Something beautiful: a Tahitian Madonna and Christ

Hail Mary (Ia Orana Maria), Paul Gauguin, 1891

Gauguin has been my favorite artist since I first laid eyes on a projected slide of The White Horse in high school. I love his emphasis on line and his unabashed, gorgeous use of color—(you can see the influence of Cezanne especially in those greens and reds on the skin). This work depicts Our Lady and the Christ Child in Tahitian terms. I'm often amazed at how art sometimes better captures the universality of our Faith than any other medium.

You can find this work at the Met in New York, where you can behold beauty that makes your eyes swell with tears and your heart with something deep. (P.S. Paul Gauguin was not a good guy, but I am thankful that even a scoundrel made something beautiful for the world.)

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