28 museomag 02 ‘ 2022
At the end of 2021, the museum acquired its first work
by Luxembourg artist Julie Wagener: a horizontal,
50 x 204 cm oil painting depicting a seemingly dead
body, lying under a heavily draped, white linen cloth.
The unusual, almost life-size format of the painting
makes the scene it portrays seem very real, almost
too real, to the viewer. When standing in front of
Wagener’s painting, one feels a certain sense of
unease. It evokes a feeling of calm and vulnerability,
but feels very direct and aggressive at the same time.
A pale yellow, almost greenish skin-coloured hand is
hanging lifelessly over the edge of a mattress. In the
background, we see glimpses of a head turning away
from us and a motionless body wearing nothing but
red socks. The colour of the skin and the greyish tones
of the linen cloth create a cold, uncanny atmosphere
against the black background of the painting. Who
is this person? How did this person get here, was he
or she ill? And the ultimate question: Are we bearing
witness to this person’s death?
Julie Wagener is a painter and illustrator, and the
winner of the ‘Prix révélation’ at the 2021 edition of the
annual Salon du CAL. As the artist states in an interview
for the 1535° Creative Hub, much of her inspiration
derives from the works of Old Masters: ‘I love the Middle-
Ages and everything that is religious art. For me, it’s a
major source of inspiration’. It therefore seems hardly
surprising that Wagener’s work It hurts until it doesn’t
III reminds us of a painting by one of the most impor-
tant artists of the early 16th century, Hans Holbein the
Younger’s (1497/8 - 1543) The Dead Christ in the Tomb
from 1521-22. The striking resemblance with the for-
mat of Holbein’s Christ as well as the motif itself, seem
to make this an unmistakable point of reference for
Wagener’s painting. Based on the suffering and death
of Jesus Christ, Holbein’s painting is an undeniable
reminder of our own mortality. The loneliness of Jesus,
left in the tomb niche with his eyes and mouth still
open, further emphasises this.
BETWEEN HOLBEIN AND HODLER
Another important art historical reference that comes
to mind is a series of works by Swiss painter Ferdinand
Hodler (1853-1918), portraying Valentine Godé-Darel.
Hodler, whose obsession with the subject of death pro-
bably also sparked from his fascination with Holbein’s
The Dead Christ in the Tomb, made an extensive series
of paintings, drawings and sketches of his dying lover
Darel. The series documents the progression of her ter-
minal illness up to the moment she took her last breath
on her deathbed in 1915 (Kraft, 1981). The works depic-
ting Darel on her deathbed seem particularly evocative
of Wagener’s It hurts until it doesn’t III.
It hurts until it doesn’t III is currently held in storage, but will hopefully be on display once the exhibition rooms for modern and
contemporary art on the 4th floor reopen again.
OUT OF THE SOCIAL BODY
A NEW ACQUISITION FOR THE COLLECTION OF LUXEMBOURG ART:
JULIE WAGENER’S IT HURTS UNTIL IT DOESN’T III PUT INTO CONTEXT
©
éric chenal
