The Western Wall 

Mordecai Ardon's painting of the Western Wall is made with oil paint, applied in thick, textured strokes. It's a mosaic-like composition, but not one built up from hard materials like stone or glass. The painting's power comes from this very contrast: the monumentality of the Wall versus the relatively humble materials from which it is made. Ardon has built up a series of small, irregular squares, each a daub of color. The effect is almost textile-like, as though we are looking at a tapestry, laboriously constructed from individual threads. We can imagine the artist applying each stroke, one after another, building up the overall image through repetition and accumulation. It is a beautiful meditation on the relationship between the built environment and the human hand, offering a sense of the Wall not just as a physical structure, but as a repository of collective memory and effort. The tension between labor and materials is part of the painting's content.