Download PDF By Cathy Gerig
Four years will have been necessary to restore all its brilliance to the Altarpiece of Issenheim, an important work for Protestant spirituality. For the occasion, the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar organized a festive weekend, from June 30 to July 3.
From 2018 to 2022, the Altarpiece of Issenheim underwent an unprecedented restoration which is coming to an end. It will be fully completed by the end of June. Created between 1512 and 1516 by the painter Grünewald and the sculptor Nicolas de Haguenau, the monumental polyptych had been regularly maintained and varnished since the 18th century. But “the frames had, it seems, never been the object of the attention of the professionals” and their renovation “had now become a necessity: several very altered angles threatened to collapse, risking weakening the painted panels they protect. And concerning the sculptures, the refixing of their polychromy to save the latter from irreparable loss”explains Panxtika de Paepe, the director of the Unterlinden Museum.
The overall restoration still in progress will be completed before the eyes of visitors during a festive weekend, announces the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar. Entitled “The artists and their altarpiece”, it will allow visitors to discover the rediscovered brilliance of the Issenheim Altarpiece in the company of artists. From June 30 to July 3, they will offer visits, performances, and even a concert paying tribute to the work of Grünewald and Nicolas de Haguenau. And in the cloister of the museum, from June 30 until the end of September, photographs before/after the restoration will be exhibited.
A possible evacuation
“The visitor to the museum will have no idea of the long months of work of the restorers when he discovers the Altarpiece. Anyone who already knew him will probably be able to think ‘it’s a little different’ but without really knowing what has changed”, assures the director of the Unterlinden Museum. However, “the Altarpiece of Issenheim finds a new youth and the conservatory measures ensure it not eternity, but what can approach it on the scale of human time”.
The restoration – hampered by the pandemic – did not only allow aesthetic results and understanding of the unity of the polyptych. It also has a conservative aspect. “The change of the structure of maintenance and presentation of the Altarpiece could be part of its restoration. Thought out by the restorers, this transformation now allows the evacuation of the Altarpiece in the event of a disaster, an operation previously impossible”complete considers Panxtika de Paepe.
“A monument”
A positive point when you know the importance of this polyptych for the history of art and Protestant spirituality. “For the history of art, it is a monumentassures Jérôme Cottin, professor of practical theology at the Protestant Institute of Theology in Strasbourg. It is much more than an altarpiece!” The work, which opens on three levels, forms a fairly complex structure of exceptional dimensions.
The specialist in biblical iconography also recalls the innovative side of the Issenheim Altarpiece, with its expressionist style. “There is imagination, fantasy and a daring mix of colors” What is more, in the past, the polyptych was not considered as a painting, but as “an element that participated in the healing of the sick of the fire of Saint Anthony”having as symptoms burning sensations, convulsions, necrosis, etc. “So it had a therapeutic function”confirms Jérôme Cottin.
“The very expression of the Reformation”
Another reason contributes to the importance of the Isenheim Altarpiece in the history of art. “In the 20th century, the greatest artists of contemporary art were fascinated by this painting with distorted shapes and very daring colors. Everyone was inspired by him one day or another, even Picasso”he says.
Protestants also have a special relationship with the polyptych. However “painted just before the outbreak of the Reformation”many have seen in him “the torchbearer of a Protestant spirituality centered around the abasement of Christ”, “an anticipation of what will be brought forward by the Reformation”. “Even today, for certain Protestants, it is the very expression of the Reformation”, despite its precedence.
A source of inspiration for Karl Barth
A vision that applies when the polyptych is closed. He then lets appear a Christ on the cross which recalls the preaching of Luther, with his suffering Christ. An interpretation that even influenced the Basel theologian Karl Barth. The latter, who had hung a representation of the Altarpiece of Issenheim in his office, said that he inspired him to write, in particular his dogmatics.
Dialogue concert on Thursday, June 30, at 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Duration: 1h15. €25 full price, €10 reduced, free for children under 12. The medieval ensemble Vox In Rama, in dialogue with the painter Daniel Schlier, invites you to rediscover the Altarpiece of Issenheim according to an original concert-conference format. Listeners will hear in particular the praises that the Antonine canons practiced in honor of Saint Anthony the Egyptian, whose altarpiece retraces the legendary life. These small concerts will intertwine with commented presentations of the altarpiece.
Choreography on Saturday July 2, at 2:30 p.m. Duration 15 min. Prices: entrance to the museum. Bruno Bouché, director of the Center chorégraphique national – Ballet de l’Opéra national du Rhin, presents the choreography Bless – so be it, which he created in 2010, echoing the mural, opposite the Altarpiece in Issenheim. painted by Delacroix for the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, Jacob’s Struggle with the Angel. Two dancers perform an excerpt from this duet between Jacob and the Angel carried by the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Dance tour on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 July, at 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Duration 30 mins. €15 full price, €8 reduced, free for children under 12. The choreographer-dancer Aurélie Gandit (La Brèche company) comments on and interprets the Altarpiece of Issenheim through text and dance, through a sensitive journey. The danced movement unfolds in the space between the person watching and the work. The dance visit for the Issenheim Altarpiece is an opportunity for Aurélie Gandit to work on the body on the emotional strength, the pictorial quality and the remarkable expressiveness of the monumental polyptych.
Theatrical performance on Sunday July 3, at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Duration 30 mins. La Comédie de Colmar and its young troupe of actors offer two short shows that question the Altarpiece of Issenheim and question its political potential as much as its poetic power. Activating retinal persistence, these theatrical performances invite visitors to look differently and appropriate the work, soaking it up without feeling impressed.
The restoration of the Issenheim Altarpiece is completed – Reforme.net