Nocturne (Gethsemane)

Early in his artistic career, Rouault was drawn to the bright, arbitrary colors of the Fauves, and in the pivotal 1905 Salon d'Automne exhibition in Paris, his paintings were shown with works by Matisse and his followers. But his paintings soon took on a life of their own – in style and technique, and in subject matter. The artist's deep religious convictions resulted in several important works on spiritual and biblical themes. His well-known printing project, entitled Miserere and published in 1927, was composed of a cast of religious and secular characters linked together by familiar phrases and passages from the Bible. Nocturne (Gethsemane) refers to the passage found in three of the Gospels in the New Testament where Christ has gone to the place called Gethsemane to pray with three of his apostles who end up falling asleep.