The particular work of Jean-Paul Jérôme entitled The Crucifiction (1994, 229 x 152,5 cm) is part of the permanent collection of the museum and was presented to the public as part of the exhibition “What’s new? 10 years of acquisitions revealed” held from June 21 to September 17, 2023.
Jean-Paul Jérôme describes the painting as follows in the documentary film Jean-Paul Jérôme: Colour, Light, Form :
“Although I believe art is sacred, any painting,by itself, is neither for nor against religion.
To expose modern art to what is past opens a portal – a reconciliation with the present.
I began this Crucifixion from blind memory of the dreaded shroud in my mother’s room.
I forged the hands on an anvil to make them seem bloodless.
The nerves and muscles are painted blood red – but no blood drips.
Do you see how I see things?
Colour alone provides the emotion.
It’s not an anatomical model but a shroud permeating the wood.
A body beyond suffering exaltingin its deliverance from pain.
The art historian François-Marc Gagnon added:
”The seduction of abstraction is freedom from the slavish beck and call of ideologies oppressive to art.”
