Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009347The Orange Christ
About the Artwork
A devout Catholic, Maurice Denis sought to create what he described as “imperishable icons.” In this small painting, he used flat planes of intense colors to conjure emotion in the viewer. Here, a somber group of women, depicted as amorphous black forms, gather around an orange figure of Christ on the cross. The sky is a reddish-purple streaked with green clouds. Pink angels flank the crucified Christ whose head is haloed in brilliant yellow. In this painting, the daring young artist combined religious fervor with unprecedented visual experimentation.
Inscriptions
vertical studio monogram, lower left
Provenance
The artist's studio By descent to the artist’s son, Jean-François Denis [1915–2004], Alençon, France by 2005–2007: (Galerie Hopkins Custot, Paris, France, March 21, 2007, sold to Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley) 2007–2020: Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art 2020–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Maurice Denis (French, 1870–1943)
- Date
- 1889
- Medium
- oil on board
- Dimensions
- Unframed: 23.8 x 18.9 cm (9 3/8 x 7 7/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift
- Accession no.
- 2020.107
More by Maurice Denis in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009347
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