"Crucifix"

A bloodied, crowned figure with arms flung wide is carried or lowered at the center of the composition, his pale body streaked with red. Below, a cluster of women in green, blue and rose robes cry out and reach up to support him, while a pale nude figure and a ladder appear against a red canopy at right, and a Roman soldier in a plumed helmet with an SPQR armband watches from the lower corner; a small dog stands apart on the left.

Built up in loaded, gestural strokes of blue, gold, green and blood-red, the paint is applied thickly and rapidly, distorting the figures into raw, mask-like faces. Hot mustard-colored hills and a bright blue sky push the scene toward high pitch, and the crowding of bodies and color creates an overwhelming, anguished atmosphere.