The Easter Story is one of the most repeated in the history of art, especially the key moments of the Passion. From the Last Supper and the Crucifixion to the ultimate Resurrection, the Passion story has captured the imagination of great artists around the world from Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio to Salvatore Dali.

Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci

The Last Supper is the last meal eaten by Jesus with his followers before his death. While Jesus knows he is going to be killed that very night, his followers have no idea that they are eating their last meal with him and are confused by some of his words.

There is an added sorrow to this Last Supper because Jesus is aware that one of his disciples will betray him and that the rest of them will forsake him in his greatest hour of need. Da Vinci’s Last Supper is a painting that speaks to the view because of the intriguing details of the disciples. Each of them is in a different position, each of them caught in the midst of their own particular emotions in response to something Jesus has said. It is almost as if they have been arrest mid-movement. In the centre focal point Jesus sits still and silent, his hands open upwards. Da Vinci used linear perspective, geometric shapes and strong contrasts (chiaroscuro) to capture the drama of the moment and the emotional state of each of the disciples.

 Agony in the Garden by El Greco

El Greco depicts the moment when Christ is confronted by an angel in the Garden of Gethsemane. The angle is holding a chalice in his hand which symbolises. In the darkness behind him, Judas and a troop of soldiers are making their way across a barren landscape to arrest him and take him to be imprisoned and tortured.

The Procession to Calvary – Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Christ carries his cross through a vast landscape full of everyday details typical of Bruegel the Elder. He includes Mary and her weeping companion in the foreground while behind her Christ is almost lost by a crowd. He is only identifiable by the cross that is carried horizontally in the centre of the painting. On closer inspection it is evident that Jesus has stumbled and fallen beneath the weight of the cross. It is a complex painting that translates the events of the Passion into the lived experience of Bruegel’s world – the Roman soldiers wear the red tunics of contemporary Spanish soldiers and the crowd is full of people about their daily lives in sixteenth century Netherlands. It is a chaotic scene, full of tiny figures going about their own business and even pick-pockets at work in the crowd.

The Crucifixion by Saltator Dali

Dali’s Crucifixion gives a vivid and dramatic perspective of the cross which almost induces vertigo in the viewer. The massive cross seems to loom over the entire world – at the foot of the cross is a stormy sky over empty fishing boats on the Sea of Galilee. Christ’s body hangs from a cross that seems to float in the sky and his head hangs as he seems to look down on the strangely peaceful water. Cosmic darkness, despair and suffering are balanced by every day details. The painting reflects a “cosmic dream” Dali had of Christ suspended in the heavens. His hyperrealistic style captured the detached darkness of Christ’s suffering as well as the hope of resurrection in the divine light that emanates from Christ as he hangs from the cross.

The Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio

Caravaggio captured the moment when the body of Christ was taken from the Cross. His lifeless body, draped in white cloth is tenderly lowered to the ground by his disciples who bend over him awkwardly in their grief and sorrow. When artists like Caravaggio depict Christ’s body taken from the cross, they focus on the tenderness of the disciple s. Despite their regret and pain and sorrow, they hold him tenderly as if fearing to cause the him pain.

The Pietà by Michelangelo

Michelangelo’s sculpture, carved from Italian marble, shows Mary the mother of Christ holding the lifeless body of her son just after he has been taken down from the cross. Mary cradles her dead son, her veiled head bent over him in sorrow and her right hand gently extended in resignation. Michelangelo captured the sorrow of Mary and the words from the Easter Story when  Simeon blessed the child Jesus and said to his mother: “Behold, this Child is appointed to cause the rise and fall of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your soul as well.” Luke 21:34-35