George Rouault | Cleveland

Reacting against an increasingly materialistic, secular society, expressionist artist George Rouault (b. France, 1871-1958) dedicated himself to creating deeply spiritual art. To convey his emotional interpretation of the subject, he built of layers of rich color through thickly encrusted paint. Rouault's early experience in a stained-glass workshop encouraged his preference for luminous color and strong black outlines. One of his many powerful, yet serene images simply entitled Head of Christ (above) is part of the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.