Day 84 - Yellow Crucifixion

Yellow Crucifixion is an oil on canvas painting by Marc Chagall. It was painted in 1943 and is on display at the Musee National d’Art Moderne in Paris. This crucifixion image revisits some of the themes in White Crucifixion which used Jesus Christ as a typical Jewish figure to represent the suffering of the Jews in the build-up to the Holocaust. In this painting, Jesus shares the centre ground with a green scroll and an angel blowing a shofar. Is the scroll from the Torah or is it a representation of a scroll in Heaven from Revelation? After all, this is art, which should always ask questions and be open to interpretation.

The little scenes around the two central features display Jews in distress. On the right is a burning town inspired by the pogroms in Eastern Europe. At the bottom is a woman fleeing on a donkey with her infant child. This obviously links to Jesus escaping death at the hand of Herod and travelling to Egypt.

White Crucifixion displayed a ship; its echo here is that the ship of hope in the previous artwork is now sinking. This has its root in fact. In 1942 the Struma set out from Romania to Palestine with almost 800 Jewish refugees and a crew of ten. A Soviet submarine destroyed the ship in the Black Sea; only one person survived. He lived until 2014.

In contrast to the bland colours in White Crucifixion most of the background here is yellow – heat from the fires. The nursing mother on the donkey has a blue face - cold or fear?

Near to Jesus, a ladder is being manhandled; this could be the man wishing to reach Jesus or the Torah. It can also be interpreted as a ladder leading nowhere. Ladders appear in Chagall’s art and art critics and connoisseurs have really gone to town on their symbolism: Chagall is apparently exploring dreams, imagination and attempting to connect the real world to the spiritual realm. They symbolize unattainable ideals, perhaps. The ladder, for Chagall, might be a symbol of his own desire to connect with others or his God.

Jurgen Moltmann (1926-2024), professor of systematic theology at the University of Tübingen, cited this painting as the muse for his book The Crucified God, which is described as a Christian theology after Auschwitz. Moltmann definitely interprets the angel as holding the open scroll of the Book of Life (Rev 20).

Apart from the fires, the only light in the painting comes from a small candle in the angel’s hand. Perhaps Chagall is giving up hope.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of your Son and the many images that artists have created around his life, death and resurrection.

Jesus, we thank you for your sacrifice – not only dying on the cross but living in our world and sharing in all human griefs and joys.

Holy Spirit, continue to work through all with creative talents to bring your truths to us in new and exciting ways. Amen.

Elaine Kinchin