Skip to Content

White Crucifixion

Painting of crucifixion, surrounded by scenes of Nazi violence against the Jewish community.
© 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Image actions

  • Painting of crucifixion, surrounded by scenes of Nazi violence against the Jewish community.

Date:

1938

Artist:

Marc Chagall
Born Vitebsk (formerly Russian Empire, now Belarus), 1887; died Saint-Paul, France, 1985

About this artwork

White Crucifixion is the first in Marc Chagall’s series of compositions that feature Jesus as a Jewish martyr and dramatically call attention to the persecution and suffering of Jews in 1930s Germany at the hands of the National Socialist Party. Chagall stressed Jesus’s religious identity by depicting him and the biblical figures above him in traditional Jewish garments. The surrounding images show the devastation of pogroms, violent attacks against Jewish communities often organized or sanctioned by local governments. Combining the Crucifixion with contemporary events, Chagall’s painting links the martyred Jesus with the Jewish people being persecuted across Europe and implicitly compares the Nazis with Jesus’s tormentors.

Status

On loan to Palazzo Cipolla della Fondazione Roma for Chagall in Rome: The White Crucifixion

Department

Modern Art

Artist

Marc Chagall

Title

White Crucifixion

Place

France (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1938

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

Signed and dated, l.r.: "MArc ChAgAll/ 1938"

Dimensions

154.6 × 140 cm (60 7/8 × 55 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Purchased with funds provided by Alfred S. Schuler

Reference Number

1946.925

Copyright

© 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share