It’s rare to see an honest discussion of sin on canvas. And not just lust, which is what most people think of as sin, to the extent that they think of it at all. The National Gallery’s exhibition, Sin, now sadly ended, expressed the Christian idea of the Fall and the Redemption using just a dozen pictures and one statue. Naturally, when you see a contemporary treatment of sin you expect the whole idea to be subverted; for once, it didn’t.
As the introduction observed: “In a religious context, sin is an immoral act considered a transgression against divine law. Sin also describes an aspect of the human condition in which we fall short of good moral conduct.” Little word, big idea.
