Grzech: album wystawy : obrazy grzechu w sztuce europejskiej od XV do poczatku XX wieku = Sin : exhibition album : images of sin in European art from the 15th to the early 20th century

Abstract

The cooperation between the National Museum in Gdansk (Poland) and the Brukenthal National Museum in Sibiu (Romania), which began in 2010, resulted in a new exhibition: Sin. Images of sin in European art from the 15th to the early 20th century. For the exhibition in Gdansk the curator has selected examples of Dutch, German, French and Italian paintings, engravings, drawings and sculptures. Besides famous works that have long been internationally studied and exhibited, there are among them objects little or not al all known, but nonetheless culturally and historically absorbing. The motifs presented include biblical and mythological topics, scenes depicting the everyday, as well as those inspired by various historical events. Apart from the pieces of art from the National Museum in Gdansk and the Brukenthal National Museum, many outstanding works from public and private museum collections are presented at the exhibition. The exhibition illustrates a wide variety of human behaviours. Although usually perceived as sins from the perspective of Christian morality, they allow for different interpretations as far as philosophy, history of religion, and cultural anthropology are concerned. Over the centuries, the moral perception of sin, as well as its evaluation, would often be politically instrumentalised. This process began already at the time of Emperor Charles V's reign and ended with the French Revolution, the period to which the roots of modern mentality can be traced. It was connected with secularization, which in Western Europe made many committed 'sins' pardonable, and led to overcoming medieval criteria of assessing human behaviours.