in pursuit of the divine

Hannah Grimes


Peter and John Running to the Tomb


Eugène Burnand 1898

When I visited the Musée d’Orsay in Paris France, this painting struck me the most of all I saw in the museum. Burnand’s painting Peter and John Running to the Tomb captures emotion and intensity and a profoundly powerful way. This piece of art references John 20:1-4 and portrays Peter and John running to the tomb the morning of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. I stood in front of this painting for a long time, trying to take it in. The light reflected off the two disciples’ faces illuminates their expressions of fear, anxiety, expectancy, and hope. They are at the same time full of despair and at the same time racing to find if what they heard could be true.

As we discussed in class, religious art communicates what words alone cannot. The representation of man in pursuit of the divine takes movement and freezes it in time, allowing the viewer to step away from the encumbered nature of life and be awakened to a sort of pilgrimage, running toward the heavenly.