A Painting of Golgotha

The features that struck me the most about the painting "Golgotha" was its mystical yet gruesome quality, a mixture of mortal impermanence and spiritual eternity portraying the dismal site of Christ's crucifixion at the "place of a skull", or "skull hill", known as Golgotha. Painted by Ilya Repin in 1922, Russian (born in the Ukraine 1844-1930), this large 6' x 8' oil painting is part of the permanent collection of the Princeton Museum of Art. Though morbidly real in its theme, a beauty emanates through a sensitive blending of textured pastel hues contrasting with dark shadows. Both chilling and awesome, the more I studied "Golgotha" the more I discovered some profound messages in its mist-enshrouded shadows.

The part in art history where "Golgotha" belongs is somewhere between Impression and Realism, and possibly Expressionism. The subject of Christ's crucifixion painted in this Impressionistic manner, with the dogs excitedly lapping up the blood on the ground, as one can imagine dogs would do, lends itself to the category of realism as well. There isn't any obvious religious glorification going on here, just the grisly 'morning after' of a crucifixion grounds. The soft grayed complementary color blends (blues and golds with purples and oranges), contradict the morbid aura of the dieing bodies hanging on the crosses, which could lend itself to Expressionism. The use of color symbolism with the light effect forces the viewer to look into the greater meaning of the painting and see the indications of Christ's resurrection.

A Painting of Golgotha

The subject matter creates a historical story of Christ's crucifixion as two men remain hanging on the crosses,

but Christ's empty cross has fallen to the ground. There's a lot of implication here of the "unseen" that leaves it up to the viewer to solve its mystery. The orange spark inside of the cave entrance could be the soul of Christ, or foretelling the future. The misty light that seems to move upwards over the cave floating towards the mountain and sky opening at the top could signify Christ's ascension and resurrection. There's the head of a dog in the foreground looking calmly out at the viewer, while the other dogs are licking up blood in a frenzy. Then there is this dark shadowy figure to the right edge of the painting looking like they're hurrying in the direction of the stairway above the cave. Is this someone fleeing in grief? Is this Christ? Themes of modernism in this painting include: the impressionistic style of painting, leaving areas looking unfinished or vague; the realistic portrayal of death in an environment and age of this type of execution; the physical material it was painting on-the back of a huge sheet of linoleum. The Impressionistic style of painting in "Golgotha" portrays illuminated colors depicting light, but there is much more going on here than just light. It leads the viewer to search and to question what is going on behind or beyond the light.

Kimberly Cheifer is an artist and certified art teacher in New Jersey who explores spirituality and symbolism in art. She helps others find meaning in their own art process and outcome in order to learn more about themselves. Teaching art is her passion through the sharing of her many years of experience with different art mediums. She designs lessons based on right-brain drawing exercises that increase students' art skills and awareness. Uplifting others through art making is one of her goals in teaching. Kimberly has a BA in Art Education from the College of New Jersey and graduated from Ringling School of Art and Design. Her artist and teacher philosophy, along with artwork images can be found by visiting