Dimensions: support: 270 x 380 mm
Copyright: NaN
Editor: Here we have William Blake’s "The Agony in the Garden," part of the Tate collection. It’s… unsettling, almost dreamlike. What sociopolitical lens can we use to understand this Blake piece? Curator: Blake was deeply critical of the institutions of his time, especially the church and the state. Consider how he portrays Christ not as a figure of power, but as vulnerable, surrounded by children, under a tree. Editor: So, a critique of established authority through an appeal to innocence? Curator: Precisely. Blake's imagery often served as a form of protest against what he perceived as the corrupting influences of societal structures. Editor: That context really illuminates the piece. Thanks! Curator: Indeed. By questioning these institutions, Blake encouraged viewers to reconsider their own place within the social order.
Comments
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-the-agony-in-the-garden-n05894
Join the conversation
Join millions of artists and users on Artera today and experience the ultimate creative platform.
One of Blake’s patrons described him as ‘a most fervent admirer of the Bible’. Here, Blake illustrates a scene from the Gospel of St Luke. While Christ prays in the Garden of Gethsemane (before being betrayed by Judas and arrested), an angel comes to give him strength. Blake depicts this moment of Jesus’s spiritual agony, as his disciples sleep around him. This painting is one of a group of biblical subjects Blake made for his patron Thomas Butts. He used an experimental tempera formula that was very unstable, resulting in surface cracking and darkening over time. Gallery label, October 2023
CollectMore like this
