Untitled 

Marin Gherasim created this striking untitled painting using oil paint, wood, and tempera. The Orthodox cross stands starkly against a textured ultramarine background, evoking the rich symbolism of Byzantine art, especially in the Romanian Orthodox tradition. The letters Alpha and Omega, painted in red, traditionally flank the upper arms of the cross, signifying Christ as the beginning and the end. Born in Romania, Gherasim experienced the constraints placed upon religious expression by the Communist regime, and following its collapse, a resurgence of interest in national and spiritual identity took hold. We see the artist using the formal language of modernism, reducing the image to its essential forms, yet clearly referencing the rich visual culture of Orthodox Christianity. The role of the art historian is to look at the social and political context to better understand the meaning of the image and its visual codes. What do the archives tell us about the history of Orthodoxy in Romania, and the place of the church within it?