Original artwork description:

It’s been a long while that I want to take on this piece of Caravaggio. Following the suprematist ideal from Malevich, I try to take on the pure emotion of the original painting. At least the emotion I feel. And here we see Saul becoming Paul under the excruciating weight and intensity of the religious ecstasy. Caravaggio uses not only the high contrast of highlights and shadow, but also the composition, with the horse taking most of the painting and putting all his weight on Saul. The horse here acts as a depiction of the power of God, crushing Saul with his weight and blinding him with his light in the white patch pointed directly to Saul’s eyes. The vertical tension is key in this piece, so it only makes sense that both the horse and Saul are foreshortened in order to make the painting taller than wider. It is this tension that I’m looking for in my study. The vertical tension is emphasized by making the painting even narrower than the original with the large mass crushing the small one below, that hopelessly tries to fight back, piercing the large mass, only to be crushed and become one with it, being reborn, as Saul becoming Paul.

Materials used:

Oil on Canvas