STATION 13. Jesus Is Taken Down from the Cross
Jan Tregot, The Last Days, 2016-17, blue stone, plaster, maple wood, jatoba wood, stainless steel, leather, oil paint, 90,5 × 88 × 60 cm. Painting: Erik van de Beek. Photo: Anton Houtappels. jantregot.eu
One of the most violent depositions ever made, Jan Tregot’s The Last Days reuses an old corpus of Christ in a manner that references contemporary acts of terror. It is displayed in the Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder alongside a Pietà from the museum’s own collection.
Tregot says about his work: “Despite the continuing secularisation, there is a great interest in religion and desire for spirituality in our present society. It is possible that the secularisation adds to the awareness that we are still living in a Christian culture. Or does our renewed interest in religion arise out of a fear that our society is coming under pressure from religious tensions? My sculpture The Last Days shows a deposition. The ladders refer to the traditional depiction of this station. But Christ’s body is not being lifted carefully from the cross with a cloth. It has toppled down and is mutilated. The decapitation of Christ and the title The Last Days reference the end of an era. But they also allude to the starkly real increase in religiously motivated violence.”
Location: Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder (Museum Our Lord in the Attic), Oudezijds Voorburgwal 38. Hidden in an exceptionally well-preserved canal house, this museum is the oldest one in the city after the Rijksmuseum. Above the historically furnished living quarters, the visitor arrives at what is literally the highlight of the museum: a complete church in the attic. In 2015 the monument was extended with a new building that makes a connection with the present time. The sculpture The Last Days is placed in the modern exhibition space. opsolder.nl
text: Anikó Ouweneel