Art piece of the month: september

For this month, curator Sander van Daal has chosen the 30 monotypes From the Life of Mary Magdalene by Aad de Haas. He places this alongside the painting of the *Penitent Mary Magdalene* from the collection of the Sint-Pancratius Church.

Mary

Mary Magdalene, who was she really? Besides Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene is the most important female saint in the Catholic Church. The Bible contains little information about this iconic woman from the city of Magdala, who is shrouded in mystery and legend. Intelligent, of noble descent, a follower of Jesus Christ, and a witness to his crucifixion and resurrection. But by merging several Biblical women in the 6th century, she was transformed in tradition into a sinner, even a prostitute, from whom devils were cast out. She became a woman who showed remorse, listened attentively to Jesus' life lessons while letting her sister Martha do the work, and who anointed Jesus' feet and dried them with her hair. In some ancient Gnostic writings and popular books of our time, there are hints of a closer relationship between Mary and Jesus. Dan Brown even claims in his bestseller The Da Vinci Code that she is the mother of his child. Although the debate about Mary as a sinful woman lasted for centuries, she has not been referred to as a penitent sinner since 1969. In 2016, Pope Francis recognized her as the "apostle of the apostles" because she was the first follower to witness Jesus' resurrection.

Aad de Haas

For Aad de Haas, Mary Magdalene was also a source of inspiration. She appears in his Stations of the Cross for the church of Wahlwiller and the chapel of St. Joseph's Hospital in Heerlen. In the last series of murals, which were cut from the walls during the chapel's demolition and are now located in the town hall of Landgraaf, the scene is depicted where Mary Magdalene mistakes the resurrected Jesus for a gardener until he calls her by name and she recognizes him.

In SCHUNCK's art collection, there is a series of 30 monotypes from the life of Mary Magdalene (circa 1954), in which De Haas portrays her in the first 25 prints as a prostitute in a merciless manner, capturing all aspects: the waiting, seducing, pleasing, fear, and lust. The debauched life traditionally associated with Mary Magdalene, though not rooted in the Biblical figure, was brought into contemporary times by De Haas. For him, the Biblical past and everyday present were inextricably linked. In the last six prints, De Haas depicts scenes commonly associated with the Biblical Mary Magdalene: the encounters with Jesus, drying his feet with her hair, and 'Noli me tangere' ("do not touch me").

St. Pancratius Church

The decision to combine Aad de Haas' work with religious heritage from the region was inspired by a painting located in the St. Pancratius Church of the penitent Mary Magdalene. She is depicted with a skull, symbolizing the transience of earthly life (vanitas) and a reminder to turn away from sin before it is too late. Many confessionals feature similar imagery. The painting, created around 1700 after works by the Italian painter Titian from circa 1530 and around 1560, was restored in 2010. During the restoration, later overpaintings—added to make the painting appear more modest—were removed. These included a lock of hair and part of the cloak that concealed her breasts.

Curious to see Aad de Haas' work in combination with religious heritage from churches in the region? Come and view it starting from 15 September at the Art Depot and the St. Pancratius Church.