Mystical Crucifixion 1928

Heinrich Campendonk created this painting, *Mystical Crucifixion*, during a period of immense upheaval in Germany. He's reimagining a very traditional Christian scene through the lens of expressionism. Look at the unsettling juxtaposition of the familiar and the strange. Christ is there on the cross, but rendered in harsh colors and surrounded by an almost hallucinatory collection of figures and symbols. Painted around the time of World War One, this is a moment of deep questioning of traditional values and institutions. Campendonk was associated with groups like Der Blaue Reiter, who sought to express inner spiritual truths through art, but we can see here that their project of art also offers a subtle critique of the established church. To really understand this work, one might consult historical records, theological debates, and the artist's personal writings, to contextualize the image within Campendonk's broader social, cultural, and institutional environment.