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Pilgrimage to the Cedars in Lebanon
Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka · Post-Impressionism & Neo-Impressionism
- Artist
- Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka (1853–1919)
- Date
- 1907
- Dimensions
- 200 x 192 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
This painting shows a gigantic, ancient cedar rising on a hill in Lebanon, its spreading branches filling the sky. Around its base, groups of tiny figures, riders on horseback and people on foot in colourful robes, gather as if at a festival or pilgrimage.
A closer look
Csontváry travelled to Lebanon in 1907 to see the famous cedars, which he considered sacred trees. The cedar dominates the composition like a living monument, its trunk twisted and its crown branching out in powerful horizontal layers, while the human figures are dwarfed below. The colours are bright and unusual, with a luminous sky and glowing earth, painted in a highly personal style that belongs to no school. For Csontváry, such trees were symbols of strength, endurance and a mystical connection between nature and humanity.
