The Institution 2020

Kent Monkman painted The Institution with oils on canvas, and the scene is one of total disarray. The people within the walls are clearly in distress; some appear to be falling from the sky, others wrestle with the guards. I can only imagine what it must have been like for Monkman to make this painting. It’s not easy to choreograph so many figures in such a tightly compressed space. How can you create enough detail to make the figures distinct, but also make them cohere as a whole? I wonder if Monkman started by thinking about the light, which is cool and diffuse, almost dreamlike in quality? Then I can see how he let the figures emerge from there. That central figure with his mouth open and arms outstretched: is he calling out in rage or fear? To me, that gesture is so full of raw emotion, it’s almost unbearable to look at. Artists build on the ideas of those that came before them; and it feels to me that Monkman is in a conversation with artists like Goya, who were equally interested in conveying extreme emotional states. We could spend hours, days, even years, coming back to this painting, and still find new things to see.