and grotesque faces stand in for the public, turning society into a mob of frauds. The satire takes aim at religion, politics and art.
Les XX, the Brussels exhibiting group he had helped found, rejected it.
Look for the red banner over the crowd, with a slogan for the socialist cause.
He spread paint with palette knives, spatulas, and the brush handle as well as its tip.
It was not shown in public until 1929, long after it was signed.

The figures mix public, historical and allegorical characters with the painter's family and friends, and Christ is in part the painter himself. Several preparatory drawings survive, one of them now at the Getty.

Image: Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program · CC0