Pieta, as a theme in Christian art, is a depiction of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ and the mother of all of us, lamenting over the dead body of her son.  After his passion and crucifixion, Jesus is taken down from the cross and placed in the arms of his sorrowful mother who "received Him with unutterable tenderness and pressed Him close to her heart" (the Thirteenth Station of the Cross). The love and the tenderness of pieta are unutterable. They cannot be conveyed with words. Instead, they are felt, expressed, and experienced time and time again throughout history in art. One representation of pieta is a marble statue carved by Michelangelo in 1499 and housed in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome (The Pietà). The same gut-wrenching sorrow found in Michelangelo’s marble is carved out of paint in Pieta. 

Pieta is abstract yet lifelike. The duality of the awesome majesty and tender humanity of Jesus and Mary is captured in an expressive explosion of vibrant color enshrined in heavy tan paint. Thick swatches of black paint carve deep shadows in the folds of Mary’s garments. Purposeful brush strokes define the lifeless body of Jesus. The might and majesty of God and his Mother are gold and silver paint that bloom across their bodies and infuse their garments. Their suffering is a sorrowful red that twists between the metallic colors. The weight of this sorrow pools in the heart and mind of our grieving mother, heart-breaking and heavy. Her tears are a light blue thread of paint that subtly weaves through this tapestry of suffering. The colors of Mary’s mourning mirror the violent and bloody death of her innocent son. The dextrous movements of colorful paint carve out the pain of pieta, poignant and alive. Oppressive and still as death, tomb white paint shrouds the scene in sorrow.

 Jesus died under the collective weight of humanity's sins and sufferings. Pieta is a depiction of strength, mercy, and love in response to great agony. Pieta is timeless and universal because in it we see ourselves. Tender and tragic, pieta is an eternal reminder of the transcendent mercy and love of God. When I look at Pieta, I feel known by God. I see God with his Holy Mother and I see all of humanity. I see the love and tenderness of humanity in the strength of Mary as she tenderly holds the weight of humanity's agony and sorrow in the crucified body of her son.