Head of Christ

This portrait of Jesus Christ was painted by Warner Sallman in 1941. You’ve probably seen it in your travels, because, I learned yesterday, this picture has been reproduced 500 million times. I had a picture of Sallman’s Head of Christ on the wall of my childhood bedroom. Critics may scoff at it, may describe it as “kitsch”, but there’s something I find immensely stirring about it. Not sure if it has something to do with it being a comforting presence from the relative safety of my earliest youth, or if it has something to do with those eyes and that paradoxical expression of intense serenity.

I just found it interesting in my online travels.