Mary Magdalene in Post Impressionist Art

Mary Magdalene with Hibiscus flowers (the title may change) is a work in progress. Painting with my favorite medium, oil on canvas. Gaugin is one of my favorite artists and inspires in me a love of color, shape and creating iconic faces.

As I paint, I often listen to art documentaries. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, because it would be best to pay attention to the images, but listening is enjoyable and it helps me relax and disconnect my mind in order to connect to my soul.

Today, I was watching one of my favorite shows on YouTube, Waldemar Januszczak‘s Perspective episodes. He has a new series titled “Every Picture Tells a Story,” with a video that includes an analysis of 3 different post impressionist* paintings and artists. I inherited the love of Gaugin, Van Gogh and Cezanne from my art school day’s and my first visit to Paris, and it’s always comforting to see their art and hear about it, but today was surprising.

Each of the segments on these 3 artists includes a connection with Mary Magdalene in their artwork. Waldemar also visits sites such as shrines and churches where we can see Mary Magdalene. I had not realized that Mary Magdalene had a place in their art, so it was very interesting to learn about this today.

Waldemar also has another episode especially dedicated to Mary Magdalene in art, but even though I enjoy all his work, he is especially sarcastic in it so I don’t think I watched the entire episode. However, in these 3 segments, his tone is different, even loving, and for those who enjoy learning about Mary Magdalene through art, this is an opportunity to go beyond the classic artworks from Medieval, Renaissaince and Barroque times.

*Post-Impressionism is a term used to describe the reaction in the 1880s against Impressionism. It was led by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Georges Seurat. The Post-Impressionists rejected Impressionism's concern with the spontaneous and naturalistic rendering of light and color.