Pietà (after Delacroix), The

Van Gogh painted his copy after Delacroix's Pietà while convalescing in the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in December 1889, working from a black-and-white lithograph. He undertook a systematic project of 'translations' after Delacroix, Millet, and Rembrandt at Saint-Rémy, explaining to Theo that copying masters was a legitimate form of composition when working from memory and without models. His Pietà after Delacroix is not mere imitation but a radical reimagining in colour, giving Christ features notably similar to his own self-portraits — a conflation that has fuelled significant psychological interpretation. The result is one of the most personally charged religious images in his entire oeuvre.

Strong blues, greens, and yellows replace Delacroix's warmer palette in Van Gogh's translation. The Christ figure is painted with white-blond hair and beard clearly echoing Van Gogh's own appearance. Brushwork is fluid and rapid, following the curves of drapery and form with confident, sweeping strokes.