ARCANGELO II (SAN GIORGIO), 2023-2024

Right next to the Viglius Chapel, high up on a rusty oil tank but still accessible, stands Berlinde De Bruyckere's Arcangelo II (San Giorgio), 2023-2024; an archangel made of wax, covered with a cast of animal skin, under which we can discern the silhouette of folded wings at shoulder height. As an angel, this “Arcangelo” is rather unusual, but although stripped of any glorious adornment, it still fits in with the traditional interpretation of this archetype: the mysterious being that offers protection, a refuge from fear and sorrow.

The ambiguous position of this archangel stems from his unbalanced appearance in this majestic space; balancing on the edge of a humble pedestal and caught in an unsteady movement that is somewhere between ascending and descending, yet powerful and awe-inspiring in its beauty, he not only elevates the material world to the heavenly, but also anchors the heavenly realm in the ‘here and now’. Man, animal, and the Divine come together here in one connecting, comforting figure, who seems to carry the suffering of the world on his shoulders.

The traditional images and stories from Christian history and mythology have always been a creative source for the Ghent artist to reflect contemporary themes and events. In her work, she transforms this content into a universal narrative, using a sensitive and compassionate touch to highlight complex social and political circumstances, human suffering, violence and loneliness, displacement and flight.

The Arcangelo figure first appeared in her oeuvre in 2020, during the difficult days of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the world went into lockdown, she was asked whether art could offer comfort at such a time and which work of art could fulfill that role. De Bruyckere found solace in Cristo Morto morretto da un Angelo (Dead Christ Supported by an Angel) (ca. 1502-10), until recently attributed to the Italian Renaissance painter Giorgione. In an interview for the newspaper De Standaard, she says:

“Suddenly, I no longer saw Christ in that dead body. I mainly saw the angel, holding the body with his much too small, frail hands. An avalanche of images flooded me, an avalanche of information that I could apply to this work. People who died alone, with only other sick people beside them. That's the worst thing, I think, dying alone. Fortunately, there were angels. I saw them everywhere in those days. I chose this image with them in mind. The angel in the painting has large, dark wings. Warm wings that can cover the body and carry it to another place. I saw that warmth of large wings everywhere around me. In healthcare, but also among those who buried their dead in complete solitude. The angel is an archetype, is primal, and yet he enters our personal lives.”

De Bruyckere's Arcangeli are therefore a tribute to all healthcare workers and loved ones who, like modern-day angels, offered profound comfort and care to the millions who died and suffered in loneliness. By attributing the archetype of the archangel to a concrete situation such as the pandemic, De Bruyckere marks her Arcangeli as an exchange of history and eternity, reality and mythology.

Arcangelo II (San Giorgio), 2023-2024, was created by Berlinde De Bruyckere in 2024 for her exhibition City of Refuge III, in the Basilica San Giorgio Maggiore during the 60th Venice Biennale, where no fewer than three Arcangeli, flanked by monumental banners and mirror screens, filled Palladio's imposing Basilica. City of Refuge III was the third in a series of exhibitions that approach the exhibition space as a refuge, a healing place that offers protection from the violence taking place outside to those who need it. The Flemish Community purchased Arcangelo II (San Giorgio), 2023-2024 for its collection and, at the artist's express request, granted the work on permanent loan to St. Bavo's Cathedral.

About the choice of the location De Bruyckere says: “The walls of the cathedral are charged. For centuries, people have come here to find themselves, to find strength and to express their greatest sorrows and deepest desires in silence. That overwhelms you when you enter here, regardless of your faith or beliefs. This is where the work belongs.”

De Bruyckere's Arcangeli also refer to her earlier ‘blanket woman’ sculptures, such as Spreken (Speaking), 1999 (also part of the Flemish Community collection), in which the head and upper body of the bent-over female figures are covered with a pile of blankets. The woolen blankets enveloping the figures suggest warmth and protection, but also deprivation, shame, and suffocation. The affinity with the veiled figures broadens the frame of reference of the Arcangeli, evoking images of homeless people, political refugees, and prisoners.